COUNCE, Tenn. (April 2, 2026) – The king of second-place finishes, pro Hayden O’Barr of Scottsboro, Alabama, finished runner-up four times in MLF events in 2025 and stacked up eight top-10 finishes in the process – great stats and good paydays, but missing the finishing touch. This week, in the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division event on  Pickwick Lake Presented by Suzuki Marine, the young Alabama pro took the lead on Day 2 with nearly 27 pounds and closed it out in style with 25-10 on Day 3 for a 76-10 three-day winning total. For the win, O’Barr earned a check worth $70,081, including the Phoenix MLF Bonus, and he locked in his qualification for the Toyota Series Championship (which happens to be right back on Pickwick).

Finishing second, Killen, Alabama, pro Jonny Beck weighed mostly smallmouth and totaled up 67-10. Pro Jade Keeton of Florence, Alabama, weighed 64-3 for third and Harrison, Tennessee’s Banks Shaw failed to limit on Day 3 and finished fourth with an even 63 pounds.

Something of a sleeper lake, running out of Pickwick and down the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway gives anglers access to Bay Springs Reservoir. There, several anglers did well this week, and O’Barr absolutely crushed, knocking out bags in the mid-20s every day. Funnily enough, he didn’t go there because he wanted to – practice in Pickwick was bad enough that he knew he’d be in the mix for a bottom-tier finish if he stayed there.

“I didn’t have a chance to catch them in Pickwick; I knew I had to go to Bay,” O’Barr said. “In my head, I thought I was going to Bay to lay up, just cut a check, get by, go to the next one. Somehow it turned into winning.”

Despite never having fished there before, the lake was right up his alley.

“It really sets up like a place I fished all winter, just a county pond,” he said. “It sets up like it, and the fish act just like it. I think that’s partially why I did so well, because I was comfortable all week. I had terrible mapping for the place, so I would drive around and find stuff that I didn’t even know existed.”

Excellent with the screens on, O’Barr made full use of his three hours of forward-facing sonar every day. On Day 1, he caught a 6-pounder and a 4-pounder on a ChatterBait with sonar off, but he put all his weight in the boat during his ‘Scope periods on Days 2 and 3.

“I caught a lot of my fish pretty shallow. I was sticking to the shallow bite and not seeing many,” O’Barr explained. “I would see occasional big ones and they were kind of dumb. They didn’t really swerve. They all were just dumb. I don’t feel like they had really been fished for, and I luckily had a three-mile stretch all to myself and no one messed with me, which was amazing. I knew a lot of people knew where I was catching them because they would see me, but, luckily, I had it all to myself.”

O’Barr returned to one fish specifically on Day 3: a big bass he thought was spawning that he found at the end of his forward-facing sonar period on Day 2. That fish turned out to be a 7-5 kicker – obviously key to the win. But, for the most part, specifically pre-found fish or objects were not the gameplan for the University of Alabama graduate.

“I had a stretch and I dropped my trolling motor every day and would go down it,” O’Barr explained. “It wasn’t like I was fishing structure or cover. Every now and then, I would catch one and Power-Pole or Spot-Lock, and then see some coming behind me that I had never seen. It was just a constant flow of fish through that area. You could miss them very easily when they would suck to the bottom and they would disappear – there were so many big ones I lost and could never find again.”

For his baits, O’Barr used a 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer in dirty shad and a 5-inch minnow on a 1/8-ounce head. He used a 6-foot, 10-inch, medium-light model from TigeRodz for his minnow and a 7-3, medium-heavy TigeRodz stick for his ChatterBait.

On Day 1, a pretty big portion of O’Barr’s weight came with the ‘Scope off, and he did it fishing instinctually, putting himself in the wind and obviously around fish.

“Going off how I have practiced all year for the Pro Circuit, I just go out and try to find the very best ‘Scope bite I can find that will get me through the week,” O’Barr said. “In all honesty, I just winged it for the no-‘Scope. The first day, I threw a ChatterBait on a bank I knew that had shallow grass, and then I went and threw the ChatterBait in places I had never seen before. I caught a 6-pounder on the ChatterBait and I hadn’t even tied one on in practice. I knew they were up there; I’d seen them up shallow in practice. I thought that was my best strategy to trick one – just fish the same areas you’re seeing fish, and throw different stuff.”

