GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 5, 2026) – Boater Grant Meisenhelter of Decatur, Illinois, caught a total of 10 bass weighing 29 pounds, 13 ounces, over two days to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Kentucky-Barkley Lakes. The tournament, hosted by Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau, was the fifth and final event of the season for the BFL LBL Division. Meisenhelter earned $2,540 for his victory.

“I had a couple of schools of fish that I planned on starting out with, and on the first day I showed up to one of them and there was triple the amount of fish there than had been there in practice,” Meisenhelter said. “I was so excited, but I only caught two there and then they shut off.”

Meisenhelter said he then turned on his Garmin LiveScope for his three-hour period and picked up two more, running “isolated stuff” and a fifth bass throwing a shallow crankbait.

“I kind of just ran all over, doing whatever I could,” Meisenhelter said. “I knew I just needed to get five keepers, and I’d probably make the Day 2 cut.”

Meisenhelter said during his LiveScope period he primarily used a minnow and a Hideup Coike to entice strikes, and his fishing locations ranged from the dam to Paris Landing State Park. While cloud cover dominated Day 1, the sky cleared on Sunday and the bite became tough for Meisenhelter.

“On Day 2 I caught just one in my school, then ran all my other stuff,” Meisenhelter continued. “Then I ’Scoped three out of some isolated brush and stumps, but it took me all day. I finally caught my fifth one on a Carolina rig.”

“Finding that school of fish kind of boosted my confidence each morning,” Meisenhelter went on to say. “Being able to roll up there and catch a solid keeper to start the day off without my ’Scope was key. I had planned on catching all five each day without the ’Scope, but that didn’t work out, so I was grateful to find that one school that I could get at least one or two to fire for me.”

Meisenhelter figured if he could catch at least 17 pounds on Day 1, he would be in a good spot to have a chance at a strong finish on Day 2. He finished Day 1 with a weight of 17-3. A smaller limit of 12-10 on the second day brought a dark cloud over Meisenhelter’s confidence.

“I thought sure I was going to drop down five or six places,” Meisenhelter said. “I was expecting everybody else to catch them.

“I was shocked,” Meisenhelter said when he was proclaimed the tournament winner. “It never crossed my mind I was going to win with only 12 pounds in my livewell. I was just glad to have five fish. I just was not getting the bites I thought I needed on Sunday.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:         Grant Meisenhelter, Decatur, Ill., 10 bass, 29-13, $2,540
2nd:        Justin Berger, Murray, Ky., six bass, 25-3, $1,500
3rd:        Clint Knight, Russellville, Ky., eight bass, 24-4, $1,330 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
4th:         Stephen Barga, Benton, Ky., seven bass, 20-1, $720
5th:         Ron Peckenpaugh, Louisville, Ky., seven bass, 16-12, $640
6th:         Sam Lashlee, Camden, Tenn., four bass, 15-11, $920
7th:         Sam Boss, Paducah, Ky., six bass, 14-13, $600
8th:         Dustin Vaal, Farmington, Ky., four bass, 10-2, $580
9th:         Scott McWaters, Clarksville, Tenn., four bass, 10-2
10th:       Edward Gettys, Dover, Tenn., three bass, 9-15

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Sam Lashlee of Camden, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 6-pound, 7-ounce bass worth $300.

Stan Evans of Newburgh, Indiana, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,270 Sunday after bringing six bass to the scale that totaled 15 pounds, 9 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:          Stan Evans, Newburgh, Ind., six bass, 15-9, $1,270
2nd:        Brady Kendall, Paducah, Ky., five bass, 19-13, $700
3rd:         Adam Lucas, Cade Girardeau, Mo., three bass, 8-15, $565
4th:         Gary Huber II, St. Charles, Mo., four bass, 8-15, $410
5th:         Matt Chumbler, Carbondale, Ill., four bass, 8-0, $320
6th:         Wayne Miller, Morgantown, Ky., three bass, 7-3, $305
6th:         Marty Gorrell, Russellville, Ky., three bass, 7-3, $305
8th:         Ben Wade, South Fulton, Tenn., three bass, 5-12, $290
9th:         Kim Sapetti, Chatham, Ill., two bass, 4-9
10th:       Kenneth Heckel, Santa Claus, Ind., two bass, 4-6

Adam Lucas of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 3-pound, 14-ounce bass worth $150.

With all five events in the division now complete, boater Noah Morgan of Russellville, Kentucky, won the 7 Brew LBL Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 1,352 points and earned the $1,000 prize, while Matt Chumbler of Carbondale, Illinois, won the LBL Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 1,330 points and earned the $500 payout.

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. 22-24 BFL Regional tournament on Watts Bar Lake in Spring City, Tennessee. 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 Nicotine Pouches, 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.