BROOKELAND, Texas. (April 7, 2025) – Boater Zane Parker of Kingwood, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 30 pounds, 12 ounces, Saturday to win the Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The tournament was the third event of the season for the BFL Cowboy Division. Parker earned $3,426 for his victory.
The weather was pretty nasty at Sam Rayburn on Saturday. But for the 19-year-old Parker, catching 30 pounds easily overshadows any hardships brought on by the wind and rain. He leaned on forward-facing sonar to overcome conditions, using his electronics to relocate spawning bass that he found in practice using both his eyes and his sonar. Parker spent most of the tournament in about 5 feet of water and relied on reaction baits primarily. He said the fish wouldn’t touch soft plastics.
“I had some bed fish marked and just kind of stayed in one area where a lot of big fish were,” he said. “I just threw a little bit of everything. I threw some big baits at them. I threw a Provoke 106DD (jerkbait) by 6th Sense. I threw a glide bait around a little bit. That’s kind of what I did my damage on. They were just on beds, and you’d throw over there and they’d come out eating it.”
Parker ran from bed to bed, assembling a limit worth about 20 pounds by 10 a.m. Then he gradually culled up.
“I caught a 7-pounder, then like 15 minutes later I found another one and caught another one,” he said. “And that was the end of the day. Honestly, after I had 30-something, I just kind of stopped fishing. My smallest was basically a 5-pounder. I was like, man, if I’ve got to throw back a 5-pounder that’s just sick. If someone beats me, hats off to them.”
Second-place finisher Kaden Mueck took at shot, but even with 28 pounds, 2 ounces, Mueck still came up more than 2 1/2 pounds shy of Parker’s impressive winning weight.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:
1st: Zane Parker, Kingwood, Texas, five bass, 30-12, $3,426
2nd: Kaden Mueck, Livingston, Texas, five bass, 28-2, $2,143
3rd: Wyatt Frankens, Corrigan, Texas, five bass, 22-3, $1,141
4th: Cody Ross, Livingston, Texas, five bass, 19-15, $899
5th: Phil Hennigan, Center, Texas, five bass, 19-8, $685
6th: Clayton Boulware, Zavalla, Texas, five bass, 19-6, $628
7th: Cole Moore, Anacoco, La., five bass, 18-14, $1,071 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
8th: John Maddox, Lufkin, Texas, five bass, 15-10, $514
9th: Melvin Dunn, Orange, Texas, five bass, 15-4, $457
10th: Joel Baker, Talala, Okla., five bass, 15-0, $400
Kaden Mueck of Livingston, Texas, caught a bass that weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and earned the Big Bass Boater award of $430. Takaaki Kojima of Temecula, California, won the co-angler division and $1,713 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, $1,713
2nd: Brad Poole, Roanoke, Texas, three bass, 11-0, $1,071
3rd: Neill Beckham, Jacksonville, Texas, three bass, 10-9, $571
4th: Darrell Denton, Georgetown, Texas, three bass, 10-8, $450
5th: Ben Faucheaux, Natchitoches, La., three bass, 9-13, $343
6th: Jay Childs, Houston, Texas, three bass, 9-0, $299
6th: Velin (Lin) Sims, Spring, Texas, three bass, 9-0, $299
8th: Brandon Begnaud, Dickinson, Texas, three bass, 8-10, $257
9th: James Grizzle, Many, La., three bass, 8-8, $228
10th: Leavitt Hamilton, Gonzales, La., three bass, 8-3, $200
Brad Poole of Roanoke, Texas, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $215, catching a bass that weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.
After three events, Cole Moore of Anacoco, Louisiana, now leads the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 741 points, while Logan Slaughter of Lewisville, Texas, leads the Fishing Clash Cowboy Division Co-Angler of the Year race with 719 points.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bfl-rayburn-4725.html
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