GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (April 12, 2026) – Matteo Turano waited around to sign up for the  Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division event on  Kentucky Lake . Not because he wasn’t sure he could do well, or because the event was far from his Tennessee home, but because he has big plans coming up. As the winner of the 2025 Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American, he’s qualified for  Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Presented by Mercury & Lowrance, and practice at Table Rock Lake starts Monday.

Now, Turano will be starting practice with more momentum than anyone in the field (plus a significant check in the bank). Weighing 18 pounds, 10 ounces on Day 3 at Kentucky Lake, Turano totaled 64-2 to earn the win. For the win, he locked in qualification for the Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake, and pocketed $66,506.

Finishing second, Levi Kohl caught over 20 pounds every day for a 62-12 total. In third, Drew Gill tallied up 62-4, and the legendary Jake Lawrence finished fourth with 62-2.

Turano was scratching his head during the afternoon on Day 2, with his three hours of forward-facing-sonar in the rearview and a livewell full of smallmouth, trying to come up with a big bite. Then, he struck gold, wrangling a 6-12 largemouth on a Ned rig, which put his bag up to 24-1 and gave him a lead he wouldn’t relinquish. Turano never got that bite again on the final day, but still did plenty to take home the title.

“It was a way tougher day today,” he said. “I kept trying to fish for fish that I’d been fishing the last two days, and they were extra smart today.”

Starting with his ‘Scope off, Turano couldn’t muster anything on the bank, which was not uncommon this week.

“I didn’t turn my ‘Scope on until around 10,” he said. “I had zero fish in the boat – I couldn’t figure out how to catch any fish in the morning. So, I was already a little stressed. I was hoping I’d get at least one bonus bite in the morning.”

But when the graphs lit up, Turano kicked it in gear.

“The first fish that I caught was a 4 ½-pounder,” he said. “That got me feeling pretty good. I fished around for a little longer, caught a couple little ones, and ended up catching another 4-pounder in that same area. Which made me stay for way too long, because all the other fish in that area were not eating.

“So, I switched up areas near the end of my ‘Scope period, I think I had 40 minutes left. I found a little area I hadn’t messed with yet, and they were pretty easy to catch. I caught about 10 off that spot, including two good ones, and culled twice with some 3-pounders.”

Coming in to weigh-in with nearly 19 pounds in the livewell, Turano knew that if he was going to win, Day 2 was the day that won it for him.

“I didn’t get another miracle largemouth like yesterday. That largemouth yesterday was really why I won the tournament – it was not today, it was yesterday,” he said. “I got that one lucky bite. There’s not that many big largemouth in here – there’s a lot of little ones. To catch one over 6 pounds is truly a rare fish. The fact that I did it with no ‘Scope, out fan casting in the middle of the lake – it’s just meant to be.”

This week on Kentucky Lake, it was all about the smallmouth spawn. Most of the top finishers relied on it almost exclusively, and a lot of the damage got done in the few hours pros had with forward-facing sonar at their disposal.
According to Turano, he thinks he cast at about 200 beds over three days, which is an astonishing number, considering he did it over only nine hours.

“There was one flat that I was fishing, and every little piece of wood had two or three beds on it,” he said. “I found a ton of fish in practice, I wasn’t sure they would stay the whole week, but I had just enough. I could tell today it was the worst day to do it, but I managed to just get enough.

“I think a big key to my week was moving on to another fish when I couldn’t get one to eat. Almost all the fish I caught this week were on the first or second cast. So, I had to keep that in mind, even if I saw a big one chase it, I knew I was better off just finding a new one.”

Another big key was that Turano didn’t get stuck on last year’s waypoints, and he quickly got dialed on the places that had fish spawning this week.

“At different water levels during the spawn, they spawn on different pieces. It might only be a foot or two difference,” he explained. “The areas I was catching them really good last year, weren’t the same this time. They were nearby, but in practice, I found they were spawning on the other side of the bar, the deeper side. We had really low water, we haven’t had big rains this year, and the water warmed up so quick that they started spawning when they typically wait a little longer, until the water comes up.”

