Delaware’s Hewitt Tops Co-Angler Division

BROKEN BOW, Okla. (May 12, 2025) – Boater Roger Hughes of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 7 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Broken Bow Lake. The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Okie Division. Hughes earned $4,619 for his victory.

“With the water rising and coming up, I just practiced with my wife, and we just kind of broke it down and figured it out,” Hughes said. “They definitely were on the steeper embankments, and I had to get up there where there wasn’t any water behind the structure.”

Hughes caught his fish using two tactics. He flipped shallow cover and he threw a glide bait. The glide is a custom bait he paints and sells under the brand name Lucky H Lures. His company can be found on social media and an auction app called Whatnot. Hughes’ glide baits have a knocker in them for a little extra attraction.

“I sell the bigger glides for $25 and the little ones for $20, so you don’t go broke with them – and they work,” he said. “I put my own twist on the paint jobs.”

As for the fishing, Hughes stayed on the steep banks and worked the glide bait down the outside of flooded bushes. He used a gizzard shad pattern in clear areas and a bone color where visibility was reduced. His flipping approach was to pick apart shallow brush and rock.

“It was big chunky bluff rock and green buckbrush that had water over the top of it,” he said. “There were a million cypress trees and not a fish wanted in the cypress. There was nothing in willows. They were all bush-related, either out in front of the bushes or on the real chunky bluff rock.”

To make his win even sweeter, Hughes got to see his cousin, Thad Hewitt, get the W on the co-angler side.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Roger Hughes, Bartlesville, Okla., five bass, 17-7, $4,619
2nd:       Nick Kincaid, Brookeland, Texas, five bass, 16-2, $2,559 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
3rd:       Ian Leybas, McAlester, Okla., five bass, 15-13, $2,064
4th:        Paul Davis, Newalla, Okla., five bass, 15-8, $961
5th:        Titan Hobson, Idabel, Okla., five bass, 14-4, $824
6th:        Jeremy Johnson, Sapulpa, Okla., five bass, 13-13, $755
7th:        Brendon McDonald, Claremore, Okla., five bass, 13-5, $686
8th:        Kiel Dean, Broken Bow, Okla., five bass, 12-15, $618
9th:        Ben Blaschke, Roland, Okla., five bass, 12-13, $549
10th:     Justin Barbour, Tulsa, Okla., five bass, 12-10, $480

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Ian Leybas of McAlester, Oklahoma, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $565.

Thad Hewitt of Delaware, Oklahoma, won the co-angler division and $2,741 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 1 ounce.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Thad Hewitt, Delaware, Okla., three bass, 14-1, $2,741
2nd:      Markus Mills, Norman, Okla., three bass, 9-14, $1,030
3rd:       Doug Camp, Talihina, Okla., three bass, 8-15, $687
4th:        Alan Bernicky, Dardanelle, Ark., three bass, 8-14, $480
5th:        James West, Spiro, Okla., three bass, 8-3, $412
6th:        Steve Cummins, Bartlesville, Okla., three bass, 8-1, $378
7th:        David See, Tulsa, Okla., three bass, 7-12, $343
8th:        Mark Taylor, Oklahoma City, Okla., three bass, 7-2, $274
8th:        Blake Gunderson, Claremore, Okla., three bass, 7-2, $274
8th:        Andrew Kuppinger, Owasso, Okla., three bass, 7-2, $274

Hewitt also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $282, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After three events, Nick Kincaid of Brookeland, Texas, now leads the Fishing Clash Okie Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 736 points, while James West of Spiro, Oklahoma, leads the Fishing Clash Okie Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 708 points.

The next event for BFL Okie Division anglers will be held June 21, at the Arkansas River out of Muskogee, 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 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 Sport 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, 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.