BRANDON, Miss. (March 14, 2022) – Boater Taylor Odom of Flowood, Mississippi, caught five bass Saturday weighing 17 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on Ross Barnett Reservoir. The tournament was the second of the season for the Bass Fishing League Mississippi Division. Odom earned $5,403 for his victory.
“I found a really good group of fish during practice that I wanted to target,” Odom said. “Another boater that I know, Allen Shoemaker, had found the same group of fish, and we talked about it and said we would both go back to that group of fish and just work it out and both fish the same group.
“I ended up being randomly paired with Allen in a boater-boater draw,” Odom continued. “What a crazy scenario that turned out to be.”
Odom said the bass he targeted were “hunkered down”, so he went with a common approach for Ross Barnett – dragging a black 8-inch Zoom “Magnum” Lizard in about 3 feet of water.
Odom said he had experienced engine malfunctions during practice and was concerned his boat’s performance would affect his tournament. The boat held up for Odom’s win and Shoemaker finished 14th.
“All I can say is God is good,” Odom said. “I wasn’t even sure that I was going to get to fish Saturday morning because of my boat.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:
1st: Taylor Odom, Flowood, Miss., five bass, 17-7, $5,403
2nd: Joel Barber, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 16-9, $1,859
3rd: Corey Sullivan, Brandon, Miss., five bass, 14-13, $1,238
4th: Blake Daugherty, Pope, Miss., five bass, 13-4, $867
5th: Teddy Cranford, Collins, Miss., five bass, 12-14, $744
6th: Timmy Ming, Louisville, Miss., five bass, 12-5, $682
7th: Noel Allen Jr., Brandon, Miss., five bass, 11-4, $620
8th: Red Ballard, Sulphur, La., five bass, 11-3, $1,058 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
9th: Will Dupler, Columbus, Miss., four bass, 10-2, $496
10th: John Coggins, Guntown, Miss., four bass, 9-15, $434
Odom had an 8-pound, 4-ounce largemouth that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $485. Larry Stewart Jr. of Brandon, Mississippi, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,116 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 12 pounds, 6 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Larry Stewart Jr., Brandon, Miss., five bass, 12-6, $2,116
2nd: Michael Morris, Sumrall, Miss., three bass, 8-4, $908
3rd: Blake Koenigsberger, Columbus, Miss., three bass, 6-9, $606
4th: David Huey, Tupelo, Miss., two bass, 6-4, $424
5th: Sank Payton, Bay Springs, Miss., three bass, 6-0, $363
6th: Brandon Bell, Starkville, Miss., three bass, 5-13, $333
7th: Quentin Bremenkamp, Brandon, Miss., one bass, 5-8, $535
8th: Vernon Hearn, Lena, Miss., one bass, 5-1, $272
9th: Daniel Corkern, Florence, Miss., two bass, 4-15, $392
10th: Chris Brown, Fulton, Miss., one bass, 4-8, $212
Bremenkamp caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $232.