BROOKELAND, Texas (Jan. 6, 2025) – Boater Wyatt Frankens of Corrigan, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 29 pounds, 1 ounce, Saturday to win the MLF Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament at Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL and the Cowboy Division. Frankens earned $4,796 for his victory.
According to Frankens, fishing and the conditions had been consistent at Rayburn ahead of the tournament, but a recent water level rise changed things pretty quickly.
“I wasn’t even sure I was going to get to fish the event,” he said. “And thankfully I did last minute and was able to get in. So I didn’t get to practice a ton for the event. That probably ended up working in my favor since I wasn’t out there getting dialed on something as it was changing. I was able to fish free and adapt, and I was able to learn some things as I fished today. That ended up helping out a ton.”
Frankens relied on forward-facing sonar to find and catch his fish. His primary lures included a 6th Sense Ozzie, a 6th Sense Crush 300DD Crankbait and a 6th Sense Divine Hybrid Jig . Because he didn’t have much practice, Frankens had to cover a ton of water throughout the tournament. He primarily targeted timber in creek channels, ditches and drains, and he says he ran around enough that he nearly saw the entire lake.
Frankens prefers to hunt big bites, which is obviously a good strategy if you want to catch 29-plus pounds and win at Rayburn. But it’s also a gamble, and at first, it looked like he might be holding the losing hand.
“I didn’t have a great start to the day,” he added. “I think I was just a little too deep. Just like Rayburn fish do, they kind of moved up with the rising water. Once I figured that out at about 9:30 or 10, that’s when I started getting some of my bigger ones. It wasn’t easy. I started picking up one here, one there.”
“Shallower,” in this case, was 10 to 15 feet of water, rather than mid-20s, which would be pretty standard for Frankens this time of year at Rayburn. In addition to the fish on timber, Frankens also caught some “floaters,” or suspended nomadic fish.
Ultimately, it was keeping an open mind and his strategic use of forward-facing sonar that earned him the W.
“Using that tool to learn is a big deal,” Frankens said. “I’m not just randomly running around scoping in the middle of nowhere. That’s just not how it works. Using that technology to learn and let the fish show you what they’re doing is a big deal.”
Once he got a couple better bites and started to piece together that the fish were shallower, Frankens was able to capitalize on his history on the lake to piece together an impressive limit. Altogether, he caught about 10 keepers. That included a 2 1/2-pounder that was among the five bass he weighed in. A 2 1/2 in a 29-pound, 1-ounce limit means Franken’s other four weigh-in fish averaged more than 6 1/2 pounds apiece – a great way to kick off the 2025 BFL season.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Wyatt Frankens, Corrigan, Texas, five bass, 29-1, $4,796
2nd: Wesley Baxley, Cypress, Texas, five bass, 23-15, $2,398
3rd: Cole Moore, Anacoco, La., five bass, 19-0, $1,595
4th: Hayden Heck, Lufkin, Texas, five bass, 17-15, $1,119
5th: Ian Leybas, McAlester, Okla., five bass, 17-12, $959
6th: Tommy Mackey, Bryan, Texas, five bass, 16-15, $879
7th: James Laramore, Vidor, Texas, five bass, 16-11, $1,514
8th: Zane Parker, Kingwood, Texas, five bass, 16-6, $719
9th: Tater Reynolds, Florien, La., five bass, 16-4, $639
10th: J.D. Chandler, Liberty, Texas, five bass, 15-15, $560
James Laramore of Vidor, Texas, caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $715. Jaxson Thomas of Texarkana, Arkansas, won the co-angler division and $2,576 Saturday, after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 11 pounds, 6 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Jaxson Thomas, Texarkana, Arkansas, three bass, 11-6, $2,576
2nd: Aaron Willis, Broken Bow, Okla., three bass, 9-1, $1,199
3rd: Michael Glynn, Boerne, Texas, three bass, 8-8, $795
4th: Logan Slaughter, Dallas, Texas, two bass, 8-1, $493
4th: Gary Medley, Vidor, Texas, one bass, 8-1, $671
4th: Ronald Leist, Onalaska, Texas, three bass, 8-1, $493
7th: Richard Garcia, Hemphill, Texas, three bass, 7-13, $400
8th: Mitch Powers, Pineland, Texas, three bass, 7-12, $320
8th: Kasen Clark, Coldspring, Texas, three bass, 7-12, $320
8th: Dustin Berry, Dayton, Texas, one bass, 7-12, $320
Jaxson Thomas of Texarkana, Arkansas, and Gary Medley of Vidor, Texas, tied for the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award, each catching a bass that weighed in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce. They each took home $178 for their share of the prize.
In addition to earning the win, Frankens has the early lead in the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 250 points, while co-angler winner Thomas leads the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Co-Angler of the Year race, also with 250 points.
The next event for BFL Cowboy Division anglers will be held January 18, at Toledo Bend out of Many, Louisiana
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Bass Fishing League (BFL) News