{"id":267097,"date":"2026-08-17T21:24:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267097\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T21:24:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:24:46","slug":"masons-smith-targets-deep-smallmouth-for-victory-at-phoenix-bass-fishing-league-event-at-lake-erie-the-bass-cast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267097\/","title":{"rendered":"Mason\u2019s Smith Targets Deep Smallmouth for Victory at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Lake Erie \u2013 The Bass Cast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kentucky\u2019s Luken Wins Co-Angler Division<\/p>\n

SANDUSKY, Ohio (Aug. 17, 2026) \u2013 Boater Brandon Smith of Mason, Ohio<\/a>, caught a total of five bass weighing 21 pounds, 15 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Erie<\/a>. The tournament was the fourth of five events of the season for the BFL Buckeye Division. Smith earned $3,340 for his victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn typical Erie fashion, we left the bay and Erie was way rougher than it was supposed to be,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt took an hour and a half to run 40-plus miles across the lake like most of us do. I got to my starting spot, which was pretty much one area I had found the day before. The area was about the size of a football field. I turned on my (Garmin<\/a>) LiveScope and pretty much in the first couple of minutes caught a 2\u00bd-pounder and five minutes later caught a 3-pounder, and I just upgraded from there. I had a limit of 17 pounds in the first 45 minutes to an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith targeted smallmouth in the 25- to 30-foot range where the larger bass tend to hold this time of year. He said he caught all of his fish on a Berkley Powerbait MaxScent Flat Worm<\/a>, and the color didn\u2019t seem to matter \u2013 as long as it was green pumpkin, black or goby \u2013 traditional successful Erie colors. He said he rotated colors as he moved through rock piles to change up the look.<\/p>\n

Smith said he kept upgrading a pound at a time every time he caught a smallmouth and added a 5-pounder and several that weighed 4 pounds to his bag.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I had to turn my \u2018Scope off, I set myself up on a rock vein I had caught a couple on,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI ended up catching my last one without my \u2018Scope that got me up to 21 pounds there at the end of the day. And my co-angler ended up catching one there that was the big bass on the co-angler side. So that was good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said Erie is the kind of fishery where anyone can win if they commit to making the run out into the lake \u2013 fighting the waves to catch a large bag of smallmouth when you find a \u201cmagical\u201d area that holds a good number of the roaming bass.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time you can get over 20 pounds on Erie you\u2019re OK,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI knew when I had 17 pounds I had a check. When I got to 19 pounds I thought I would be close to a top-five finish. When I got to 20 pounds, I thought I was doing really well. Then when I got to 21 pounds I thought I had a chance at the win. But it\u2019s Erie. You never know what can happen on the Great Lakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:<\/p>\n

1st: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Brandon Smith, Mason, Ohio, five bass, 21-15, $3,340
2nd: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Drew Six, Clinton, Ohio, five bass, 21-1, $1,880
3rd: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Codea McCathran, Mansfield, Ohio, five bass, 20-3, $850
4th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eric Cook, Marblehead, Ohio, five bass, 19-11, $680
5th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sean Wieda, Alexandria, Ky., five bass, 19-8, $600
6th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pat Upthagrove, Monroe, Mich., five bass, 19-4, $620
7th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wilson Burton, Findlay, Ohio, five bass, 18-7, $1,000 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
8th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Decessna, Perrysburg, Ohio, five bass, 18-5, $480
9th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jesse Hickman, Waynesville, Ohio, four bass, 17-4, $610
10th: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hunter Colwell, Zanesfield, Ohio, five bass, 16-7, $430<\/p>\n

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Drew Six of Clinton, Ohio, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 6-pound, 8-ounce bass worth $200.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Matt Luken of Independence, Kentucky, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,670 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 12 pounds, 8 ounces.<\/p>\n

The top 10 co-anglers finished:<\/p>\n

1st: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Matt Luken, Independence, Ky., three bass, 12-8, $1,670
2nd: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Terry Bucciarelli, Ypsilanti, Mich., three bass, 12-4, $990
3rd: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jim Feathers, Vermilion, Ohio, three bass, 11-13, $425
4th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kayden Madden, Greenville, Ohio, three bass, 10-9, $340
5th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alex Richardson, Cincinnati, Ohio, three bass, 10-7, $300
6th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dylan Phillips, Albany, Ohio, three bass, 9-8, $260
7th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chad McQueen, Fairfield, Ohio, three bass, 9-3, $250
8th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jordan Smith, Middletown, Ohio, three bass, 9-2, $240
9th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 James Larosa, Boyers, Penn., three bass, 8-12, $230
10th:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jason Stock, Maineville, Ohio, two bass, 8-10, $215<\/p>\n

Daniel Beckner of Huntington, West Virginia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 5-pound, 6-ounce bass worth $100.<\/p>\n

After four events, Chris Martinkovic of Hamilton, Ohio, now leads the 7 Brew Buckeye Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 961 points, while Austin Herbst of Hamilton, Ohio, leads the Buckeye Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 939 points.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 the BFL All-American. The 2027 BFL All-American will take place June 5-7, at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Kissimmee, Florida, and is hosted by Experience Kissimmee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kentucky\u2019s Luken Wins Co-Angler Division SANDUSKY, Ohio (Aug. 17, 2026) \u2013 Boater Brandon Smith of Mason, Ohio, caught…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-267097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}