COUNCE, Tenn. – The king of second place, Hayden O’Barr finished runner-up four times in MLF events in 2025 and stacked up eight Top 10s in the process – great stats and good paydays, but missing the finishing touch. This week in the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division event on Pickwick Lake, the young Alabama pro took the lead on Day 2 with nearly 27 pounds and closed it out in style with 25-10 on Day 3 for a 76-10 three-day winning total. For the win, O’Barr earned a check worth $70,081, including the Phoenix MLF Bonus, and he locked in his qualification for the Toyota Series Championship (which happens to be right back on Pickwick).
Finishing second, Donny Beck weighed mostly smallmouth and totaled up 67-10. Jade Keeton weighed 64-3 for third and Banks Shaw failed to limit on Day 3 and finished fourth with an even 63 pounds
Bay Springs gives O’Barr the win
Something of a sleeper lake, running out of Pickwick and down the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway gives anglers access to Bay Springs Reservoir. There, several anglers did well this week, and O’Barr absolutely crushed, knocking out bags in the mid-20s every day. Funnily enough, he didn’t go there because he wanted to – practice in Pickwick was bad enough that he knew he’d be in the mix for a bottom-tier finish if he stayed there.
“I didn’t have a chance to catch them in Pickwick; I knew I had to go to Bay,” O’Barr said. “In my head, I thought I was going to Bay to lay up, just cut a check, get by, go to the next one. Somehow it turned into winning.”
Despite never having fished there before, the lake was right up his alley.
“It really sets up like a place I fished all winter, just a county pond,” he said. “It sets up like it, and the fish act just like it. I think that’s partially why I did so well, because I was comfortable all week. I had terrible mapping for the place, so I would drive around and find stuff that I didn’t even know existed.”
Excellent with the screens on, O’Barr made full use of his three hours of forward-facing sonar every day. On Day 1, he caught a 6-pounder and a 4-pounder on a ChatterBait with sonar off, but he put all his weight in the boat during his ‘Scope periods on Days 2 and 3.
“I caught a lot of my fish pretty shallow. I was sticking to the shallow bite and not seeing many,” O’Barr said. “I would see occasional big ones and they were kind of dumb. They didn’t really swerve. They all were just dumb. I don’t feel like they had really been fished for, and I luckily had a 3-mile stretch all to myself and no one messed with me, which was amazing. I knew a lot of people knew where I was catching them because they would see me, but, luckily, I had it all to myself.”
O’Barr returned to one fish specifically on Day 3, a big bass he thought was spawning that he found at the end of his forward-facing sonar period on Day 2. That fish turned out to be a 7-5 kicker – obviously key to the win. But, for the most part, specifically pre-found fish or objects were not the game plan for the University of Alabama graduate.
“I had a stretch and I dropped my trolling motor every day and would go down it,” O’Barr said. “It wasn’t like I was fishing structure or cover. Every now and then, I would catch one and Power-Pole or Spot-Lock and then see some coming behind me that I had never seen. It was just a constant flow of fish through that area. You could miss them very easily when they would suck to the bottom and they would disappear – there were so many big ones I lost and could never find again.”
For his baits, O’Barr used a 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer in dirty shad and a 5-inch minnow on a 1/8-ounce head. He used a 6-foot, 10-inch, medium-light model from TigeRodz for his minnow and a 7-3, medium-heavy TigeRodz stick for his ChatterBait.
On Day 1, a pretty big portion of O’Barr’s weight came with the ‘Scope off, and he did it fishing instinctually, putting himself in the wind and obviously around fish.
“Going off how I have practiced all year for the Pro Circuit, I just go out and try to find the very best ‘Scope bite I can find that will get me through the week,” O’Barr said. “In all honesty, I just winged it for the no-‘Scope. The first day, I threw a ChatterBait on a bank I knew that had shallow grass, and then I went and threw the ChatterBait in places I had never seen before. I caught a 6-pounder on the ChatterBait and I hadn’t even tied one on in practice. I knew they were up there; I’d seen them up shallow in practice. I thought that was my best strategy to trick one – just fish the same areas you’re seeing fish, and throw different stuff.”
Fired up to finally win
As O’Barr plopped his winning bag on the scale, the young pro didn’t even try to hide his smile. After a week of mechanical difficulties (both self-inflicted and out of his control) and a year of close calls, everyone at Pickwick Landing State Park could see how much he valued the win.
“I’m on top of the world,” he said. “I definitely never expected this at the start of the week. It was absolutely brutal off the water. I had something go wrong every day. Thankfully, it was really good on the water.
“There was nothing I could do wrong out there,” he continued. “I made a bad decision about when to turn my ‘Scope on today – it was rolling 1-footers out there with pollen everywhere – I couldn’t even see anything. I somehow still caught three giants – my 7-4 ate at the trolling motor, I watched her eat it.”
Tallying up more than a 25-pound average, O’Barr beat everyone in the field by a wide margin, even others like Beck, who fished nearly perfect events of their own, or Shaw, who is the hottest thing going on the Tennessee River.
“I told Banks I thought 66 to 68 pounds (would win),” O’Barr said. “The biggest fish I caught all practice was a 5-pounder. I caught three of those and that was it. I would have never imagined catching big bags three days in a row – it was just meant to be.”
Top 10 pros
1. Hayden O’Barr – 76 – 10 (15) – $70,081 (includes $35,000 Phoenix Bonus)
2. Donny Beck – 67 – 10 (15) – $13,303
3. Jade Keeton – 64 – 3 (15) – $10,299
4. Banks Shaw – 63 – 0 (14) – $8,583
5. Brody Campbell – 61 – 0 (15) – $7,725
6. Dylan Nutt – 58 – 15 (15) – $6,866
7. Lake Johnson – 58 – 0 (15) – $6,008
8. Trent Suratt – 57 – 5 (15) – $5,150
9. Benjamin Travis – 55 – 12 (15) – $4,291
10. Hunter Brewer – 54 – 14 (15) – $3,433