ROYAL, Ark. (April 14, 2025) – Boater Brennan Cole of White Hall, Arkansas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament at Lake Ouachita. The tournament was the second event of the season for the BFL Arkie Division. Cole earned $6,616, including the lucrative $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.
Cole went old school on Lake Ouachita, catching his fish on the old “ball and chain” – a Carolina rig.
“I had a tough day of practice yesterday flipping bushes,” he said. “It was a bite here and there. I picked up a Carolina rig late yesterday and pulled up on one main-lake point and caught a couple 3-pounders. I decided that’s what I was going to run today. I ran main-lake points all day, chucking a Carolina rig.”
The best points were steep. If he had his boat parked 30 or so yards off the bank, the bottom beneath him might be 50 feet deep. Cole then lobbed his rig up on the point and dragged it down the sides and off the end.
On his rig, he used a Zoom Brush Hog or Midsize Brush Hog, primarily in watermelon red flake. The most exciting moment came at 11:40 a.m. – Cole verified the time – when he landed an 8-pound, 6-ounce bass that earned him the Berkley Big Bass award and its $475 prize.
“I fired my rig up there and thought it was a bream bite,” he recalled. “I set the hook and told my co-angler this ain’t no bass, but if it is, it’s a head. She came up and jumped three times. With a Carolina rig, that’s kind of a death trap, but I got her in the boat. I went from about 10 pounds with four fish to 18-something.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Brennan Cole, White Hall, Ark., five bass, 20-2 $6,616 (includes $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd: Austin Rose, Mena, Ark., five bass, 15-14, $1,820
3rd: Gerard Johnson, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 15-1, $1,214
4th: Blake Martin, Dardanelle, Ark., five bass, 14-4, $1,014
4th: Justin Bean, Benton, Ark., five bass, 14-4, $889
6th: Danny Brustrom, Cave City, Ark., five bass, 13-13, $668
7th: Matt Wood, Jessieville, Ark., five bass, 13-10, $607
8th: Brian Bean, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 13-3, $546
9th: Keith Green, Arkadelphia, Ark., five bass, 13-2, $485
10th: Larry Nixon, Quitman, Ark., five bass, 13-1, $425
Cole caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $475. Takaaki Kojima of Temecula, California, won the co-angler division and $1,820 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 4 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Takaaki Kojima, Temecula, Calif., three bass, 11-4, $1,820
2nd: Joseph Aguilar, Bauxite, Ark., three bass, 9-3, $910
3rd: Don Billiot, Hot Springs Village, Ark., three bass, 7-14, $607
4th: Dulin Smith, Little Rock, Ark., three bass, 7-13, $425
5th: Gene Mitchell, Stuart, Okla., three bass, 7-8, $364
6th: Philip James, Benton, Ark., three bass, 7-5, $318
6th: Christian Knight, Alexander, Ark., three bass, 7-5, $318
8th: Eian Odle, Willow Springs, Mo., three bass, 6-11, $273
9th: William Brady Rutledge, Mount Ida, Ark., three bass, 6-8, $243
10th: Jason Phillips, Rison, Ark., three bass, 6-0, $212
Kojima also earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $237, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After two events, Brady Horton of Clinton, Arkansas, now leads the Fishing Clash Arkie Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 485 points, while Joseph Aguilar of Bauxite, Arkansas, leads the Fishing Clash Arkie Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 487 points.
The next event for BFL Arkie Division anglers will be held April 26, at Greers Ferry Lake out of Greers Ferry, Arkansas.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-ouachita-41425.html
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