Indiana’s Pickel Earns Victory in Co-Angler Division

CANNELTON, Ind. (Aug. 10, 2026) – Boater Noah Woodring of Evansville, Indiana, caught five bass totaling 9 pounds, 9 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Ohio River at Rocky Point. The tournament was the third of five events of the season for the BFL Hoosier Division, and the first of a Hoosier Division double-header weekend on the Ohio River at Rocky Point. Woodring earned $3,530 for his victory.

“I took off, locked through the dam and ran downriver to a place I had practiced the previous Sunday,” said Woodring, who regularly fishes the river a couple of times a week. “I was fishing stumps in three to five feet of water with a spinnerbait. That’s what I rolled with. The bigger the stumps, the better – they were a high-percentage area.”

Woodring said once he locked through, he caught eight keepers during the actual 1½ hours of fishing he had to work with.

“Once I had my 9-9 total weight, I figured that would be enough for at least a top-five finish. And I wanted to get back to weigh-in and not chance getting locked out if a barge came along a bit later,” the 18-year-old Woodring said.

“If felt good to win after what’s happened to me the last two years,” Woodring went on to say. “In the first BFL I fished, I broke one off and lost another that would have gotten me the win. Then last year I had big bass in the event here, but I only had three fish. I lost two that I feel like would have put me in the top five, then. So this feels like a little redemption.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Noah Woodring, Evansville, Ind., five bass, 9-9, $3,530
2nd:      Richard Ison, North Vernon, Ind., five bass, 9-5, $2,470 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
3rd:       Chris Wilkinson, Farmersburg, Ind., five bass, 8-2, $890
4th:        John Melton, Corydon, Ind., five bass, 7-3, $710
5th:        Mark Dunn, Trafalgar, Ind., five bass, 7-1, $630
6th:        Mike Quinlin, Mooresville, Ind., five bass, 6-10, $530
6th:        Brady Bickers, Carrollton, Ky., five bass, 6-10, $530
8th:        Todd House, Hawesville, Ky., five bass, 6-8, $490
9th:        Brandon Barker, Magnet, Ind., five bass, 6-7, $470
10th:     Marty Sisk, Evansville, Ind., five bass, 6-6, $450

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Richard Ison of North Vernon, Indiana, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 3-pound, 10-ounce bass worth $200.

Jarrod Pickel of Mitchell, Indiana, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,865 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 10 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Jarrod Pickel, Mitchell, Ind., three bass, 8-10, $1,865
2nd:      Eric Schank, Tell City, Ind., three bass, 6-9, $885
3rd:       Brian Ferguson, Louisville, Ky., three bass, 6-6, $495
4th:        Dale Walton, Greenwood, Ind., three bass, 6-1, $355
5th:        Rob Campbell, Martinsville, Ind., three bass, 5-13, $315
6th:        Jordan Atwell, Ruston, La., two bass, 5-2, $270
7th:        Mason Sisk, Evansville, Ind., three bass, 4-14, $260
8th:        Yaounde Howard, Bolingbrook, Ill., two bass, 4-7, $242
8th:        James Morris, Newburgh, Ind., three bass, 4-7, $242
10th:     John Thomas, Quincy, Ind., three bass, 4-5, $225

Pickel also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 4-pound, 8-ounce bass worth an additional $100.

After three events, Brady Bickers of Carrollton, Kentucky, now leads the 7 Brew Hoosier Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 724 points, while Rob Campbell of Martinsville, Indiana, leads the Hoosier Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 709 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. 15-17 BFL Regional tournament on Kentucky-Barkley Lake in Calvert City, Kentucky. 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. The 2027 BFL All-American will take place June 5-7, at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Kissimmee, Florida, and is hosted by Experience Kissimmee.

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, PiranhO2, 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.

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, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, 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.