Turano mostly went with the traditional jig and minnow to catch his fish, using a 1/8- or 3/16-ounce head with a 5-inch Yamamoto Hinge Minnow. He threw that on a 7-foot, 1-inch, medium Phenix Feather with 15-pound braid and a 15-pound fluorocarbon leader. He mixed in a drop-shot with a 6-inch Roboworm Straight Tail Worm in bold bluegill, and his largemouth Ned rig consisted of a 3-inch Roboworm Ned Worm and a Northland Tackle Tungsten Nedster.

Turano, and a few others, have perfected the spring smallmouth game on Kentucky Lake in recent years. This week, he and the rest of the locals showed why they’re so dangerous on their home turf, turning in consistency and high-level weights despite limited time with modern sonar. Now, after a good rest, he’ll be rolling west to Table Rock Lake and the biggest tournament he’s ever fished.

“I’m feeling amazing,” he said. “At the end of the day Saturday, I was super stressed out, it was a really close tournament. I’m super grateful I signed up this week and gave it a try. I wasn’t sure if I was going to sign up, because it was so close to REDCREST. I just wanted to make sure I was prepared for REDCREST, but I don’t know of a better way to prepare for a tournament than going out and winning one and getting some momentum.”

The top 10 pros at the Toyota Series at Kentucky Lake finished:

1st:          Matteo Turano, Puryear, Tenn., 15 bass, 64-2, $66,506 (includes $35,000 Phoenix MLF bonus)
2nd:        Levi Kohl, Edinburg, Ill, 15 bass, 62-12, $11,918
3rd:         Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill, 15 bass, 62-4, $9,227
4th:         Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 15 bass, 62-2, $7,689
5th:         Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, 15 bass, 61-14, $6,920
6th:         Grant Meisenhelter, Decatur, Ill, 15 bass, 59-4, $6,151
7th:         Brad Jelinek, Lincoln, Mo., 15 bass, 59-4, $5,382
8th:         Carter Nutt, Nashville, Tenn., 15 bass, 58-12, $4,613
9th:         Ethan Fields, Breese, Ill., 15 bass, 57-3, $3,845
10th:       Drew Morgan, Murray, Ky., 15 bass, 56-8, $3,076

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Banks Shaw of Harrison, Tennessee, earned Thursday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass Award with a bass weighing 5. pounds, 11 ounces, while Turano won Friday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass, weighing in a 6-pound, 12-ounce bass to earn the $500 award.

Pop Catalin of Cookeville, Tennessee, won the co-angler division Saturday at Kentucky Lake with a three-day total of 11 bass weighing 37 pounds, 1 ounce. Catalin earned the top co-angler prize package worth $33,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers at the Toyota Series at Kentucky Lake finished:

1st:         Pop Catalin, Cookeville, Tenn., eleven bass, 37-1, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd:        Dustin Seick, Hixson, Tenn., 13 bass, 34-11, $3,933
3rd:         John Lovin, Fayetteville, Ohio, 13 bass, 33-4, $3,146
4th:         Dennis Young, Olathe, Kan., 11 bass, 33-3, $$2,853
5th:         Chris McClellan, Desoto, Mo., 11 bass, 32-2, $2,360
6th:         Chase Johnson, Quincy, Ill., 10 bass, 29-12, $1,966
7th:         Matt Luken, Independence, Ky., 11 bass, 29-10, $1,573
8th:         Johnny Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-11, $1,376
9th:         Troy Karafa, Racine, Wis., eight bass, 25-2, $1,180
10th:       Ben Mathis, Murray, Ky., eight bass, 25-0, $983

Co-angler Dakota Ball of Connersville, Indiana, earned the first Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of the week on Thursday with a 5-pound, 10-ounce bass to earn the $150 prize, while Friday’s Day 2 $150 co-angler award went to Matt Chumbler of Carbondale, Illinois, who weighed in a bass totaling 6 pounds, 2 ounces.

The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Kentucky Lake was hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. It was the second of three regular-season tournaments for the Toyota Series Plains Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Toyota Series at Lake Seminole , April 30 – May 2, in Bainbridge, Georgia. 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 include: 7Brew, 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, PiranhO2, 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 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.