WARSAW, Mo. – Boater Chase Fitzpatrick of St. Louis, Missouri, caught a total of five bass weighing 20 pounds, 6 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Truman Lake Presented by Precision Sonar. The tournament was the fourth of five events of the season for the BFL Ozark Division. Fitzpatrick earned $2,590 for his victory.
Fitzpatrick said he used knowledge from a previous event on Truman Lake to set his tournament strategy, and he focused on fishing in the Tebo Arm of the lake.
“In the BFL last year at Truman, I caught 6-pounders late in the day that kind of clued me into something that I could maybe try this year,” Fitzpatrick said. “And when I got to the tournament waters on Thursday to practice, that’s what I committed to. I was able to find a patch of trees that had fish on them, and I caught a 6- and a 4-pounder there in practice.
“I didn’t really know what to expect going into tournament day, but I was able to get the right kind of bites and land them,” Fitzpatrick went on to say. “Fishing those trees can be kind of dangerous at times.”
Fitzpatrick said he focused on combing through the trees by flipping a Zoom Brush Hog with a 1/4-ounce weight and just let the bait make its way through the tree limbs. The submerged trees ranged in depths from 5 feet to 25 feet, but Fitzpatrick pointed out the “money depth” was around 15 feet. He added he culled only three times during the day.
“I had 16 1/2 pounds at the end of my (Garmin) LiveScope period,” Fitzpatrick said. “I had one of my 6-pounders in the boat by the end of my LiveScope period, and I knew I had a chance (at a win) with that, but I thought I needed one more big one to really solidify my chances at a win.”
Fitzpatrick got his second 6-pounder later in the day and secured the BFL win.
“It was a blessed day,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’ve always wanted to hold up one of those silver fish trophies one day, so yeah, this felt really good. I have a lot of room to learn and grow, so I’m trying to learn from the great anglers that are around me.”
The Top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Chase Fitzpatrick, St. Louis, Mo., five bass, 20-6, $2,590
2nd: Shawn Kowal, Linn Creek, Mo., five bass, 16-7, $1,330
3rd: Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., five bass, 16-4, $700
4th: Kenny Sloan, Gaylord, Kan., five bass, 16-3, $570
5th: Randy Blaukat, Springfield, Mo., five bass, 16-0, $510
6th: Kyle Alsop, Overland Park, Kan., five bass, 15-10, $950 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
7th: Ryan Stagner, Robertsville, Mo., five bass, 15-5, $430
8th: T.J. Martin, Claremore, Okla., five bass, 14-11, $420
9th: Les Brandenburg, Springfield, Mo., five bass, 14-9, $400
10th: Chad Allison, Carl Junction, Mo., five bass, 14-8, $390
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Keith Pearson of Lenexa, Kansas, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 6-pound, 5-ounce bass worth $200.
Roy Bradford of Ashland, Missouri, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,295 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 10 pounds, 3 ounces.
The Top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Roy Bradford, Ashland, Mo., three bass, 10-3, $1,295
2nd: Spencer Martinez, Wichita, Kans., three bass, 9-12, $715
3rd: Josh Falter, Dixon, Mo., three bass, 8-12, $317
3rd: Shawn Lindsay, Lebanon, Mo., three bass, 8-12, $317
5th: Matt Zimmerly, Hillsboro, Mo., three bass, 8-8, $255
6th: Jeff Anderson, St. Louis, Mo., three bass, 8-7, $225
7th: Derek Vahey, Columbia, Mo., three bass, 8-0, $220
8th: Greg Lundquist, Independence, Mo., three bass, 7-13, $210
9th: Donnie Agnew, Farmington, Mo., two bass, 7-12, $300
10th: Alan Quick, Springfield, Mo., three bass, 7-7, $195
Donnie Agnew of Farmington, Missouri, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass worth $100.
After four events, Shawn Kowal of Linn Creek, Missouri, now leads the 7 Brew Ozark Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 961 points, while Josh Falter of Dixon, Missouri, leads the Ozark Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 942 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 Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. 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.
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.