The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine opened competition Saturday at Sam Rayburn, featuring a record-setting field size – 230 boaters and 230 co-anglers. The season opener, the largest field in more than 20 years, took off with multiple anglers left on the waiting list.

Boater Kevin Lasyone of Dry Prong, Louisiana, caught the largest five-bass limit of the day, 20 pounds 8 ounces, to win the FLW Cowboy Division tournament, earning $6,000 for his efforts.

“It feels great to get the win against a field like this in the first event of the year,” says Lasyone, who earned his third career victory on Sam Rayburn in FLW competition. “I was basically fishing grass in three to five feet of water early, then I went shallow and finished out my day.”

Lasyone said he caught most of his fish on a Rat-L-Trap and a V&M Thunder Shad swimbait with a Lazyman weighted swimbait hook. He also added a few keepers with a Yamamoto Senko.

“I think the key to my victory was all of the time that I have spent on Rayburn over the years,” Lasyone added. “The big ones really seemed to pull up when the sun came out, and they were up pretty shallow. I was fishing water that was only about knee deep, but it had to have grass.”

Top 10 boaters
1st: Kevin Lasyone of Dry Prong, La., five bass, 20-8, $6,000
2nd: Derek Mundy of Broaddus, Texas, five bass, 18-12, $3,000
3rd: Andre Martin of Lena, La., five bass, 17-15, $2,000
4th: Phil Marks of Dallas, Texas, five bass, 17-14, $1,400
5th: River Lee of Nacogdoches, Texas, five bass, 16-15, $1,200
6th: Randy Quin of Huffman, Texas, five bass, 16-12, $1,100
7th: Rylon Ganey of Pineville, La., five bass, 16-10, $1,000
8th: Skeeter Fowler of Grand Saline, Texas, five bass, 16-6, $900
9th: James Allen Pruitt of Houston, Texas, five bass, 15-13, $800
10th: Judah Morris of Forest Hill, La., five bass, 15-9, $665
10th: Ryan Pinkston of Center, Texas, five bass, 15-9, $665

Mason Kellett of Kingston, Oklahoma, won the Boater Big Bass award of $1,000 after bringing a largemouth bass weighing 9 pounds, 7 ounces to the scale.

Jaden Parrish of Liberty, Texas, won the Co-angler Division and $3,000 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds even.

Top 10 co-anglers
1st: Jaden Parrish of Liberty, Texas, five bass, 15-0, $3,000
2nd: Larry Lovell of Emory, Texas, five bass, 14-12, $1,500
3rd: Todd Fontenot of Lake Charles, La., five bass, 13-12, $1,000
4th: Cannon Rush of Midlothian, Texas, five bass, 13-11, $700
5th: Chase Crawford of Kingwood, Texas, five bass, 12-13, $600
6th: Lindy Hadley of Sam Rayburn, Texas, five bass, 12-5, $550
7th: Antwon Harris of DeRidder, La., five bass, 12-3, $500
8th: Lat Nichols of Deport, Texas, four bass, 12-2, $425
8th: Brandon Ackerson of Afton, Okla., five bass, 12-2, $425
10th: Juan Barrientos of Clarksville, Ark., five bass, 12-1, $350

Clark Moore of Nacogdoches, Texas, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $500.

Photos courtesy of FLW