Michigan’s Hawley Wins Co-Angler Division

SANDUSKY, Ohio (Oct. 6, 2025) – Boater Correy Petz of Medina, Ohio, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 49 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine Regional on Lake Erie Presented by Lew’s. The tournament, which was hosted by Shores & Islands Ohio, concluded Saturday. For his win, Petz earned a prize package valued at $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200hp Mercury or Suzuki outboard.

The Lake Erie event served as the Regional championship for the BFL Buckeye and Michigan divisions. The field included the top 60 boaters and co-anglers based on point standings, plus each division’s tournament winners. The top three boaters and co-anglers have also now qualified for the 2026 BFL All-American.

“I felt like there was a tougher bite for this time of year,” Petz said. “The water temp was kind of higher than normal, and there was a lot of pressure on the fish. I didn’t catch my fish on one single bait. I caught them on a drop-shot, a tube, a minnow – there was no rhyme or reason – and they came from 15 feet all the way out to 24 feet.

“I have a lot of history and time on the water there, and that definitely helped me,” Petz added.

Petz said he found two new areas during practice that held big fish – the first produced well for him on Friday, but the bass bite shut down a bit Saturday.

“I never sat down in one area and really hammered them other than the first day,” Petz said.

Petz said he had “a lot” of fish he lost during the tournament, especially on the second day. The first four fish he hooked came unbuttoned.

“I thought I had lost it with the first four fish of the morning,” Petz said. “Then I jumped off a 5-pounder later during the day.  But, thankfully, I hooked two nice ones in the last hour of the day that kind of sealed the deal for me.

“I’ve had some other tournaments where I faced adversity and challenges, so I never panicked,” Petz went on to say. “I just kind of kept moving. I just kept working. All of the pieces just came together the first day when I had my fish by 10 or 10:30.

“I had a late check-in on Saturday at 4:00, and I needed that late check-in,” Petz added. “If I hadn’t had that, I probably wouldn’t have won.”

The top three boaters who qualified for the 2026 Phoenix BFL All-American finished:

1st:     Correy Petz, Medina, Ohio, 10 bass, 49-7, $50,000
2nd:    Jesse Hickman, Waynesville, Ohio, 10 bass, 48-3, $8,223
3rd:    Scott Dobson, Clarkston, Mich., 10 bass, 47-11, $4,550 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)

Rounding out the top 10 boater finishers were:

4th:     Nicholas Seitz, Maumee, Ohio, 10 bass, 46-2, $2,480
5th:     Ty Fain, Springfield, Ohio, 10 bass, 45-8, $1,696
6th:     Tyler Brown, Marblehead, Ohio, 10 bass, 45-2, $1,539
7th:     Seth Fricke, Oxford, Ohio, 10 bass, 43-11, $1,382
8th:     Heath Wagner, Angola, Ind., 10 bass, 43-6, $1,225
9th:     David Matual, Chicago, Ill., 10 bass, 43-6, $1,068
10th:   Nolan Mandel, Kimball, Mich., 10 bass, 42-13, $990

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Bill Cisler of Delton, Michigan, won the Berkley Big Bass Boater award and $1,000 for landing a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces, the biggest of the tournament.

Sean Hawley of Jackson, Michigan, won the co-angler division Saturday after bringing a two-day total of five bass weighing 24 pounds, 8 ounces, to the scale. Hawley earned the top co-angler award of $16,406 for his victory.

The top three co-anglers who qualified for the 2026 Phoenix BFL All-American finished:

1st:     Sean Hawley, Jackson, Mich., five bass, 24-8, $16,406
2nd:    Jordan Smith, Middletown, Ohio, six bass, 23-3, $4,022
3rd:    Thomas Rizzo, Mercer, Pa., five bass, 22-2, $2,041

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:

4th:     Dylan Phillips, Albany, Ohio, six bass, 21-13, $1,249
5th:     Mark Miller, Baltic, Ohio, six bass, 21-6, $852
6th:     Philip Castrodale, Bloomfield, Mich., five bass, 20-14, $773
7th:     Ryan Crider, Kettering, Ohio, five bass, 19-9, $694
8th:     Thomas Illar Jr., Hyde Park, Pa., five bass, 18-13, $615
9th:     Justen Fain, Springfield, Ohio, four bass, 18-8, $585
10th:   Greg Elswick, Goshen, Ind., five bass, 18-7, $496

Sean Hawley of Jackson, Michigan, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces, to win the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award worth $500.

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, now 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, PirahnO2, 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, RFD-TV 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.