BROOKELAND, Texas (Jan. 8, 2024) – Boater Hayden Heck of Lufkin, Texas, 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 on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. Hosted by the Jasper County Development District, the tournament kicked off the season for the BFL Cowboy Division. Heck earned $6,199 for his victory.

“I decided to go to a spot where I had been seeing fish for a couple of weeks,” Heck said. “It’s been really spotty, though – one day they’d be there and the next they wouldn’t.

“I was fishing a little bit offshore,” Heck continued. “Nothing super deep. I was using a brown and purple football jig and a drop-shot rig. There was a lot of bait around the area, and that kept the fish around for a bit.”

Heck said his boat was sitting in about 10 feet of water while fishing the jig, and his efforts produced 20 bites from the south part of Sam Rayburn during the event.

“I fish Rayburn a lot,” Heck said. “It’s the only lake I fish, and the last couple of weeks have been tough here. The fish seem to be moving around a lot, like saltwater fish. They’re on the move daily with the bait. So, if you can time it right, you can really catch them.

“On Rayburn, unless you bust a really big bag, you don’t think you really ever have a chance to win,” Heck said. “Once it gets cold on Rayburn anyone can come in with 40-plus pounds. So, I’m really happy to get the win.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Hayden Heck, Lufkin, Texas, five bass, 29-3, $6,199
2nd:       Wesley Baxley, Cypress, Texas, five bass, 25-2, $2,675
3rd:       Jeffery Rice, Shreveport, La., five bass, 22-4, $1,782
4th:        Glen Webb, Bethel, Okla, five bass, 20-9, $1,248
5th:        Riley Harris, Orange, Texas, five bass, 19-5, $1,070
6th:        Tater Reynolds, Florien, La., five bass, 18-11, $1,236
6th:        Bobby Vice, Orange, Texas, five bass, 18-11, $936
8th:        Jaden Parrish, Liberty, Texas, five bass, 17-3, $802
9th:        Colby Miller, Elmer, La., five bass, 16-14, $713
10th:     Darren Taylor, Coldspring, Texas, five bass, 16-2, $624

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Heck caught a bass that weighed 9 pounds, 14 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $850.

San Antonio’s Sink Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

Tim Sink of San Antonio, Texas, won the Strike King co-angler division and $3,088 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Tim Sink, San Antonio, Texas, five bass, 14-13, $3,088
2nd:       Brad Poole, Roanoke, Texas, five bass, 14-4, $1,334
3rd:       Derek Swindler, Waxahachie, Texas, five bass, 12-9, $888
4th:        Robert Joslin, Fort Smith, Ark., five bass, 11-12, $623
5th:        Dakota Posey, Orange, Texas, five bass, 11-1, $534
6th:        Mitchel Martin, Washington, La., five bass, 10-15, $489
7th:        James Moore, Jr., Lampasas, Texas, five bass, 10-12, $595
8th:        Kenneth Venable, Fred, Texas, five bass, 10-11, $378
8th:        Michael Wall, Montgomery, Texas, five bass, 10-11, $378
10th:     Bradley Sullivan, Shawnee, Okla., four bass, 10-10, $295
10th:     Casey Craig, Nacogdoches, Texas, five bass, 10-10, $295

Sink also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $420, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 17-19 BFL Regional tournament on Wright Patman Lake in Texarkana, Texas. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard.

The 2024 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 Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying event winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American.

The next event for BFL Cowboy Division anglers will be held Jan. 27, at Lake of the Pines in Jefferson, Texas. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, General Tire, GSM Outdoors, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota 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 13 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.