CLEWISTON, Fla. (Feb. 1, 2026) – One of the hottest anglers in bass fishing, Banks Shaw of Harrison, Tennessee, earned his third major win in three years with Major League Fishing (MLF), edging out Kyle Cortiana Saturday for the top spot at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southern Division event on  Lake Okeechobee. Weighing 13 pounds, 12 ounces on the final day, Shaw totaled up 49-5 to beat out Cortiana by 3 ounces and earn $79,250, which included the Phoenix MLF Bonus and Tackle Warehouse Rewards.

The win also qualified Shaw for the Toyota Series Championship this fall on Pickwick Lake, which will give him a little wiggle room in an already packed schedule. This season, Shaw is fishing his rookie year on the Bass Pro Tour, and looking to defend his Angler of the Year (AOY) season on the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit – a full plate for someone still taking classes at the University of North Alabama.

With cold weather affecting the bite all week, it didn’t take big weights to win this round on Okeechobee. But Shaw was just a bit better than Cortiana in the end, and the pair stood head and shoulders over the rest of the field when the scales closed on the final day.

It’s not uncommon for anglers to be bunched up in areas in Florida; in fact, fishing alone is sometimes a bad thing. But when it’s good, it tends to be very good, and Shaw caught the bulk of his weight this week from one area that nobody else was fishing.

“I found fish in two areas, but I knew one was going to have a ton of pressure,” Shaw said. “I kind of focused on the one area where I knew there wouldn’t be many people. I caught ‘em the first day, a big one right off the bat, and then after that it was tough to even get a limit.”

On Day 1, Shaw caught two of his limit fish with forward-facing sonar on, and three without. On Day 2, he played things a little smarter.

“Day 2, I had a better idea when they would turn on and start feeding,” he said. “So, I was able to use my forward-facing to target those fish. The second day went super smooth, other than losing fish – I had a chance to have a good lead.”

On Day 2, Shaw weighed five fish caught on forward-facing sonar and even used some of his three hours to practice – which turned out to be key for Day 3.

“I mixed it up today a little bit, I thought for sure I could catch some more fish in my main area, but with having such tough mornings, I decided to start in my secondary area,” Shaw said. “That’s what produced most of my weight today – I caught four of my fish there.”

Plying a jerkbait and a finesse presentation, Shaw abandoned his secondary area halfway through the day and turned his forward-facing sonar on, only to be victimized by the contrary weather.

“Luckily my main area was clean right when I pulled up to it, and I caught my biggest fish in there – a 3 1/2-pounder,” he said. “Right after that, the wind picked up. I made one pass, saw some really big ones and didn’t get them to bite, and then all of a sudden the water just dirtied up. You couldn’t really even see the fish, and they weren’t acting right.”

On Day 3, only one of Shaw’s fish came when he had his sonar turned on, and he spent a good deal of time with a Rapala Mavrik 110 jerkbait in hand, with 12-pound Sufix Advance and a 6-foot, 10-inch, medium 13 Fishing Myth rod.

Coming off a Top 10 to start the year on the Bass Pro Tour and a string of Top-10 finishes on the Invitationals and Toyota Series in 2025, Shaw was itching to seal the deal again.

“I was on the way down here, and I told Josh, my cameraman, ‘I’m due for a win,’” Shaw admitted. “It felt good to finally get a win. I know I won Pickwick, but it was so close from there on, for quite a while. It wasn’t the best feeling before it happened. Usually when I win it’s by a decent margin, so this was nerve-racking. But I’m glad to pull it away, way down south on Okeechobee.”

Of course, the win is probably bad news for anyone signed up to fish against him in the near future, as Shaw shows no signs of slowing down.

“I’m feeling really good, I’m definitely off to a good start, riding the momentum from last year,” he said, referring to the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit opener Feb. 6-8. “The Harris Chain is one of my favorite fisheries in Florida, and it’s kind of my wheelhouse of fishing – shell bars and offshore grass. I’m pumped up for the Harris Chain.”

Tune in for that one – when Stop 1 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches on the Harris Chain fires up on Friday, you’ll be able to tune in to MLFNOW! on Day 1 to watch Shaw and the other Pro Circuit pros get to work.

The top 10 pros at the Toyota Series at Lake Okeechobee finished:

1st:          Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 15 bass, 49-5, $79,250 (includes $35,000 Phoenix MLF bonus)
2nd:        Kyle Cortiana, Broken Arrow, Okla., 15 bass, 49-2, $17,000
3rd:         Val Osinski, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 14 bass, 44-11, $12,750
4th:         Tim Wilson, Marion, Ind., 13 bass, 42-2, $10,750
5th:         Parker Knudsen, Shakopee, Minn., 15 bass, 40-4, $9,750
6th:         Doug Wooldridge, Williston, S.C., 15 bass, 39-11, $8,375
7th:         Adriano Theriot, Lake Charles, La., 15 bass, 38-12, $7,300
8th:         Brian Holder, Conover, N.C., 15 bass, 37-9, $6,300
9th:         Connor Macdougall, Cape Coral, Fla., 15 bass, 37-5, $5,300
10th:       Tyler Nekolny, Coral Springs, Fla., 15 bass, 36-15, $4,700

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Anthony Hunt of Coconut Creek, Florida, earned Thursday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass Award with a bass weighing 9 pounds, 13 ounces, while pro Tyler Nekolny of Coral Springs, Florida, won Friday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass, weighing in an 8-pound, 2-ounce bass to earn the $500 award.

Kenny Garand of Holiday, Florida, won the co-angler division Saturday at Lake Okeechobee with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 27 pounds, 12 ounces. Garand earned the top co-angler prize package worth $34,000, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers at the Toyota Series at Lake Okeechobee finished:

1st:         Kenny Garand, Holiday, Fla., 13 bass, 27-12, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd:        William Lewis, Jacksonville, Fla., seven bass, 25-8, $5,375
3rd:         Ray Ruiz, Boca Raton, Fla., nine bass, 25-8, $4,400
4th:         Bob Morin, Seymour, Tenn., 12 bass, 25-2, $3,650
5th:         Marlei Hunt, Wesley Chapel, Fla., 12 bass, 23-3, $3,150
6th:         Jeff Morgan, Newnan, Ga., 10 bass, 22-13, $2,650
7th:         Eric Stong, Leesburg, Fla., six bass, 20-7, $2,150
8th:         David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., seven bass, 19-15, $1,925
9th:         Stephen Draghi, Sparrowbush, N.Y., eight bass, 19-1, $1,530
10th:       John Hicks, Winter Garden, Fla., six bass, 18-14, $1,290

Co-angler Brad Moore of Cape Coral, Florida, earned the first Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of the week on Thursday with a 7-pound, 12-ounce bass to earn the $150 prize, while Friday’s Day 2 $150 co-angler award went to Steve Barnett of Mount Holly, North Carolina, who weighed in a bass totaling 8 pounds, 7 ounces.

The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Okeechobee was hosted by the Hendry County Tourism Development Council. It was the first of three regular-season tournaments for the Toyota Series Southern Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Toyota Series at Sam Rayburn Reservoir Presented by Suzuki Marine, Feb. 12-14, in Brookeland, Texas. 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 include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly, Mercury, MillerTech, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PiranhO2, 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 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, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV and Game & Fish TV, 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.