Indiana’s Elswick Tops Co-Angler Division

TRENTON, Mich. (July 14, 2025) – Boater Nolan Mandel of Kimball, Michigan, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Detroit River Presented by Lew’s . The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Michigan Division. Mandel earned $10,904, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

Coming off a two-win, Angler of the Year season in the Michigan Division in 2024, Mandel is right back in the winner’s seat and atop the standings once again this year.

“I went to St. Clair,” he said. “I wanted to fish all the way out on the northern end, but the wind was kind of ‘eh.’ So I kind of stopped in the middle of the lake and started scoping around.”

Mandel worked waters on both sides of the border with Canada.

“I started early in the morning trying to cover a lot of water to find fish, and I noticed they were sitting really tight to the bottom,” he added. “So I slowed down and threw a 6-inch minnow on a 3 /16-ounce jighead and a drop-shot with a Berkley (PowerBait MaxScent) Flat Worm and 3/8-ounce weight.”

Opting for a big 6-inch minnow served multiple purposes. First, its big profile helped draw fish up off the bottom. Second, its weight allowed Mandel to make long casts in the stiff wind, and he says the size makes it easier to impart the right action in the windy conditions. Finally, it imitates the big perch that quality smallmouth bass like to eat.

“The morning started really, really slow,” Mandel said. “The first hour we caught a couple dinks, and then I lost one really big one in an area that apparently wasn’t that good. Because I then stayed in that area for another two or three hours and caught no bass that I weighed in. I really caught the majority of my fish in the last hour and a half in a different area.”

With his weight in the box, Mandel’s final hurdle was navigating a rough Detroit River mouth on the way back in. A storm had spun up, and the wind blowing against the river current stacked up the waves. Mandel got a little wet but made it in safely with yet another tournament-winning limit of St. Clair smallmouths.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Nolan Mandel, Kimball, Mich., five bass, 22-15, $10,904 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Austin Anderson, Ashley, Ind., five bass, 21-2, $1,902
3rd:       Chris Hellebuyck, White Lake, Mich., five bass, 21-1, $1,417
4th:        Jeremy Reese, Powell, Ohio, five bass, 20-10, $888
5th:        Angel Rosario, Kalamazoo, Mich., five bass, 20-2, $761
6th:        Noah Stauffer, Gowen, Mich., five bass, 20-0, $1,202
7th:        Derek Rodriguez, Okemos, Mich., five bass, 19-10, $634
8th:        Julian Sweet, Flint, Mich., five bass, 19-7, $571
9th:        Nicholas Seitz, Maumee, Ohio, five bass, 19-3, $507
10th:     Cliff Blackford, Addison, Mich., five bass, 18-4, $444

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Noah Stauffer of Gowen, Michigan, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 8 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $505.

Greg Elswick of Goshen, Indiana, won the co-angler division and $1,952 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 4 ounces.

The top 11 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Greg Elswick, Goshen, Ind., three bass, 13-4, $1,952
2nd:       Justen Fain, Springfield, Ohio, three bass, 11-15, $951
3rd:       Brian Townley, Wyoming, Mich., three bass, 11-12, $634
4th:        Scott Sims, Morgantown, Ind., three bass, 11-2, $444
5th:        Robert Miller, Litchfield, Mich., three bass, 10-15, $380
6th:        Cody Salzmann, Southgate, Mich., three bass, 10-14, $449
7th:        Scott Lutz, Bremen, Ind., three bass, 10-12, $569
8th:        Joseph Gnaster, Crown Point, Ind., three bass, 10-11, $285
9th:        Carl Bowser, Indianapolis, Ind., three bass, 10-7, $225
9th:        Todd Layne, Poca, W.Va., three bass, 10-7, $225
9th:        Rece Kimmel, Lewistown, Ohio, three bass, 10-7, $225

Scott Lutz of Bremen, Indiana, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $252, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 14 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Nolan Mandel of Kimball, Michigan, now leads the Fishing Clash Michigan Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 497 points, while Cody Salzmann of Southgate, Michigan, leads the Fishing Clash Michigan Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 492 points.

The next event for BFL Michigan Division anglers will be held July 26, at the Detroit River out of Trenton, Michigan. 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. 3-4 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Erie out of Sandusky, Ohio. 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.

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, Discovery+, Discovery GO, Animal Planet, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and Game & Fish TV, 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.