Portland, Tennessee’s Payne Tops Co-Angler Division

MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. (June 22, 2026) – Boater Michael Stout of Gallatin, Tennessee, caught a total of five bass weighing 18 pounds, 2 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Old Hickory Lake. The tournament was the fourth of five events of the season for the BFL Music City Division. Stout earned $2,960 for his victory.

“I really didn’t have a place to start, so I kind of just bounced around,” Stout said. “Most of my stuff was offshore. They started pulling current, and they weren’t supposed to, but it made the fish set up on a couple of key spots and I was able to catch them with (Garmin) LiveScope and without it. It was basically a big plug, worm and a football jig for me.”

Stout said he fished mid-lake to the bottom end of the lake and targeted current breaks on the main river in 6 to 12 feet of water. He attacked first with the crankbait and then switched to the more subtle baits to coax bites.

“Around 10 or 11 o’clock I felt like I had a shot at winning, but I felt that I was one fish short,” Stout said. “I had 17 pounds at 1:30 and I just happened to pull up on a hole and caught a 3½-pounder.

“It was a good day. Everything just kind of fell into place,” Stout went on to say. It’s an awesome feeling to win. It shows that all of the hard work you put in pays off. That’s the most rewarding thing to me.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Michael Stout, Gallatin, Tenn., five bass, 18-2, $2,960
2nd:       Angel Rosario, Kalamazoo, Mich., five bass, 18-1, $1,700
3rd:       Austin True, Dickson, Tenn., five bass, 15-4, $1,195 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
3rd:       Craig Gann, Castalian Springs, Tenn., five bass, 15-4, $695
5th:        Sam Lashlee, Camden, Tenn., five bass, 13-12, $550
6th:        Jayson Johnson, Smithville, Tenn., five bass, 13-8, $470
6th:        Cole Petroff, Mt. Juliet, Tenn., five bass, 13-8, $470
8th:        Shane Oxford, Saint Meinrad, Ind., five bass, 13-3, $690
9th:        Matthew Poss, Smithville, Tenn., five bass, 13-1, $420
10th:     Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., five bass, 12-12, $560

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Angel Rosario of Kalamazoo, Michigan, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 4-pound, 6-ounce bass worth $200.

Richard Payne of Portland, Tennessee, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,580 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 10 pounds, 11 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Richard Payne, Portland, Tenn., three bass, 10-11, $1,580
2nd:       David Marr, Cleveland, Tenn., three bass, 7-14, $750
3rd:       Blake Whittaker, Cookeville, Tenn., three bass, 7-9, $347
3rd:       Tyrell Harmon, Hermitage, Tenn., three bass, 7-9, $347
5th:        Jarrod White, Lebanon, Tenn., three bass, 7-3, $275
6th:        Jeff Cave, Mt. Juliet, Tenn., three bass, 7-0, $340
7th:        Redd Reynolds, Flintville, Tenn., three bass, 6-13, $230
8th:        Ricky England, Sparta, Tenn., three bass, 6-12, $220
9th:        Chris Seese, Ten Mile, Tenn., three bass, 6-9, $188
9th:        David Dan, Lebanon, Tenn., three bass, 6-9, $188
9th:        David Wiley, Greenbrier, Tenn., three bass, 6-9, $188

Richard Payne of Portland, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 4-pound, 3-ounce bass worth $100.

After four events, tournament winner Michael Stout now leads the 7 Brew Music City Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 968 points, while David Wiley of Greenbrier, Tennessee, leads the Music City Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 952 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.

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, PirahnO2, 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.