Ohio’s Woodford Claims Victory in Co-Angler Division

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (May 11, 2026) – Boater Chris Wilkinson of Farmersburg, Indiana, caught a total of five bass weighing 14 pounds, 13 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Ohio River at Tanners Creek . The tournament was the first of five events of the season for the BFL Buckeye Division. Wilkinson earned $3,720 for his victory.

Wilkinson put together a strong pattern around shallow cover to earn his 12th career BFL victory. Starting the morning roughly 10 miles away from the launch area, he quickly established a productive bite targeting wood cover in stained water conditions.

“I caught four on a spinnerbait and one on a buzzbait early,” Wilkinson said.

The stained water allowed him to fish aggressively throughout the morning, and his power-fishing approach helped him build an early limit. Later in the day, Wilkinson said he made a key adjustment by returning closer to the Tanners Creek area, where he was able to upgrade twice using a tube.

“I went back toward the Tanners area and culled up two more times,” he said.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Chris Wilkinson, Farmersburg, Ind., five bass, 14-13, $3,720
2nd:      Sean Wieda, Alexandria, Ky., five bass, 13-15, $2,660 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
3rd:       Chris Martinkovic, Hamilton, Ohio, five bass, 11-4, $1,080
4th:        Nico Urso, Union, Ky., five bass, 11-2, $740
5th:        Scott Devault, New Philadelphia, Ohio, five bass, 10-9, $650
6th:        Stacey Edwards, Milton, Ky., five bass, 10-2, $560
7th:        Bob Logan, Waynesfield, Ohio, five bass, 9-15, $530
8th:        William Kronander, Brownsville, Pa., five bass, 9-13, $510
9th:        Kenny Dials, Gallipolis, Ohio, five bass, 9-7, $490
10th:     Aaron Stahley, Batavia, Ohio, five bass, 8-11, $460

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Wieda earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 5-pound, 3-ounce bass worth $200.

Steven Woodford of Belmont, Ohio, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,860 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 6 pounds, 8 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

1st:        Steven Woodford, Belmont, Ohio, three bass, 6-8, $1,860
2nd:      James Wilcox, Barboursville, W. Va., three bass, 5-12, $930
3rd:       Jeff Moorman, Liberty Township, Ohio, three bass, 5-11, $665
4th:        Scott Standafer, Milford, Ohio, three bass, 5-6, $370
5th:        Jesse Foster, Franklin, Ohio, three bass, 5-0, $302
6th:        Jordan Smith, Middletown, Ohio, three bass, 5-0, $302
7th:        Matt Luken, Independence, Ky., three bass, 4-13, $262
8th:        Jim Feathers, Vermilion, Ohio, three bass, 4-13, $262
9th:        Bill Meyers, Urbana, Ohio, three bass, 4-8, $250
10th:     Austin Herbst, Hamilton, Ohio, three bass, 4-7, $230

Jeff Moorman of Liberty Township, Ohio, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award with a 2-pound, 14-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 2026 BFL All-American will take place May 28-30, at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina, and is hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism.

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, PirahnO2, 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.