Bonne Terre’s Spell Tops Co-Angler Division

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (March 31, 2025) – Boater Thomas Rallo of Eldon, Missouri, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 1 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake of the Ozarks Presented by Suzuki Marine . The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Ozark Division. Rallo earned $7,041, including the lucrative $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

Rallo kicked off the morning in a shallow pocket to get away from fishing pressure. Things went fast. He had a limit by 8 a.m., which allowed him to spend the rest of the day hunting bigger bites. Also, Rallo abandoned what he’d found in practice because the fish had already transitioned in shallower.

“I had noticed a warming trend,” Rallo said. “The fish were getting from their winter patterns into their spawning patterns, and I want to say something happened overnight because the fish that I caught today (Saturday) were not there in practice. In practice, I was seeing them out a little deeper using my LiveScope, and today I didn’t see a single one using LiveScope. They were all in less than 8 feet.”

Once he had a limit, Rallo ran spawning pockets and flats, keying on pea gravel banks, to pick up a few more quality fish. The best spots were located right at the transition areas where the banks bent to go into the pockets – near the mouths, rather than in the backs.

Rallo caught most of his weight on an Alabama rig with Bojangle Baits Jangle Shad swimbaits, slow-rolling the rig down the bank. He also caught some fish on a homemade 3/8-ounce jig with a Bojangle Z-Daddy trailer.

The top 11 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Thomas Rallo, Eldon, Mo., five bass, 22-1 $7,041 (includes $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Ronnie Kane, Spring Hill, Kan., five bass, 20-8, $2,270
3rd:       Eric Olliverson, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 17-6, $1,514
4th:        Jonathan Pimentel, Camdenton, Mo., five bass, 16-5, $1,060
5th:        Ricky Crawford, Shell Knob, Mo., four bass, 16-2, $908
6th:        Chase Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., five bass, 15-14, $833
7th:        Brian Hansen, Fenton, Mo., five bass, 15-10, $757
8th:        Greg Proffitt, Kansas City, Mo., five bass, 15-5, $643
8th:        Jason Weast, Macks Creek, Mo., five bass, 15-5, $643
10th:     Chad Allison, Carl Junction, Mo., five bass, 14-14, $503
10th:     Lawson Hibdon, Versailles, Mo., five bass, 14-14, $503

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Justin Luetkemeyer of Osage Beach, Missouri, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $660.

Dennis Spell of Bonne Terre, Missouri, won the co-angler division and $2,270 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 15 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Dennis Spell, Bonne Terre, Mo., three bass, 13-15, $2,270
2nd:      Morgan McLain Lenexa, Kan., three bass, 12-15, $1,135
3rd:       Wes Proctor, Manhattan, Kan., three bass, 12-14, $757
4th:        William Koerber, Phillipsburg, Mo., three bass, 12-5, $530
5th:        Christopher Becker, Kansas City, Mo., three bass, 11-5, $454
6th:        David Honey, Hollister, Mo., two bass, 9-4, $416
7th:        Jamie McCain, Lake Lotawana, Mo., three bass, 9-2, $378
8th:        Brian Davis, Bethalto, Ill., three bass, 9-1, $341
9th:        Steve Treiber, Eureka, Mo., two bass, 8-13, $633
10th:     Paul Davis, Hollister, Mo., three bass, 8-11, $265

Steve Treiber of Eureka, Missouri, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $330, catching a bass that weighed in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Eric Olliverson of Shell Knob, Missouri, now leads the Fishing Clash Ozark Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 493 points, while Paul Davis of Hollister, Missouri, leads the Fishing Clash Ozark Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 477 points.

The next event for BFL Ozark Division anglers will be held April 26, at Table Rock Lake in Kimberling City, Missouri. 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 Sports 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.