Pennsylvania’s Wesner Earns Win in Co-Angler Division

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Aug. 10, 2026) – Boater Ryan Latinville of Plattsburgh, New York, caught a total of five bass weighing 23 pounds, 15 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Champlain. The tournament, hosted by the City of Plattsburgh, was the third of five events of the season for the BFL Northeast Division Presented by 3rd Deck Brewing Company. Latinville earned $9,960, including a $7,000 Phoenix MLF bonus, for his victory.

Latinville, who picked up his first career victory, had nine prior top-10 finishes in MLF competition – eight on Lake Champlain. He said he went into Saturday’s event feeling confident.

“I told my wife the night before the tournament I had a feeling I was going to win,” Latinville said. “And I never say that.”

Latinville said he began his day by running two different areas to catch a weight of “18 or 19 pounds” of smallmouth and largemouth by 8 a.m. At 9 a.m. he wanted to begin his (Garmin) LiveScope period and ran nine miles to an area where he thought he could pick up additional weight. When he arrived at the area, however, things changed for Latinville.

“I didn’t turn my ’scope on,” Latinville said. “Something just didn’t feel right. So, I turned around and ran 10 miles the way I had just come from. Because once I turned the ’scope on I had to do that for three hours. And something dawned on me to go do one more thing.

“So, I made the run, got there and caught a 5-pound largemouth on my second cast,” Latinville went on to say. “So, it was a good decision.”

Latinville said he relied mostly on a Beast Coast Hand-Tied 97% Tungsten Lil’ Magnum Jig in a color called Dirtbag during the event. His setup included a Kistler Helium 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy casting rod paired with a Lew’s Custom Pro Gen 3 reel. He said he also caught bass on a Neko rig with a 6-inch worm as well as a Megabass Sling Shad.

Latinville returned to his LiveScope area and turned it on at 9:25. After two hours, he hadn’t caught a fish that would boost his weight. He changed locations and found “tons” of bass waiting for him there. He added a 4.4-pound and a 4.3-pound smallmouth to his bag, which then consisted of two smallmouth and three largemouth that he estimated weighed a total of 22 pounds. He spent the rest of the day trying to cull out smaller fish, and finally landed a 5-pound, 12-ounce largemouth kicker that replaced a 4.1-pound largemouth in his livewell.

“I said, ‘That was probably the nail in the coffin,’” Latinville said. “I mean, 22 pounds is good, but it’s beatable. Twenty-three-and-a-half is pretty unbeatable.

“I’ve won local tournaments here and I’ve had tons of second-place finishes, and I was like, ‘Why the heck can I not get it done in one of these big events?’” Latinville added. “And finally, today was the day.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Ryan Latinville, Plattsburgh, N.Y., five bass, 23-15, $9,960 (includes $7,000 Phoenix bonus)
2nd:      Jim Sweeney, West Dover, Vt., five bass, 21-13, $1,500
3rd:       Alec Morrison, Peru, N.Y., five bass, 20-10, $770
4th:        Robert Killeen, Harwinton, Conn., five bass, 20-9, $620
5th:        Joseph Thompson, Lincoln University, Penn., five bass, 20-7, $750
6th:        Josh Kauffman, Marysville, Penn., five bass, 20-5, $480
7th:        Damian Szlachta, Roswell, Ga., five bass, 20-4, $560
8th:        Brett Carnright, Plattsburgh, N.Y., five bass, 18-14, $580
8th:        Jedediah Worthington, Morrisville, Vt., five bass, 18-14, $430
10th:     Jason Stoddard, St. Albans, Vt., five bass, 18-13, $355
10th:     Kevin Barnosky, Watertown, Conn., five bass, 18-13, $355

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Joseph Thompson of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass worth $200.

Kade Wesner of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,480 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Kade Wesner, Lancaster, Penn., three bass, 13-2, $1,480
2nd:      Eric Turner, Binghamton, N.Y., three bass, 12-8, $750
3rd:       Jakob Labelle, Hinesburg, Vt., three bass, 12-4, $435
4th:        Jerry Hodge III, Elkton, Md., three bass, 12-0, $310
5th:        Max Meister, Atco, N.J., three bass, 11-5, $275
6th:        Merrill Showers, New Columbia, Penn., three bass, 11-2, $240
7th:        Colton Lawson, Richville, N.Y., three bass, 11-0, $230
8th:        Richard Jordan, Muncy Valley, Penn., three bass, 10-15, $220
9th:        Brent Navari, Colchester, Vt., three bass, 10-9, $210
10th:     Lamar Spade, Saylorsburg, Penn., three bass, 10-8, $205

Kenneth Ibberson of Blackwood, New Jersey, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 6-pound, 4-ounce bass worth $100.

After three events, Joseph Thompson of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, now leads the 7 Brew Northeast Division Presented by 3rd Deck Brewing Company Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 719 points, while Chris Hurley of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, leads the Northeast Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 720 points.

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.