Owasso’s Corriveau Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (June 24, 2024) – Boater Blake Capps of Muskogee, Oklahoma, caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Arkansas River Presented by Suzuki Marine . The tournament was the fourth event of the season for the BFL Okie Division. Capps earned $10,877, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

Capps employed simple, shallow-water river fishing tactics to get the win. He also decided not to lock to maximize his fishing time.

“There’s a lot of current on the main Arkansas River,” he said. “I was mainly focusing on the main-river eddies and stuff like that – places for them to kind of slide out of the current – whether that be a rock or bend in the river or laydown.”

Capps kicked off the morning throwing a Heddon Super Spook topwater bait in current seams, primarily around rock jetties. He also caught some on a Gene Larew Biffle Bug in those same areas. The topwater bait produced the biggest fish of the day.

“Later in the day, I went farther downriver, and I made some of my best culls on a Booyah (XCS1 Series) square bill,” he added. “The laydowns were the main thing I was focusing on with the square bill. There was a ton of current right on the logs.”

According to Capps, a depth of 2 feet of water was “deep” for this pattern. And it was clearly a quality bite, as his co-angler, Jeff Corriveau, also came out victorious.

“We caught ’em all day,” Capps said. “It was a lot of fun. It really surprised me there weren’t more people out there doing it with me. I never really had any company wherever I went.

“It was a pretty simple pattern,” he added. “Not a whole lot of rods out on the deck. My front graphs were turned off. I just went fishing. It was all visual stuff, too. It’s nice going to the bank and turning the locaters off and just going fishing.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Blake Capps, Muskogee, Okla., five bass, 20-9, $10,877 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Joel Baker, Talala, Okla., five bass, 16-5, $1,408
2nd:       Nic Conger, Fort Smith, Ark., five bass, 16-5, $1,823
4th:        Dale Andrews, Jay, Okla., five bass, 15-15, $788
5th:        Zachery Fowler, Konawa, Okla., five bass, 13-3, $675
6th:        Shane Pickett, Rose Hill, Kan., five bass, 13-1, $919
7th:        Ian Leybas, McAlester, Okla., five bass, 12-12, $563
8th:        Brett Brumnett, Wagoner, Okla., five bass, 12-1, $507
9th:        Mike Hesson, Hackett, Ark., five bass, 11-15, $450
10th:     Shonn Goodwin, Moore, Okla., five bass, 11-7, $394

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Nic Conger of Fort Smith, Arkansas, caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $415.

Jeff Corriveau of Owasso, Oklahoma, won the Strike King co-angler division and $1,689 Saturday, after bringing four bass to the scale that totaled 12 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Jeff Corriveau, Owasso, Okla., four bass, 12-2, $1,689
2nd:       Thad Hewitt, Delaware, Okla., five bass, 11-14, $944
3rd:       Russell Malone, Grove, Okla., four bass, 10-0, $564
4th:        David Blankinship, Cushing, Okla., three bass, 9-12, $394
5th:        Randy Peoples, Prairie Grove, Ark., three bass, 9-1, $338
6th:        Nathan McCartney, Inola, Okla., four bass, 8-0, $310
7th:        Charles Covington, Claremore, Okla., three bass, 7-10, $281
8th:        Marco Flores, Topeka, Kan., four bass, 7-6, $253
9th:        Daniel Payne, Warr Acres, Okla., three bass, 7-5, $225
10th:     Lane McCartney, Braggs, Okla., three bass, 6-13, $197

Stephen Vogel of Muenster, Texas, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $207, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After four events, Chris M. Jones of Bokoshe, Oklahoma, leads the Fishing Clash Okie Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 965 points, while Alan Hill of Ada, Oklahoma, leads the Fishing Clash Okie Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 936 points.

The next event for BFL Okie Division anglers will be held Sept. 14-15, at Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000.

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.

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, Fishing Clash, General Tire, GSM Outdoors, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, PowerStop Brakes, REDCON1, Strike King, Suzuki, 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 17 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.