LA CROSSE, Wis. (May 19, 2025) – Boater Cade Laufenberg of Onalaska, Wisconsin, caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 1 ounce, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on the Mississippi River. The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Great Lakes Division. Laufenberg earned $6,132, including the $2,500 Phoenix Bonus, for his victory.
Laufenberg is well known in his region as a skilled river rat and has enjoyed success throughout his career. This is his 11th win across MLF and FLW competition as a boater, co-angler and collegiate angler, and it’s his eighth BFL victory fishing from the front of the boat.
“It just came together perfect,” he said. “My boat number was a big deal. I had an early boat draw. I was just looking for fish that were coming off the beds and getting into that postspawn stage. It’s the same way I’ve won a lot of my tournaments this time of year. I was dragging a really small, lightweight Texas rig. This time it was all about the Strike King Scounbug.”
Laufenberg’s postspawn fish were all smallmouth bass. With his early boat draw, he was able to get on the right group of fish and had his weight by 9 a.m. He spent the rest of the day hunting largemouth but never did upgrade.
“It’s just something I have a lot of confidence in, going after postspawn smallmouth this time of year,” Laufenberg said. “They’re just more predictable (than largemouth), I guess, the way that I’m fishing for them. When they’re guarding fry and stuff like that, they use trees a lot. The fry get on the trees, and the fish will roam on the ends of those trees.”
That’s where the Texas rig factors in. It’s weedless, so it can be fished in and around wood cover. When paired with a 1/8-ounce weight, the rig flutters slowly down in front of fry-guarding fish (and fish just recuperating from their spawn), tormenting them into biting. Some of the key areas were 6 to 10 feet deep.
The bites don’t always come easy. There are packs of bluegills in the area foraging on fry and drawing attention from the bass. It can be challenging to get the bass to shift their attention to an artificial lure. Laufenberg counters by making repeating casts and slowly working the bait through the zone.
“It’s a lot of running and gunning,” he added. “Basically, you’re only going to get one or two bites off of each area.
“(The key was) just keeping a clear head and being really persistent on some of those fish that I knew were there but were hard to catch. Some of them took quite a while to get the bite I was looking for.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Cade Laufenberg, Onalaska, Wis., five bass, 20-1, $6,132 (includes $2,500 Phoenix Bonus)
2nd: Wyatt Becker, West Salem, Wis., five bass, 19-4, $1,816
3rd: Clayton Weber, West Salem, Wis., five bass, 19-2, $1,210
4th: Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 19-1, $847
5th: Darren Zumach, Onalaska, Wis., five bass, 18-6, $726
6th: Dan Mohn, Lansing, Iowa, five bass, 17-8, $766
7th: Tyler Fitch, Fall River, Wis., five bass, 17-6, $605
8th: Nick Trim, Galesville, Wis., five bass, 17-0, $545
9th: Zach Williamson, Stoddard, Wis., five bass, 16-12, $454
9th: Jerry Robackouski, Joliet, Ill., five bass, 16-12, $454
Mike Feldermann of Galena, Illinois, caught a bass that weighed 4 pounds, 13 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $465. Timothy Wittren of Ontario, Wisconsin, won the co-angler division and $2,098 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Timothy Wittren, Ontario, Wis., three bass, 13-2, $2,098
2nd: Hertz Skaer, Holmen, Wis., three bass, 10-6, $1,008
3rd: David Pospisil, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, three bass, 9-15, $606
4th: Jason Swanson, Waterloo, Iowa, three bass, 9-12, $424
5th: Clint Goodwin, La Crescent, Minn., three bass, 9-11, $363
6th: Ma Xiong, Menomonee Falls, Wis., three bass, 9 - 10 $318
6th: Adam Beckwith, Madison, Wis., three bass, 9-10, $318
8th: Jeff Ripp, Sparta, Wis., three bass, 9-9, $272
9th: Trevor Gnotke, Pine Island, Minn., three bass, 9-8, $242
10th: Kevin Clark, Lancaster, Wis., three bass, 9-7, $212
Timothy Wittren of Ontario, Wisconsin, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $232, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After two events, Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wisconsin, now leads the Fishing Clash Great Lakes Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 496 points, while Trevor Gnotke of Pine Island, Minnesota, leads the Fishing Clash Great Lakes Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 487 points.
The next event for BFL Great Lakes Division anglers will be held June 14, at the Mississippi River out of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-mississippi-51925.html
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