California’s Kojima Tops Co-Angler Division

BROOKELAND, Texas. (April 7, 2025) – Boater Zane Parker of Kingwood, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 30 pounds, 12 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Sam Rayburn Reservoir Presented by Strike King . The tournament, hosted by the Jasper County Development District, was the third event of the season for the BFL Cowboy Division. Parker earned $3,426 for his victory.

The weather was pretty nasty at Sam Rayburn on Saturday. But for the 19-year-old Parker, catching 30 pounds easily overshadows any hardships brought on by the wind and rain. He leaned on forward-facing sonar to overcome conditions, using his electronics to relocate spawning bass that he found in practice using both his eyes and his sonar. Parker spent most of the tournament in about 5 feet of water and relied on reaction baits primarily. He said the fish wouldn’t touch soft plastics.

“I had some bed fish marked and just kind of stayed in one area where a lot of big fish were,” he said. “I just threw a little bit of everything. I threw some big baits at them. I threw a Provoke 106DD (jerkbait) by 6th Sense. I threw a glide bait around a little bit. That’s kind of what I did my damage on. They were just on beds, and you’d throw over there and they’d come out eating it.”

Parker ran from bed to bed, assembling a limit worth about 20 pounds by 10 a.m. Then he gradually culled up.

“I caught a 7-pounder, then like 15 minutes later I found another one and caught another one,” he said. “And that was the end of the day. Honestly, after I had 30-something, I just kind of stopped fishing. My smallest was basically a 5-pounder. I was like, man, if I’ve got to throw back a 5-pounder that’s just sick. If someone beats me, hats off to them.”

Second-place finisher Kaden Mueck took at shot, but even with 28 pounds, 2 ounces, Mueck still came up more than 2 1/2 pounds shy of Parker’s impressive winning weight.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Zane Parker, Kingwood, Texas, five bass, 30-12, $3,426
2nd:      Kaden Mueck, Livingston, Texas, five bass, 28-2, $2,143
3rd:       Wyatt Frankens, Corrigan, Texas, five bass, 22-3, $1,141
4th:        Cody Ross, Livingston, Texas, five bass, 19-15, $899
5th:        Phil Hennigan, Center, Texas, five bass, 19-8, $685
6th:        Clayton Boulware, Zavalla, Texas, five bass, 19-6, $628
7th:        Cole Moore, Anacoco, La., five bass, 18-14, $1,071 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
8th:        John Maddox, Lufkin, Texas, five bass, 15-10, $514
9th:        Melvin Dunn, Orange, Texas, five bass, 15-4, $457
10th:     Joel Baker, Talala, Okla., five bass, 15-0, $400

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Kaden Mueck of Livingston, Texas, caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $430.

Takaaki Kojima of Temecula, California, won the co-angler division and $1,713 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 4 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Takaaki Kojima, Temecula, Calif., three bass, 11-4, $1,713
2nd:      Brad Poole, Roanoke, Texas, three bass, 11-0, $1,071
3rd:       Neill Beckham, Jacksonville, Texas, three bass, 10-9, $571
4th:        Darrell Denton, Georgetown, Texas, three bass, 10-8, $450
5th:        Ben Faucheaux, Natchitoches, La., three bass, 9-13, $343
6th:        Jay Childs, Houston, Texas, three bass, 9-0, $299
6th:        Velin (Lin) Sims, Spring, Texas, three bass, 9-0, $299
8th:        Brandon Begnaud, Dickinson, Texas, three bass, 8-10, $257
9th:        James Grizzle, Many, La., three bass, 8-8, $228
10th:     Leavitt Hamilton, Gonzales, La., three bass, 8-3, $200

Brad Poole of Roanoke, Texas, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $215, catching a bass that weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After three events, Cole Moore of Anacoco, Louisiana, now leads the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 741 points, while Logan Slaughter of Lewisville, Texas, leads the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 719 points.

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. 24-25 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, 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.