Kentucky’s Mann Wins Co-Angler Division

BUCHANAN, Tenn. (March 30, 2026) – Boater Eli Lubbehusen of Evansville, Indiana, caught five bass totaling 22 pounds, 14 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Kentucky-Barkley Lake. The tournament, hosted by Henry County Tourism Authority, was the second of five events of the season for the BFL LBL Division. Lubbehusen earned $3,150 for his victory.

“We have a period of three hours to use (Garmin) LiveScope, and I wanted to use that period based on the wind,” Lubbehusen said. “The wind was supposed to lay over in the afternoon, so I fished around for the first couple of hours on some stuff I had caught them on in practice.

“At about 10 a.m. I felt like the wind was going to be as good as I was going to get, so I turned it on, and my day just went from there,” Lubbehusen went on to say. “I did all of my catching during that period.”

Lubbehusen said he fished near the Danville area and the first two pieces of cover he cast to produced keepers, and the rest of his electronics period was very productive for him. A Rapala Crush City Freeloader was his bait of choice, and it produced seven keepers for him.

I was at 21 pounds and had a 2.80 pounder in my bag,” Lubbehusen said. “There were a lot of fish staring me in the face that I just couldn’t get to eat. But with about six minutes left to go in my LiveScope period I caught one that weighed a little over 5 (pounds) and culled out that 2.80, and I knew I would be tough to beat. Whoever was going to win definitely deserved it.

“I tried to cull up after that, but it was going to take quite a bit for me to get rid of one of my fish because I had a pretty good bag,” Lubbehusen went on to say. “I never caught another one to cull out. I did all of my damage in that three-hour period.”

Lubbehusen said he was grateful for the win, especially considering the skill level of his fellow BFL competitors he was fishing against.

“Those BFL trophies are hard to come by,” Lubbehusen said. “The local knowledge of the guys fishing on their home lakes … it’s so hard to win against that. It felt really good to get one under my belt.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Eli Lubbehusen, Evansville, Ind., five bass, 22-14, $3,150
2nd:      Levi Kohl, Edinburg, Ill., five bass, 21-14, $1,590
3rd:       Justin Berger, Murray, Ky., five bass, 20-15, $810
4th:        Noah Morgan, Russellville, Ky., five bass, 19-3, $850
5th:        Stephen Barga, Benton, Ky., five bass, 16-10, $580
6th:        Ramie Colson Jr., Cadiz, Ky., five bass, 15-14, $500
7th:        Will Gordon, Athens, Ill., five bass, 15-12, $1,080 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
8th:        Jason Reed, Murray, Ky., five bass, 15-9, $460
9th:        Harbor Lovin, New Concord, Ky., five bass, 14-2, $440
10th:     Bruce McDivitt, Brighton, Tenn., five bass, 13-15, $420

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Noah Morgan of Russellville, Kentucky, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 6-pound, 9-ounce bass worth $200.

Marcus Mann of Benton, Kentucky, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,825 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 12 pounds, 7 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Marcus Mann, Benton, Ky., three bass, 12-7, $1,825
2nd:      Peyton Nolen, Lexington, Tenn., three bass, 10-1, $600
2nd:      Matt Chumbler, Carbondale, Ill., three bass, 10-1, $650
4th:        Gage Elder, Decatur, Ill., three bass, 9-9, $307
4th:        Sam McReynolds, Kevil, Ky., three bass, 9-9, $407
6th:        Scott Gill, Greenwood, Ind., three bass, 9-8, $250
7th:        Joshua Smith, Benton, Ky., three bass, 8-8, $240
8th:        Dean Hesse, Brandenburg, Ky., three bass, 7-14, $230
9th:        Tim Rampaul, Dickson, Tenn., three bass, 7-9, $220
10th:     Anthony Bell Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio, three bass, 7-1, $210

Sam McReynolds of Kevil, Kentucky, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a bass weighing 5 pounds even, worth $100.

After two events, Noah Morgan of Russellville, Kentucky, now leads the 7 Brew LBL Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 496 points, while Marcus Mann of Benton, Kentucky, leads the LBL Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 497 points.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the division based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 22-24 BFL Regional tournament on Watts Bar Lake in Spring City, Tennessee. Boaters will fish for a top award of a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard worth $50,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top prize of a new Phoenix 518 pro with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard, worth $33,500.

The 2026 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top seven, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2026 BFL All-American will take place May 28-30, at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina, and is hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism.

Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly, Mercury, MillerTech, Mystik Lubricants, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PirahnO2, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, YETI and Yuengling.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular BFL updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Outdoor Channel, VICE, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.