EUFAULA, Ala. – It was three days of rinse and repeat for Jemison, Alabama’s Blake Davenport. And a stressful rinse and repeat, at that.
Step 1: Fish shallow grass.
Step 2: Go offshore during the forward-facing sonar period.
Step 3: Have a moment where he doubts any chance he has.
Step 4: Catch a clutch kicker within the final 10 minutes of the day, with the last one sealing his victory at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division event on Lake Eufaula.
“It’s been a week of last-minute clutch catches, is all I can say,” said Davenport, who caught a late 4 1/2-pounder on Day 3 to cull out a 2-pounder, giving him 15-12 for the day and a 1-pound victory over Dylan Quilatan, who finished with 50-0.
Considering how tough the fishing on Eufaula was this week, it seems only fitting for the winning pro had to grind for the win. Even Davenport, who fishes Eufaula regularly, mentioned there was only one tournament he can remember ever being as tough, and it also happened to be around this time in May.
“Honestly, I think if this tournament was two weeks earlier or later, it’d take 20 to 25 pounds a day to win,” Davenport said. “I guess they picked a good week for me, though.”
It certainly was, thanks to both his late heroics and his game plan.
Step 1 was getting to the far back reaches of Chewalla Creek to target shallow, isolated clumps of grass. His tool of choice was a 3/8-ounce Nomad Design Badlands Heavy Cover Swim Jig in candy grass with a white Zoom Z-Craw trailer.
Of course, he only caught one fish doing that the first day, and it didn’t come in the morning. Instead, it was his first clutch catch – a 4.4-pounder at the end of the day.
On Day 2, he caught three fish shallow to start his morning before shifting down toward Barbour Creek to start his FFS period. On Day 1, his FFS period did the heavy lifting, but Day 2 it fizzled as he felt the fishing pressure got to it. So, with a mediocre limit and little time left, Davenport ran to a shallow stretch of grass known to produce big bites. Sure enough, he got one – a 5.5-pounder – that lifted him up to first.
On the final day, Davenport got everything he could out of Chewalla, which equated to two 2 1/2-pounders and a 3-pounder. From there, it was down to Barbour to ‘Scope.
“I thought it was going to go down today,” Davenport said of his FFS period. “My first brush pile, I caught a 3-pounder, but after that I only caught a couple small ones.”
With about 30 minutes left in his FFS period, he told his co-angler he was going to make a run to an area where he’d caught a good fish in practice. Turns out, there was another one there, and it ended up sealing the victory.
“Every day after lunch, I’d have a moment where I felt I didn’t do enough,” Davenport said. “And then I’d get those clutch bites. It’s like I told my co-angler, it was just meant to be. There’s nothing else to say.”
The Top 10 pros at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Eufaula finished:
1st: Blake Davenport, Jemison, Ala., 15 bass, 51-0, $33,977
2nd: Dylan Quilatan, Windermere, Fla., 15 bass, 50-0, $13,069
3rd: Parker Guy, Ocilla, Ga., 15 bass, 48-11, $10,118
4th: Buddy Benson, Dahlonega, Ga., 15 bass, 46-15, $9,432 (includes $1,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus)
5th: Brad Stalnaker, Eatonton, Ga., 15 bass, 46-13, $7,589
6th: Kaden Mueck, Livingston, Texas, 15 bass, 46-5, $7,245
7th: Michael Smith, Andalusia, Ala., 15 bass, 44-10, $5,902
8th: Tyler Malone, Chunchula, Ala., 15 bass, 44-4, $5,059
9th: Justin Barnes, Ellaville, Ga., 15 bass, 43-8, $4,216
10th: Hayden Marbut, Grant, Ala., 15 bass, 42-6, $3,373
Complete results are available at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Kaden Mueck of Livingston, Texas, earned Wednesday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass Award with a bass weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces, while Friday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass Award went to boater Luke Lamb of Nicholasville, Kentucky, with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 1 ounce.
James Ramsey of Boaz, Alabama, won the co-angler division Friday at Lake Eufaula with a three-day total of nine bass weighing 23 pounds, 8 ounces. Ramsey earned the top co-angler prize package worth $33,600, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.
The Top 10 co-anglers at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Eufaula finished:
1st: James Ramsey, Boaz, Ala., nine bass, 23-8, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd: Alan Bernicky, Dardanelle, Ark., seven bass, 20-14, $4,551
3rd: Chris Harcrow, Dawson, Ala., nine bass, 18-7, $3,441
4th: Johnny Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 12 bass, 18-5, $3,011
5th: Lenny Bays, Dayton, Ky., nine bass, 17-11, $2,581
6th: James Menold, Amory, Miss., eight bass, 17-8, $2,151
7th: Tommy Sikes, Como, Texas, 11 bass, 17-4, $1,720
8th: James Cobbs, Vinemont, Ala., eight bass, 17-1, $1,505
9th: Dan Geurtsen, Chapin, S.C., eight bass, 17-0, $1,290
10th: Trent Carey, York Springs, Pa., seven bass, 16-1, $1,075
Co-angler Jason Grey of Amherst, New York, earned Wednesday’s Berkley Big Bass co-angler award with a 4-pound, 14-ounce bass and earned the $150 prize, while the Day 2 $150 co-angler award on Thursday went to Alan Bernicky of Dardanelle, Arkansas, who weighed in a 7-pound, 7-ounce bass.
With all three Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division events complete, pro Jimmy Neece Jr. of Bristol, Tennessee, won the 7 Brew Central Division Angler of the Year race with 739 points, while Lenny Bays of Dayton, Kentucky, won the Central Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 752 points.
The three-day Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Eufaula was hosted by the Eufaula Barbour County Chamber of Commerce. It was the third and final regular-season tournament for the Toyota Series Central Division. The next tournament for Toyota Series anglers will be a Southwestern Division event, the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at the Arkansas River, June 11-13 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The 2026 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern and Southwestern – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the five divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2027. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2026 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 5-7 on Pickwick Lake in Counce, Tennessee, and is hosted by Explore Pickwick Lake & Hardin County Tourism.
Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly, Mercury, MillerTech, 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 information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Toyota Series updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.