Como’s Ingle Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

GRENADA, Miss. (April 22, 2024) – Boater Blake Hodge of Oxford, Mississippi, caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 6 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Grenada Lake . Hosted by the Grenada Tourism Commission, the tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Mississippi Division. Hodge earned $9,813, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

Heavy rains ahead of the tournament had Grenada’s water well out of its banks when the BFL kicked off. Hodge followed the rising water into newly flooded fields of grass.

“I practiced a couple days last week and found a couple grass flats and was just targeting bass that were on hard or clean spots inside flat pieces of bank,” he said.

“I had three spots that I could put the nose of my boat in and make the same cast over and over.”

Hodge caught fish from as shallow as 6 inches of water by trolling his boat up as far as he could go and then bombing long casts. His key bait was a SPRO Bronzeye Frog, which produced a pair of keepers that Hodge brought to weigh-in.

“You had to work that area for probably 30 to 45 minutes until you made one of them bite,” he added.

Once he exhausted the frog pattern, Hodge made an adjustment and ran new water – mostly deeper postspawn areas where he was able to get bit throwing a BOOYAH Covert Spinnerbait with orange and gold blades.

Even though the high water had Hodge questioning whether he’d even be able to catch a keeper coming into the tournament, he wound up landing six fish and culling up to win by almost 6 pounds.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Blake Hodge, Oxford, Miss., five bass, 17-6, $9,813 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Barrett Saunders, Hammond, La., five bass, 11-10, $1,274
3rd:       Dakota Fleming, Oak Grove, La., five bass, 10-5, $848
4th:        Dakota Shaw, Millport, Ala., four bass, 9-11, $594
5th:        Scott Whitehead, Columbus, Miss., five bass, 8-11, $810
6th:        Tim McDaniel, Grenada, Miss., four bass, 8-10, $467
7th:        Jeff Johnston, Marion, Ark., four bass, 8-1, $425
8th:        Clint Pegg, Caledonia, Miss., four bass, 6-12, $507
9th:        Kenneth Underwood, Columbus, Miss., three bass, 6-6, $340
10th:     Chris Jones, Senatobia, Miss., three bass, 5-15, $297

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Hodge’s limit included a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $265.

Jeff Ingle of Como, Mississippi, won the Strike King co-angler division and $1,274 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 8 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Jeff Ingle, Como, Miss., five bass, 11-8, $1,274
2nd:       Troy Ladner, Bay Saint Louis, Miss., four bass, 7-8, $737
3rd:       Brayden Gray, Pontotoc, Miss., three bass, 5-8, $424
4th:        Christopher Daughdrill, Foxworth, Miss., two bass, 5-0, $297
5th:        Thomas Smith, Brandon, Miss., three bass, 3-15, $255
6th:        Joe Cornelius, Corinth, Miss., one bass, 3-9, $366
7th:        Roy Steed, Madison, Miss., one bass, 3-6, $212
8th:        Auston Ballard, Smithville, Miss., two bass, 2-12, $191
9th:        Randy Maples, Amory, Miss., one bass, 2-7, $170
10th:     Ryan LeCompte, Picayune, Miss., two bass, 2-3, $149

Joe Cornelius of Corinth, Mississippi, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $132, catching a bass that weighed in at 3 pounds, 9 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Barrett Saunders of Hammond, Louisiana, leads the Fishing Clash Mississippi Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 493 points, while Thomas Smith of Brandon, Mississippi, leads the Fishing Clash Mississippi Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 493 points.

The next event for BFL Mississippi Division anglers will be held May 11, at Lake Sardis in Sardis, Mississippi. 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, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota 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.