Fayetteville’s McKee Tops Co-Angler Division

KIMBERLING CITY, Mo. (March 10, 2025) – Boater Wyatt Marler of Oldfield, Missouri, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 13 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Table Rock Lake . The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Ozark Division. Marler earned $11,000, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

Marler rolled into the Table Rock tournament straight from a multi-day event on Kentucky Lake. With no practice, he just went fishing.

“I just drove around until I found some birds diving,” he said. “I caught them on a 6th Sense Provoke jerkbait and a Damiki rig.”

Marler used forward-facing sonar to bird dog a school of fish busting bait and wasted little time assembling a tournament-winning limit. He only ran that pattern for about an hour and a half before working a few brush piles to finish out his day.

“It was pretty gnarly this morning,” he said. “I caught three 5s in the same place. For two weeks not being out here, I’ll take it.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Wyatt Marler, Oldfield, Mo., five bass, 21-13, $11,000 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:      Travis Harriman, Huntsville, Ark., five bass, 19-8, $2,000
3th:        Jacob Wade, Mountain Grove, Mo., five bass, 19-2, $1,334
4th:        Jacob Christeson, Theodosia, Mo., five bass, 18-8, $933
5th:        Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., five bass, 18-1, $1,340
6th:        Eric Olliverson, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 17-14, $733
7th:        Ben McCord, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, five bass, 17-13, $667
8th:        Jacob Bennett, Pea Ridge, Ark., five bass, 17-12, $600
9th:        Cody Huff, Ava, Mo., five bass, 17-9, $533
10th:     Derek Felton, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 17-0, $467

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Roger Fitzpatrick of Eldon, Missouri, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $541.

Travis McKee of Fayetteville, Arkansas, won the co-angler division and $2,000 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 8 pounds, 13 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Travis McKee, Fayetteville, Ark., three bass, 8-13, $2,000
2nd:       Dalton Brake, Mountain View, Mo., three bass, 8-12, $1,000
3rd:       Loyd Davis, Cape Fair, Mo., three bass, 8-6, $666
4th:        Kirk Short, St. Clair, Mo., three bass, 8-4, $467
5th:        Brock Krohne, Belton, Mo., three bass, 7-12, $400
6th:        Khye Scoggins, Willard, Mo., three bass, 7-10, $350
6th:        Shay Hassell, Springfield, Mo., three bass, 7-10, $350
8th:        Bart Burford, Loose Creek, Mo., three bass, 7-8, $300
9th:        Rhett Hill, Fair Grove, Mo., three bass, 7-7, $250
9th:        Michael Adams, Springfield, Mo., two bass, 7-7, $250

Caleb Welch of Bolivar, Missouri, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $270, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 8 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

In addition to winning the tournament, Wyatt Marler of Oldfield, Missouri, has the early lead in the Fishing Clash Ozark Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while Travis McKee of Fayetteville, Arkansas, leads the Fishing Clash Ozark Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 250 points.

The next event for BFL Ozark Division anglers will be held March 29, at Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. 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. 10-11 BFL Regional tournament on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. 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. The 2025 BFL All-American will take place May 29-31, 2025, at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by hosted by Visit Hot Springs and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.

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 Sports 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.