GROVE, Okla. (Sept. 16, 2024) – Boater Vance Montgomery of Claremore, Oklahoma, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 35 pounds, 2 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine Super Tournament at Grand Lake Presented by Suzuki Marine. Hosted by the City of Grove and the Grove Convention and Tourism Bureau, the tournament concluded on Sunday. It was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL Okie Division. Montgomery earned $6,586 for his victory.

According to Montgomery, fishing is typically pretty tough on Grand in September. The fish are in transition, which makes them difficult to pattern.

“I fished another team event last weekend there and had 20 pounds the first day and 8 pounds the next day,” he said. “So, it’s one of those deals where the fish are really moving a lot right now. But the main key that I found was finding the big gizzard shad. That was really the main key to this, as a pattern. I found about five different coves or pockets that had the big gizzard, and I’m talking 8-, 9-, 10-inch shad. That’s where those big fish were.”

Once he found the gizzard shad, Montgomery went to work with two techniques. He flipped an Elk River Jig around docks and threw a discontinued Excalibur Series Jimmy Houston Super Spook at schooling fish.

“That bait actually is pretty unique,” he said of the Super Spook topwater. “It actually has a different knocker in it than the new ones do. Everybody kept telling me you can’t get a topwater bite, but that bait was getting bites every day.”

While the bait was cool, it was actually the jig that did the heavy lifting because the better-quality fish were on the docks. Montgomery was actually fishing a worm in practice, but on day one, he tried the jig and immediately caught a keeper that weighed about 5 pounds. Then he caught a 4-pounder two casts later, followed by a 3-pounder. From then on, the jig was the deal.

Montgomery’s best areas were in 8 to 15 feet of water in the mid-lake area. He was fishing about midway back in the creeks, and he said he fished new docks both days.

“It’s kind of something I’ve done for a long time,” he said of the dock pattern. “I’ve won quite a bit of money on Grand Lake in late summer and fall time. I have a lot of confidence in it. Definitely, what I do is a power deal. It’s not something you’re going to get a lot of bites doing, but the bites that you get are going to be better-than-average fish. Today (Sunday), it was pretty easy. I had a limit in about two hours. Yesterday, it took me ’til almost 2 o’clock to get a bite. You kind of have to be willing to lose to win doing what I do because you’re not going to get a lot of bites.”

Montgomery also used live sonar to get dialed in. Yes, he used it to see some fish under the docks, but he also used it to scan for brush. Mostly, it was a tool for ruling out docks that likely wouldn’t be productive. Altogether, his approach was on the mark: Flip the jig on high-percentage docks in areas with big gizzard shad and keep the topwater handy in case any bass showed themselves. He caught 16 pounds, 5 ounces doing it on day one then followed up with an impressive limit of 18-13 on day two. It all equaled out to a winning margin of more than 5 pounds.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:         Vance Montgomery, Claremore, Okla., 10 bass, 35-2, $6,586
2nd:        Micah Littlejohn, Grove, Okla., 10 bass, 29-11, $3,293
3rd:         Josh Greer, Carthage, Mo., 10 bass, 27-15, $2,695 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
4th:         Brad Cook, Afton, Okla., 10 bass, 27-1, $1,537
5th:         Brett Brumnett, Wagoner, Okla., 10 bass, 26-15, $1,317
6th:         Nick Kincaid, Brookeland, Texas, 10 bass, 26-13, $1,207
7th:         Brandon Ackerson, Afton, Okla., 10 bass, 26-1, $1,398
8th:         Alex Torkleson, Coweta, Okla., 10 bass, 26-0, $988
9th:         Dale Andrews, Jay, Okla., 10 bass, 25-11, $878
10th:       Jeremy Johnson, Kansas City, Kan., 10 bass, 25-10, $768

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Robert Capps of Muskogee, Oklahoma, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $945.

Gene Mitchell of Stuart, Oklahoma, won the Strike King co-angler division and $3,181 Sunday, after bringing a two-day total of eight bass to the scale that totaled 18 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:         Gene Mitchell, Stuart, Okla., eight bass, 18-5, $3,181
2nd:        Kelsey Ray, Joplin, Mo., six bass, 17-0, $1,591
3rd:         Nathan Christie, Claremore, Okla., seven bass, 15-15, $1,211
4th:         Brianna Batton , Norman, Okla., five bass, 14-11, $742
5th:         David Hamilton, Rogers, Ark., seven bass, 14-9, $636
6th:         Kaleb O’Brien, Wagoner, Okla., seven bass, 14-3, $583
7th:         Ken Coats, Tulsa, Okla., eight bass, 13-15, $530
8th:         Ken Hagar, Colcord, Okla., five bass, 13-9, $477
9th:         Keith Hays, Broken Arrow, Okla., four bass, 12-14, $424
10th:       Michael Dillon, Wichita, Kan., six bass, 12-6, $371

Bryan Schuster of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $450, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 2 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

At the conclusion of the event, Camden Kozikoski of Edmond, Oklahoma, was crowned the Fishing Clash Okie Division Angler of the Year (AOY) with 1,282 points to take home the $1,000 prize, while Kaleb O’Brien of Wagoner, Oklahoma, won the Fishing Clash Okie Division Co-angler of the Year race with 1,286 points and earned the $500 award.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 17-19 BFL Regional tournament on Wright Patman Lake in Texarkana, Texas. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard.

The 2024 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 Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying event winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2025 BFL All-American will take place May 29-31, 2025, at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, General Tire, GSM Outdoors, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, PowerStop Brakes, REDCON1, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, WIX Filters and YETI.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Bass Fishing League updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 17 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.