Michigan’s Beach Earns Victory in Co-Angler Division

TRENTON, Mich. (July 27, 2026) – Boater Wilson Burton of Findlay, Ohio, caught five bass Saturday weighing 22 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Detroit River . The tournament was the second of five events of the season for the BFL Michigan Division Presented by 3rd Deck Brewing Company, and the first of a back-to-back BFL tournament weekend on the Detroit River. Burton earned $3,450 for his victory.

“I went out in practice on Lake Erie, and it’s not like me to get skunked, but I did not catch a fish on Lake Erie in 10 hours,” Burton said. “Friday during practice I went to St. Clair and found a pretty good wad of them up there.

“So, (Saturday) I started out in the (Detroit) River and fished my river stuff and had a limit,” Burton went on to say. “Then I went up to St. Clair and culled out three or four fish, and it worked out for me pretty good. There are a lot of fish up there right now.”

Burton said he relied heavily on a Berkley Dredger 17.5 Crankbait that he burned through the water column. Burton said he missed a few fish with the crankbait but caught around 30 smallmouth during the tournament.

“I caught 100 during practice,” Burton said. “It was stupid.”

Even though Burton had 22-4 in the livewell, he didn’t feel his weight would be enough to earn a win.

“My scale read 21-12, and I thought, ‘Man, if I’m catching them people are probably just wearing them out,’” Burton said. “I was thinking sixth or seventh place. I kept fishing the whole day.

“This feels great,” said Burton, who also claimed the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 5-pound, 3-ounce smallmouth. “I don’t catch big fish. I’m always catching 3½- to 4½-pounders. I don’t get to weigh in a big fish. And the cool thing about today was my co-angler won the co-angler side and won big bass. We kind of cleaned house in the boat today.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Wilson Burton, Findlay, Ohio, five bass, 22-4, $3,450
2nd:      Aidan Lindsay, Howell, Mich., five bass, 21-13, $1,590
3rd:       Nolan Mandel, Kimball, Mich., five bass, 21-5, $1,310 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
4th:        Chris Hellebuyck, White Lake, Mich., five bass, 21-4, $800
5th:        Trent Wilt, Manitou Beach, Mich., five bass, 20-9, $580
6th:        Scott Dobson, Clarkston, Mich., five bass, 19-15, $500
7th:        Jesse Richardson, Ligonier, Ind., five bass, 19-2, $470
7th:        Angel Rosario, Kalamazoo, Mich., five bass, 19-2, $470
9th:        Gavin Weted, Detroit, Mich., five bass, 18-12, $440
10th:     Brayden Federer, Adrian, Mich., five bass, 18-11, $360

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Tournament winner Burton also earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award with a 5-pound, 3-ounce smallmouth bass worth $200.

Dan Beach of Clarkston, Michigan, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,725 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 11 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Dan Beach, Clarkston, Mich., three bass, 13-11, $1,725
2nd:      Tommy Pritchard, Bargersville, Ind., three bass, 11-15, $795
3rd:       Chris Nolte, Bowie, Md., three bass, 11-7, $405
4th:        Thomas Spandau, Franklin, Ind., three bass, 11-5, $325
5th:        Nicholas Veselka, Fishers, Ind., three bass, 10-13, $290
6th:        Scott Lutz, Bremen, Ind., three bass, 10-9, $250
7th:        Drew Simon, Risingsun, Ohio, three bass, 10-6, $240
8th:        Brian Townley, Wyoming, Mich., three bass, 10-5, $225
8th:        Tim Burnam, Martinsville, Ind., three bass, 10-5, $225
10th:     Hiroya Hyodo, Troy, Mich., three bass, 10-4, $210

Beach also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 2-ounce bass worth $100.

The top 45 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. 8-10 BFL Regional tournament on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. 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 prize of a new Phoenix 518 pro with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard, worth $33,500.

The 2026 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 co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying tournament winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top seven, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2027 BFL All-American will take place June 5-7, at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Kissimmee, Florida, and is hosted by Experience Kissimmee.

Proud sponsors of the 2026 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly, Mercury, MillerTech, Mystik Lubricants, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PiranhO2, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, YETI and Yuengling.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular BFL 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, 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.