Illinois’ Hansen Wins Co-Angler Division
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. (Aug. 31, 2026) – Boater Austin Brimeyer of Dubuque, Iowa, caught a total of five bass weighing 15 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien. The tournament was the fourth of five events of the season for the BFL Great Lakes Division. Brimeyer earned $2,590 for his victory.
“I locked down to Pool 11, which is my home pool, and I started on some smallmouth,” Brimeyer said. “I caught a good smallmouth early, probably 3½ pounds, then I stopped on a largemouth spot where I had found a school and I tried to get them going on a (Heddon Zara) Spook. Maybe somebody had hit it prior to me, because they weren’t biting.
“I moved down the sand bar a little bit and all of a sudden started catching them,” Brimeyer went on to say. “I caught six or seven keepers off of that and had a decent bag.”
Brimeyer was targeting sand points, sand drops and wing dams and said he made a run south and caught a 4.40-pound bass. He covered water with the Spook and also threw a jig, to catch a couple of more keepers, but nothing that would add to his total weight. He locked back through to Pool 10 and waited to weigh in one smallmouth and four largemouth.
“I thought my weight would be up there, but I still had one fish, a 2¼-pounder, that I thought I needed to cull to have a chance to win,” said Brimeyer. “I had a nice bag, but I didn’t think I had enough to win.”
Brimeyer’s intuition, however, was wrong as his total of 15 pounds, 11 ounces was enough to pick up his first career win after 27 prior MLF events.
“I’ve come close in a couple of tournaments out of Prairie where I thought I could have won or been right there,” Brimeyer added. “It felt good to finally get the job done.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Austin Brimeyer, Dubuque, Iowa, five bass, 15-11, $2,590
2nd: Dan Mohn, Lansing, Iowa, five bass, 15-4, $1,330
3rd: Jack Webb, Trempealeau, Wis., five bass, 15-2, $735
3rd: Kevin Ruh, Onalaska, Wis., five bass, 15-2, $1,135 (includes $500 Phoenix bonus)
5th: Casey Goode, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 14-8, $680
5th: Ty Kreis, Brady, Neb., five bass, 14-8, $480
7th: Daryl Kubly Jr., Ettrick, Wis., five bass, 14-7, $430
8th: Fernando Lobato, Sparta, Wis., five bass, 14-3, $420
9th: Tyler Fitch, Fall River, Wis., five bass, 13-11, $395
9th: Mike Brueggen, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 13-11, $395
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Casey Goode of La Crosse, Wisconsin, earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award after landing a 4-pound, 6-ounce bass worth $200.
Conor Hansen of Chicago, Illinois, won the co-angler division and the top prize of $1,395 Saturday after bringing three bass to the scale that totaled 9 pounds, 8 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished:
1st: Conor Hansen, Chicago, Ill., three bass, 9-8, $1,395
2nd: Hertz Skaer, Holmen, Wis., three bass, 9-6, $665
3rd: Jason Olson, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., three bass, 8-11, $350
4th: John Morales, Plainfield, Ill., three bass, 8-8, $285
5th: Todd Earnest, Ham Lake, Minn., three bass, 7-12, $255
6th: C.J. Reitz, Morton, Ill., three bass, 7-10, $225
7th: Terry Williams, Cedar Falls, Iowa, three bass, 7-8, $220
8th: Danny Mancini, Necedah, Wis., three bass, 7-2, $210
9th: Nicholas Howell, Mackinaw, Ill., three bass, 7-0, $200
10th: Aaron Konopacki, New Albin, Iowa, three bass, 6-14, $245
Conor Hansen of Chicago, Illinois, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award after landing a 4-pound, 12-ounce bass worth $100.
After four events, Kevin Ruh of Onalaska, Wisconsin, now leads the 7 Brew Great Lakes Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 980 points, while Jason Swanson of Waterloo, Iowa, leads the Great Lakes Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 976 points.
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. 22-24 BFL Regional tournament on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. 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.
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 – 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.