Afton’s Fielder Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

GROVE, Okla. (Feb. 10, 2025) – Boater Ronnie Allen of Chouteau, Oklahoma, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 6 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Grand Lake . The tournament, hosted by the City of Grove and the Grove Convention & Tourism Bureau, was the first event of the season for the BFL Okie Division. Allen earned $11,575 for his victory, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus.

A good game plan goes a long way in a bass tournament, especially when fishing against the best local sticks on a fishery like Grand Lake. In this case, according to Allen, it took solid execution and a fair bit of something else.

“A lot of luck,” he said. “I just got lucky and pulled up on the right spot at the right time. I pulled up on my first spot, and I caught all my fish on that one school in about a hundred-yard stretch. I caught ’em all pretty early in the morning. I think I had 20 pounds at 8:30 or 9 o’clock, and then was able to upgrade twice from there. I was just throwing an A-rig in deep water.”

Allen found these fish more than a week ago and never made it back to check on them before the event started. He hoped they would still be there, and they were – that’s the lucky part.

He used forward-facing sonar to bird dog individual bass that were roaming open water near some deep ledges. Catching them early was a good thing, as changing conditions eventually hurt the bite.

“I think that cold front that blew in really shut them off,” Allen added. “I was happy to have my bag early because after about 10 or 11 o’clock the fish shut off.”

The top 11 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Ronnie Allen, Chouteau, Okla., five bass, 22-6, $11,575 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Billy Gordon, Catoosa, Okla., five bass, 20-13, $2,288
3rd:       Justin Barbour, Tulsa, Okla., five bass, 19-11, $1,525
4th:        Camden Kozikoski, Edmond, Okla., five bass, 19-5, $1,068
5th:        Tate Brumnett, Wagoner, Okla., five bass, 19-4, $915
6th:        Kyle Kitts, Joplin, Mo., five bass, 18-7, $839
7th:        Shawn Clark, Afton, Okla., five bass, 17-0, $763
8th:        Nathen Luce, Claremore, Okla., five bass, 16-13, $686
9th:        Preston Cook, Miami, Okla., five bass, 15-15, $610
10th:     Brad Cook, Afton, Okla., five bass, 15-9, $507
10th:     Cody Miller, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 15-9, $507

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Kacey Moreland of Porter, Oklahoma, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $665.

Fred Fielder of Afton, Oklahoma, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,288 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 12 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Fred Fielder, Afton, Okla., three bass, 11-12, $2,288
2nd:       Dave Harvey, Centerton, Ark., three bass, 9-0, $1,144
3rd:       Eian Odle, Willow Springs, Mo., three bass, 8-9, $762
4th:        Thad Hewitt, Delaware, Okla., two bass, 7-8, $634
5th:        James West, Spiro, Okla., three bass, 6-15, $458
6th:        Bo Dunlap, Broken Arrow, Okla., two bass, 6-12, $419
7th:        Zack Holt, Yukon, Okla., three bass, 6-2, $381
8th:        Jared Geary, Joplin, Mo., two bass, 5-15, $343
9th:        Mark Sloan, Harrison, Ark., three bass, 5-12, $286
9th:        Tad Harp, Cave Springs, Ark., two bass, 5-12, $286

Robert Joslin of Fort Smith, Arkansas, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $332, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

In addition to earning the win, Ronnie Allen of Chouteau, Oklahoma, also has the early lead in the Fishing Clash Okie Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while Fred Fielder of Afton, Oklahoma, leads the Fishing Clash Okie Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 250 points.

The next event for BFL Okie Division anglers will be held March 22, at Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Oklahoma. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000.

The top 60 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. 10-11 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 award of $20,000.

The 2025 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 134 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 60 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of 12 BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top three, 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 2025 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, Deep Dive App, E3 Sports Apparel, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Humminbird, Lew’s, Li Time Batteries, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Mystik Lubricants, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Vosker, 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 20 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.