Troy’s Blinn Tops Co-Angler Division

CORTLAND, Ohio. (June 16, 2025) – Boater Trevor Oldham of Norton, Ohio, caught a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Mosquito Lake Presented by Lew’s . The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Buckeye Division. Oldham earned $11,456, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

Oldham estimates that he and his co-angler partner, Vernell Day, combined to catch about 60 fish, but they had to sort through a bunch of shorts to find the better-quality bites. They rotated through 15 or so areas throughout the day.

“I know the lake pretty darn well, so we kind of were running and gunning for the first bit in the morning, just trying to get a feel for the day,” Oldham said. “Then I kind of settled in and rotated like four different areas where we were getting a little better bites.”

His best area wound up being a 200-yard stretch of stumps in 8 to 12 feet of water where he’d fished during a local tournament the week before.

“Basically, we found one area that had hard bottom and stumps and pretty much caught three good fish there,” he said. “I caught a 5-7 there, a 4-pounder and a high 3, and that was pretty much the anchor of the bag.

“For me, the stump bite doesn’t really get going ’til a little bit later in the morning. So we actually started fishing on some bluegills beds and some hard spots, more shallow grass line kind of stuff (in the morning).”

Oldham relied on a pair of jigs. He used a 1/2-ounce football head and a 1/2-ounce pitching jig. He also caught one key fish on a minnow bait.

“That was about it,” he added. “I keep it pretty simple out there.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Trevor Oldham, Norton, Ohio, five bass, 16-4, $11,456 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF COntingency Bonus)
2nd:      Pat Upthagrove, Monroe, Mich., five bass, 14-5, $1,963
3th:        Larry Freeman, Waynesburg, Pa., five bass, 12-15, $1,309
4th:        Corey Johnson, Tipp City, Ohio, five bass, 12-8, $916
5th:        Jack Dalzell, Elyria, Ohio, five bass, 11-15, $752
5th:        Seth Fricke, Oxford, Ohio, five bass, 11-15, $852
7th:        Joel Berelsman, Minster, Ohio, five bass, 11-12, $654
8th:        Travis Millard, Carlisle, Ohio, five bass, 11-8, $589
9th:        Roy Lester, Hamilton, Ohio, five bass, 11-7, $523
10th:     David Hoheisel, Westerville, Ohio, five bass, 10-12, $458

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Oldham caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 7 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $530.

Brian Blinn of Troy, Ohio, won the co-angler division and $1,963 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 9 pounds, 3 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Brian Blinn, Troy, Ohio, three bass, 9-3, $1,963
2nd:      Mark Conner, North Canton, Ohio, three bass, 7-15, $1,246
3rd:       Austin Brock, West Chester, Ohio, three bass, 7-13, $655
4th:        Eric McKean, New Philadelphia, Ohio, three bass, 7-10, $458
5th:        Ryan Sykes, Hamilton, Ohio, three bass, 7-9, $526
5th:        Kenneth Ritchie, Trenton, Ohio, three bass, 7-9, $376
7th:        Edward Seiler, Lancaster, Ohio, three bass, 7-7, $327
8th:        David Prater, Franklin, Ohio, three bass, 7-5, $278
8th:        Thomas (Tom) Illar Jr., Hyde Park, Pa., three bass, 7-5, $278
10th:     Ryan Rich, Eaton, Ohio, three bass, 7-1, $229

Mark Conner of North Canton, Ohio, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $265, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 11 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Seth Fricke of Oxford, Ohio, now leads the Fishing Clash Buckeye Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 479 points, while Jesse Foster of Franklin, Ohio, leads the Fishing Clash Buckeye Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 470 points.

The next event for BFL Buckeye Division anglers will be held July 19, at the Ohio River-Tanners Creek out of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. 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. 3-4 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Erie out of Sandusky, Ohio. 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.

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, 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.