Illinois’ Spacil Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (Feb. 17, 2025) – Boater Austin Shields of Lake View, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 29 pounds, 3 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine at Lake Guntersville . The tournament, hosted by the Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce, was the first event of the season for the BFL Choo Choo Division. Shields earned $5,133 for his victory.

Shields caught not only his biggest-ever tournament limit, but also his biggest tournament bass. And that kicker – an 8-pound, 2-ounce fish – knocked a foot of slack in the line while Shields was fishing the way he really loves to fish: old-school power fishing. But more on that in a bit.

Shields came to Guntersville Friday to practice, armed with a tip from a buddy that put him around some really nice quality bass. In fact, he was able to put 20 pounds in the boat in practice on one key spot then bounced around checking secondary areas and eventually landed more than 29 pounds for the day. You might be thinking that’s too many fish to hook in practice, but Shields was just catching one here and one there to gauge the quality on each spot – and there was plenty left for the tournament.

“This morning (Saturday), I ran to that spot first thing, and I had 25 pounds by 8 a.m.,” Shields said. “I made a couple of small culls throughout the day, and late in the day, like 2:30 or 2:45, I rolled up the river because the wind started getting rough. So we decided to come back and just kind of fish close to the ramp for the last hour or so.

“I get here, and I was like, it’s Guntersville and there’s always big fish around causeways. I pulled up to a causeway, picked up a ChatterBait and caught an 8-2 that culled out a 4.90, and that gave me 29.”

Making the switch to the Z-Man ChatterBait and following his instincts was a big reward for Shields, who spent the entire morning shaking a minnow on secondary points using forward-facing sonar. The new technology is not his favorite, but he’s driven to win and has learned to use it by necessity.

“This afternoon, I noticed that they quit biting. They wouldn’t react to the bait anymore on LiveScope,” Shields said. “So I just kind of had to go old school. I grew up fishing old school without LiveScope, so I’ve kind of been rebellious toward using it. I have not wanted to use it. But all this past winter, I made myself use it to make myself get up to date with it because in central Alabama, like on the Coosa River, if you’re not using it in the wintertime, you’re getting beat. So I had to figure it out. But it was refreshing to pull up (on the causeway with the ChatterBait) and just kind of fish instinctually.”

Reflecting on his win, Shields was quick to credit his wife, Brittney, for her support.

“We’ve got a 3-year-old, and we’ve got a 5-month-old. We’ve got two very young kids in the house,” he said. “It’s not easy taking care of them and trying to spend time with them and still get out here to do a little practice and still working Monday through Friday like most everybody does. I’m glad that my wife takes the time and sacrifice to watch our kids while daddy comes out here and fishes. I’ve got to give credit to her. My family is up here with me. We rented a cabin in Goose Pond. Because it’s not just a me thing, it’s a family thing. We’re all in it together. We’re just a little fishing family.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Austin Shields, Lake View, Ala., five bass, 29-3, $5,133
2nd:       Michael Hood, Winchester, Tenn., five bass, 26-11, $2,566
3rd:       Mike Lowry, Hixson, Tenn., five bass, 25-3, $1,710
4th:        Jake Bice, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 24-3, $1,198
5th:        Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 24-2, $1,527 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
6th:        Mark Guhne, Hixson, Tenn., five bass, 23-14, $941
7th:        Chuck Medley, Owens Cross Roads, Ala., five bass, 23-6, $855
8th:        Brody Robison, Dawson, Ala., five bass, 23-2, $770
9th:        Jimmy Neece Jr ., Bristol, Tenn., five bass, 22-14, $684
10th:     Chip Wammack, Muscle Shoals, Ala., five bass, 22-12, $599

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Bo Collins of Robbinsville, North Carolina, caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $800.

Frank Spacil of Downers Grove, Illinois, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,566 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 15 pounds, 15 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Frank Spacil, Downers Grove, Ill., three bass, 15-15, $2,566
2nd:       Tim van Polen, Guntersville, Ala., three bass, 15-12, $1,683
3rd:       Rodney Bolte, Bloomington, Ind., three bass, 15-5, $855
4th:        Roderick Green, Columbia, Tenn., three bass, 15-2, $599
5th:        Jonathan Majors, Chelsea, Ala., three bass, 14-10, $513
6th:        Coy Gregg, Cleveland, Tenn., three bass, 14-9, $449
6th:        Shane Browder, Lynville, Ind., three bass, 14-9, $449
8th:        Adam Brenton, Terre Haute, Ind., three bass, 14-2, $385
9th:        Gerald Bennett, Dallas, Ga., three bass, 13-10, $320
9th:        Jeff McWhorter, New Concord, Ky., three bass, 13-10, $320

Tim van Polen of Guntersville, Alabama, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $400, catching a bass that weighed in at 8 pounds, 10 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After one event, Austin Shields of Lake View, Alabama, now leads the Fishing Clash Choo Choo Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while Frank Spacil of Downers Grove, Illinois, leads the Fishing Clash Choo Choo Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 250 points.

The next event for BFL Choo Choo Division anglers will be held March 8, at Lake Chickamauga out of Dayton, Tennessee. 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 Logan Martin Lake in Lincoln, Alabama. 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 Strike King 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.