PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Aug. 31, 2026) – If you fish around Lake Champlain, you know that it’s pretty hard to beat anybody with the last name “LaBelle” in a bass tournament. Saturday, at the final weigh-in of the 2026 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Northern Division season, beating a LaBelle was downright impossible.

Not 45 minutes after watching his son Jakob claim the co-angler trophy and Phoenix 518 Pro boat/motor package thanks to a final-day bag of 17 pounds, 6 ounces, pro Bryan LaBelle  of Hinesburg, Vermont, dropped 21-6 on the scale in Plattsburgh to earn his second career Toyota Series win with a three-day total of 60-6 on Champlain.

LaBelle outdistanced Spike Stoker (60-1), Alec Morrison (59-12),  Jedediah Worthington  (59-9) and Bobby Bakewell (59-7) to pull down a $67,001 payday (including the lucrative $35,000 Phoenix Bonus).

“I’m a little in shock, to be honest,” the elder LaBelle admitted. “My practice was not so good – and the whole season has been a little tough, really – so I wasn’t expecting this. I’m happy to have hung in there and gotten it done.”

Despite his modest expectations entering the week, LaBelle was an obvious consensus pick to win thanks to a résumé on Champlain that now includes three MLF wins and 13 top-10 finishes, along with a BASS Open trophy in 2018 (not to mention his three-plus decades of experience on the lake).

His gameplan was to lean into largemouth in out-of-the-way places around the lake, instead of betting on the three-hour live-sonar window in areas where he’d have to fish in a crowd, and against ‘Scope specialists who he felt he’d have trouble keeping up with.

“Not having the full day, I felt like I probably shouldn’t get caught up in the smallmouth game,” LaBelle said. “Some of these guys are just so good at ‘Scoping, and I’m just okay at it. With just the three-hour window, smallmouth didn’t feel like the best option for me. I have some largemouth stuff off the beaten path that people don’t really know about, and that’s what I went for.”

LaBelle started the event with 18-11 on a blustery Day 1, which put him in 17th place but still within less than a pound of the Top 10 and 2 pounds of the lead on a fishery well known for its tightly packed tournament weights. It wasn’t an easy 18-pound bag, by any means: LaBelle found himself with just four fish with 19 minutes left in his fishing day before pulling up on a spot and connecting with a 3 3/4-pounder to fill out his limit.

“What I was doing was stressful and difficult,” LaBelle said. “I’m fishing for big fish, and it’s very slow. I’d get one fish, and then go for a long time and get one more. It was tough.”

LaBelle boosted his total to 20-5 on Day 2 to climb into the Top 10 with 39-0 – well within range of the No. 1 spot, which was held at the time by fellow Vermont pro Worthington with 40-10. His pace wasn’t much faster, with LaBelle taking until the final 45 minutes to fill out his final bag of five fish.

“I had to bail on my first area and go somewhere totally different the second day,” he said. “I have enough stuff on the lake that I can do that, but I had to start in a new area and tear it apart.”

LaBelle’s final day got off to the kind of start that every angler hopes for: “Right off the bat, maybe 20 minutes in, I caught a 4.79 and 5.78,” he said. “I thought ‘Oh my gosh, this might go down. There go the two bigs, now I just have to find three good ones to go with them’.”

But LaBelle went without a bite for the next 2 1/2 hours before landing on a spot that surrendered two more fish. He filled out his limit with under an hour to go, eventually weighing in 21-6 to fly past the rest of the Top 10. LaBelle’s improvement from Day 2 to Day 3 bucked the trend of the nine anglers he trailed heading into the final day. After giving up six 20-pound bags to the Day 2 Top 10, Champlain only allowed three on Saturday –  to LaBelle, Stoker and Morrison in the 1-2-3 spots.

“Everybody knows the lake is fishing tough, except for a few places,” LaBelle said. “I was shooting for 20 pounds a day, but it was scary. I knew there was only one way for me to (win) it, but I only caught six fish the first two days and seven fish (on Saturday). It’s hard to explain it to somebody who’s not familiar with this lake. There are big fish around, but there aren’t that many places where there are big groups of fish. “

LaBelle’s key bait was a 1/2- or 3/4-ounce Beast Coast Lil’ Magnum Jig in bruised or dirtbag colors, with a beaver-style trailer. He fished it on a Kistler rod and Lew’s reel spooled with 16-pound fluorocarbon.

