KIMBERLING CITY, Mo. (Feb. 19, 2024) – Boater Landon Edwards of Springdale, Arkansas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 7 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Table Rock Lake. The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Ozark Division. Edwards earned $5,970 for his victory.
“I made a run down past Campbell Point up the White River,” said Edwards, who notched a previous BFL win on Table Rock Lake in 2022. “I found a sneaky spot in practice where I thought I could catch 18 pounds. I had graphed a spot that was just a little rock pile with a tree on it that had 20 to 30 big fish on it. I caught a 6½-pounder on it Thursday and then left it alone.”
Edwards said he ran to his “sneaky” spot during the tournament because he figured the field would be using Garmin Livescope to target bass, and he wanted to try something different to stand out from the field. He said he used a 6th Sense Divine 5-Wire 4-Blade Umbrella Rig with 6th Sense Divine Swimbaits to boat his bigger bass on the rock pile.
“I rolled up, threw my Alabama rig, and caught a 4½-pounder,” Edwards said. “I threw back and caught another 4½. I threw back in again and caught a 7-pounder. So, I had 15-something pounds with three fish.”
Edwards relocated to let his spot rest and pulled a 3¼-pound fish from deep water, putting him at more than 19 pounds with four fish.
“I went back to my lucky spot and caught one that weighed more than 3 pounds that put me over 22 pounds,” Edwards said. “I was having some motor problems, so we ran back to Kimberling City near weigh-in and finished up the day.
“I had confidence that I had enough weight to make the top 10,” Edwards said. “So, it was really nice to win it. These tournaments are so hard to win with all the locals who fish them. It was cool to win this.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Landon Edwards, Springdale, Ark., five bass, 22-7, $5,970
2nd: Eric Olliverson, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 20-13, $3,082 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
3rd: Jacob Wade, Mountain Grove, Mo., five bass, 20-12, $1,722
4th: Aric Szambelan, Farmington, Minn., five bass, 20-6, $1,205
5th: Cody Miller, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 19-14, $1,033
6th: Clay Henderson, Purdy, Mo., five bass, 19-13, $1,247
7th: Cody Ellison, Fordland, Mo., five bass, 19-3, $861
8th: Brock Reinkemeyer, Warsaw, Mo., five bass, 18-9, $775
9th: Camden Kozikoski, Edmond, Okla., five bass, 18-8, $689
10th: Drew Sagely, Rogers, Ark., five bass, 18-1, $603
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Edwards also caught a bass that weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $805. James Welch of Bolivar, Missouri, won the co-angler division and $2,436 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 3 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: James Welch, Bolivar, Mo., five bass, 14-3, $2,436
2nd: Joshua Ramsey, Columbia, Mo., five bass, 13-10, $1,218
3rd: Jeff Moss, Oronogo, Mo., five bass, 12-15, $1,064
4th: Caleb Welch, Bolivar, Mo., five bass, 12-13, $568
5th: Grant Simmons, Blue Springs, Mo., five bass, 12-3, $487
6th: Tim Bowers, Thayer, Mo., five bass, 12-2, $447
7th: Shaun Smith, Smithville, Mo., five bass, 11-12, $406
8th: Blake Miller, Cedar Falls, Iowa, four bass, 11-11, $365
9th: Brock Krohne, Belton, Mo., five bass, 11-4, $325
10th: Kirk Short, St. Clair, Mo., four bass, 10-14, $284
Pat Leonard of Springfield, Missouri, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $367, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 1 ounce – the largest co-angler catch of the day.