OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Feb. 23, 2026) – Boater Cody Miller of Shell Knob, Missouri, caught a total of five bass weighing 19 pounds, 7 ounces, to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Lake of the Ozarks. The tournament was the first of five events of the season for the BFL Ozark Division. Miller earned $3,340 for his victory.
“I went out without a game plan,” Miller said. “I haven’t been on Lake of the Ozarks since September. I didn’t prefish, I just drove up the morning of the tournament.
“I started out without my (Garmin) LiveScope for the first hour and caught a 4-pounder, a 3-pounder and another keeper,” Miller went on to say. “Once the sun got up a little bit and my line stopped freezing to my eyelets, I started my forward-facing sonar period and pushed my weight up to 17 or 18 pounds.”
Miller stayed in the Gravois Arm area and said he targeted brush with his electronics, because he could see the bass holding near the brush. Once Miller’s forward-facing sonar period expired, he began fishing windy points he knew featured chunk rock. There he caught his biggest bass of the day and culled up one last time to have his final weight.
Miller said he threw a Megabass 110+1 jerkbait when he wasn’t using LiveScope, and when he was using LiveScope he added an Alabama rig to the jerkbait presentation.
“I didn’t have any expectations going into this, to be honest,” Miller said. “I didn’t really think I would catch them before or after the LiveScope period, because that’s what I really like to do.
“I was pretty shocked to win,” Miller added. “Out of all the tournaments I thought I’d have shot at, this was definitely not one of them. This win was pretty random, but pretty awesome.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Cody Miller, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 19-7, $3,340
2nd: Ronnie Dobbs, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 18-4, $1,680
3rd: Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., five bass, 17-2, $1,650 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
4th: Tyler Bower, Fenton, Mo., five bass, 16-4, $680
5th: Randy Doman, Jefferson City, Mo., five bass, 16-1, $600
6th: Darrin Marcure, Long Grove, Iowa, five bass, 15-15, $520
7th: Kyle Kitts, Joplin, Mo., five bass, 15-10, $490
7th: Justin Luetkemeyer, Lake Ozark, Mo., five bass, 15-10, $490
9th: Lance Williams, Billings, Mo., five bass, 15-7, $460
10th: Bradley Rumfelt, Lebanon, Mo., five bass, 14-11, $430
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Dennis Berhorst of Holts Summit, Missouri, earned the Big Bass Boater award after landing a 7-pound, 9-ounce bass worth $200. Jarod Shelton of Centralia, Missouri, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,670 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 10 pounds, 5 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Jarod Shelton, Centralia, Mo., three bass, 10-5, $1,670
2nd: Thad Hewitt, Delaware, Okla., three bass, 9-13, $840
3rd: Kirk Short, Saint Clair, Mo., three bass, 9-12, $425
4th: Dave Bess, Oakville, Mo., three bass, 9-3, $340
5th: Brett Krassinger, Byrnes Mill, Mo., three bass, 9-1, $300
6th: Winston Moulder, Blue Springs, Mo., two bass, 8-6, $255
6th: Gary Huber, Saint Charles, Mo., three bass, 8-6, $255
8th: Jeff Moss, Oronogo, Mo., three bass, 8-5, $340
9th: Tyler Williams, Farmington, Mo., three bass, 8-3, $230
10th: Caleb Welch, Springfield, Mo., three bass, 8-1, $215
Brian Davis of Bethalto, Illinois, earned the Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 2-ounce bass worth $100.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-ozarks-22326.html
Bass Fishing League (BFL) News