The top 10 pros at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Champlain finished:

1st:          Bryan LaBelle, Hinesburg, Vt., 15 bass, 60-6, $67,001 (includes $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus)
2nd:        Spike Stoker, Cisco, Texas, 15 bass, 60-1, $12,803
3rd:         Alec Morrison, Peru, N.Y., 15 bass, 59-12, $9,525
4th:         Jedediah Worthington, Morrisville, Vt., 15 bass, 59-9, $7,938
5th:         Bobby Bakewell, Orlando, Fla., 15 bass, 59-7, $7,144
6th:         Austin Pemberton, Tuscola, Texas, 15 bass, 58-11, $6,350
7th:         Ethan Fields, Breese, Ill., 15 bass, 58-8, $5,556
8th:         Buddy Benson, Dahlonega, Ga., 15 bass, 58-8, $4,763
9th:         Tripp Berlinsky, Saint Cloud, Fla., 15 bass, 58-2, $3,969
10th:       Nathan Reynolds, Nashville, Tenn., 15 bass, 58-0, $3,175

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Spike Stoker of Cisco, Texas, earned Thursday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass Award with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and Christopher Dam of Staatsburg, New York, earned Friday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass Award with a bass weighing 5 pounds, 2 ounces.

Jakob LaBelle of Hinesburg, Vermont, won the co-angler division Saturday at Lake Champlain with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 52 pounds, 10 ounces. Jakob LaBelle earned the top co-angler prize package worth $33,600, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

Unlike his dad on the pro side, co-angler winner Jakob LaBelle didn’t need to mount a comeback of any sorts on Lake Champlain to earn his second Toyota Series title of the 2026 season. The younger LaBelle led by 13 ounces going into the final day and stretched that out to more than 2 1/2 pounds on Saturday, weighing in 17-6 for a three-day total of 52-10.

Michael Luckey was second with 50-0, followed by Mike Urbania (49-8),  Bobby France (47-10) and  Adam Montani (42-8).

LaBelle started the event second after Day 1 with 17-0, but bumped up to 18-6 on Day 2 to take the lead. Much like his dad, LaBelle relied on flurries late in the day to fill out his limit.

“I learned the fish pretty quick, and where they were sitting in the water column,” LaBelle said. “I lost a giant the first day that would’ve helped me a lot, but I executed the plan pretty well.”

His 17-6 on the final day was the heaviest co-angler bag of the day, and easily enough to give him the win and double qualify LaBelle for the 2026 Toyota Series Championship at Pickwick in November.

LaBelle did the bulk of his damage with a 3/8- and 1/2-ounce Beast Coast OW Sniper Jig in sexy melon, with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Li’l General trailer.

“I was blessed to win at Pickwick, but this is the one I wanted, and to double up with Dad was just unbelievable,” LaBelle said. “I couldn’t be more thankful for the hand I was dealt with the guys I fished with this week. My Day 2 guy wasn’t going to make the cut, but was running the same bait in a different color. He told me, ‘If you weren’t doing this well, I’d be tied up with the same color, but I’m going to let you do your thing.’

“That was such a cool thing for him to do, and I really appreciated it.”

The top 10 co-anglers at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Champlain finished:

1st:          Jakob LaBelle, Hinesburg, Vt, 15 bass, 52-10, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd:        Michael Luckey, Lynchburg, Va., 15 bass, 50-0, $4,057
3rd:         Mike Urbania, Mentor, Ohio, 15 bass, 49-8, $3,246
4th:         Bobby France, Carlisle, Mass., 15 bass, 47-10, $2,840
5th:         Adam Montani, Douglas, Mass., 14 bass, 42-8, $2,434
6th:         Kade Wesner, Lancaster, Pa., 13 bass, 42-8, $2,029
7th:         Todd Lee, Jasper, Ala., 14 bass, 42-3, $1,773
8th:         Nick Ireland, Davison, Mich., 14 bass, 41-12, $1,420
9th:         George Yund, Glenmont, N.Y., 12 bass, 41-2, $1,217
10th:       Keith Honeycutt, Temple, Texas, 12 bass, 38-3, $1,014

Co-angler Jimmy Wells Jr. of Collinsville, Illinois, earned Thursday’s Berkley Big Bass co-angler award on Day 1 with a bass weighing 5 pounds, 1 ounce, to earn the $150 prize, while Friday’s Day 2 $150 co-angler award went to co-angler Todd Lee of Jasper, Alabama, who weighed in a 4-pound, 15-ounce bass.

With all three Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Northern Division events now complete, pro Harmon Marien of Eagle River, Wisconsin, won the 7 Brew Northern Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 720 points, while Kade Wesner of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, won the Northern Division Co-Angler of the Year title, with 774 points.

The three-day Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Champlain was hosted by the City of Plattsburgh and the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau . It was the third and final regular-season tournament for the Toyota Series Northern Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the final event of the season, the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Championship at Pickwick Lake, Nov. 5-7 in Counce, Tennessee and is hosted by Explore Pickwick Lake & Hardin County Tourism. 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 qualification to REDCREST 2027. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard.

Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly Nicotine Pouches, Mercury, MillerTech, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PirahnO2, 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 on 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.