As O’Barr plopped his winning bag on the scale, the young pro didn’t even try to hide his smile. After a week of mechanical difficulties (both self-inflicted and out of his control) and a year of close calls, everyone at Pickwick Landing State Park could see how much he valued the win.

“I’m on top of the world,” he said. “I definitely never expected this at the start of the week.  It was absolutely brutal off the water. I had something go wrong every day. Thankfully, it was really good on the water.

“There was nothing I could do wrong out there,” he continued. “I made a bad decision about when to turn my ‘Scope on today – it was rolling 1-footers out there with pollen everywhere – I couldn’t even see anything. I somehow still caught three giants – my 7-4 ate at the trolling motor, I watched her eat it.”

Tallying up more than a 25-pound average, O’Barr beat everyone in the field by a wide margin, even others like Beck, who fished nearly perfect events of their own, or Shaw, who is the hottest thing going on the Tennessee River.

“I told Banks I thought 66 to 68 pounds [would win],” O’Barr said. “The biggest fish I caught all practice was a 5-pounder. I caught three of those and that was it. I would have never imagined catching big bags three days in a row – it was just meant to be.”

The top 10 pros at the Toyota Series at Pickwick Lake Presented by Suzuki Marine finished:

1st:        Hayden O’Barr, Scottsboro, Ala., 15 bass, 76-10, $70,081 (includes $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus)
2nd:      Donny Beck, Killen, Ala., 15 bass, 67-10, $13,303
3rd:       Jade Keeton, Florence, Ala., 15 bass, 64-3, $10,299
4th:       Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 15 bass, 63-0, $8,583
5th:       Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, 15 bass, 61-0, $7,725
6th:       Dylan Nutt, Nashville, Tenn., 15 bass, 58-15, $6,866
7th:       Lake Johnson, Trinity, Ala., 15 bass, 58-0, $6,008
8th:       Trent Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 15 bass, 57-5, $5,150
9th:       Benjamin Travis, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 55-12, $4,291
10th:     Hunter Brewer, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 15 bass, 54-14, $3,433

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Tallis Morrison of Royston, Georgia, earned Tuesday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass Award with a bass weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces, while O’Barr also won Wednesday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass, with a bass weighing 7 pounds even to earn the $500 award.

Jakob Labelle of Hinesburg, Vermont, won the co-angler division Thursday at Pickwick Lake with a three-day total of 11 bass weighing 40 pounds, 13 ounces. Labelle earned the top co-angler prize package worth $33,650, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers at the Toyota Series at Pickwick Lake Presented by Suzuki Marine finished:

1st:        Jakob Labelle, Hinesburg, Vt., 11 bass, 40-13, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd:      Nathan Brewer, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 12 bass, 36-9, $4,359
3rd:       Jonathan Poole, Trinity, Ala., 13 bass, 33-8, $3,487
4th:       Alan Hults, Gautier, Miss., 11 bass, 31-9, $3,151
5th:       Pop Catalin, Cookeville, Tenn., 10 bass, 28-12, $2,615
6th:       Keith Gunsauls, Dandridge, Tenn., eight bass, 28-8, $2,180
7th:       James Cobbs, Vinemont, Ala., 11 bass, 28-4, $1,744
8th:       Chuck Willis, Dayton, Ohio, nine bass, 27-10, $1,526
9th:       Chris Harcrow, Dawson, Ala., eight bass, 27-3, $1,308
10th:     Frank Haysley, Louisville, Ky., nine bass, 26-0, $1,190

Co-angler Red Calvert of Perdido Key, Florida, earned the first Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of the week on Tuesday with a 6-pound, 8-ounce bass to earn the $150 prize, while Wednesday’s Day 2 $150 co-angler award went to Vance Hines of Addison, Alabama, who weighed in a 5-pound, 8-ounce bass.

The three-day Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Pickwick Lake Presented by Suzuki Marine was hosted by Explore Pickwick Lake/Hardin County Tourism. It was the second of three regular-season tournaments for the Toyota Series Central Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Kentucky Lake, April 9-11 in Gilbertsville, Kentucky. For a complete schedule of events, visit  MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2026 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern and Southwestern – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the five divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2027. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2026 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 5-7 on Pickwick Lake in Counce, Tennessee, and is hosted by Explore Pickwick Lake & Hardin County Tourism.

Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly, Mercury, MillerTech, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PirahnO2, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, YETI and Yuengling.

For complete details and updated information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Toyota Series updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets on  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, Outdoor Channel, VICE, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, 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.