TBF District 6 & 7 conducted the second annual Dual District National Semifinal at Table Rock Lake on September 27-28, 2025, at Port of Kimberling.  We have a four-year series of Dual District 6 & 7 National Semifinal events scheduled: 2024 was hosted at Grand Lake, 2025 – Table Rock Lake, 2026 Lake Dardanelle and 2027 Truman Lake.  Table Rock Lake has hosted numerous TBF and MLF events over the years, this is the first time in many years (maybe ever) that a TBF National Semifinal event has been held on the legendary fishery.  Table Rock Lake is one of the crown jewels of America’s fishing waters as well as the other lakes scheduled in the series.  The series gives our anglers the opportunity to experience the unmatched beauty of the Ozarks and gain experience on some of the best lakes in America.

Table Rock Lake is the definition of a highland reservoir – deep, clear water, mix of rock and submerged timber from the dam to mid-lake and clear to stained water and shallow cover up the river arms.  A mixed bag of largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass is common across the lake. Fishing in the early fall can be tough at Table Rock with the fish scattered from shallow to deep. History has shown that you can place well either by fishing shallow or fishing deep this time of year.  A few guys always figure it out.  With water temps still in the high 70’s and peaking near 80 in the late afternoon and summer-like heat still bearing down on the Ozarks – the lake was set up for a typical fall event at Table Rock.

Practice wound down and competitors gathered at Extreme Outdoors in Branson West, Missouri for the pre-tournament pairings and rules meeting many were still scratching their heads and looking for that perfect bait or technique to help them put keepers and above average fish in the boat.

53 pairs of anglers gathered Saturday morning, and even as boat 1 was called many still wondered how the day would unfold. The sun beat down nearly all-day Saturday, and temperatures pushed near 90 degrees, anglers found the nationally recognized lake extremely stingy. When weigh-in concluded only 5 limits were brought to the scale with Chris Huselton finding himself at the top of the boater’s leader board. On the co-anglers side only 3 limits were weighed with Missouri’s Sam Heckman ending the day as the leader with a 3 fish total of 6.95 lbs.

Sunday started out with a short fog delay.  Fishing continued to be tough throughout the day, but one angler was using his local knowledge to put it together. Local, and the Missouri 2025 Angler of the Year Cody Miller stayed calm and put his head down and went to work burning through as much water as possible to bring 5 Table Rock bass to the scales weighing 11.59 lbs. Those 5 and his Saturday bag of 16.77 lbs., give him 28.36 pounds were good enough to edge out Justin Swayze’s 2-day total of 28.20 lbs. for the win.

Cody said “I wasn’t able to practice; I just burned as much bank as possible looking for late spawning bream and gizzard shad with a top water. I stayed close to the ramp and caught 15 pounds in the first hour on day one.” Day two wasn’t so good, Miller stated, “I tried doing the same thing, but I got very few bites, and I ended up breaking off a few.” He added that he went chasing the wind in a creek arm late in the day Sunday and caught a 3.5-pound smallmouth on this last cast on a square bill. “That last fish won me the tournament.”

On the co-angler side it was Tyler Dennis with a two-day total of 12.42 lbs. coming all the way from 11th to capture the win over perennial power Ray Cates from Kansas, by just over a ½ pound.

Overall Combine District 6 & 7 Champions

District 6 Top 5 Boaters
District 6 Top 5 Co-anglers

Top Five District 6 – Arkansas & Oklahoma

District 7 Top 5 Boaters

District 7 – Top 5 Co-anglers

Top Five District 7 – Kansas & Missouri

Oklahoma – Federation National Championship Qualifiers

Kansas – Federation National Championship Qualifiers

Missouri – Federation National Championship Qualifiers

State National Semi-final Champions – Advancing to 2026 TBF Federation National Championship

Congratulations to all of the winners and those anglers advancing to the 2026 TBF Federation National Championship to compete for the Living Your Dream Prize Package and the opportunity to advance to the MLF All American and MLF Toyota Series National Championship.

The 2026 TBF Dual District 6 & 7 National Semifinal will be held at Lake Dardanelle, Russellville, Arkansas.

With the extended summer-like conditions in Michigan, anglers were glad to receive some true fall weather to welcome in the Semi-Final on the Halfmoon Chain of Lakes. As the anglers launched their boats into the brisk air, they knew that it would take a big bag of bass to emerge victorious over the two-day competition.

Day 1 saw cloudy skies with some wind, but the fishing seemed to be hit or miss for the anglers. The biggest bag of day 1 was brought in by boater Rylan Hamlin with a total of 5 bass for 17.73 and also the largest bass of the day with a 5.12 largemouth. The largest bag on the co-angler side was Nick Ireland with 4 bass for 6.57. The largest bass on the co-angler side was hoisted up by Rodney Craft with a 3.21 largemouth, which ultimately held for both days.

Perhaps it was fate that both the boater and co angler leaders after day 1 ended up being paired together for Day 2, as they kept the heat on the competition and at the end of day 2 both Rylan Hamlin and Nick Ireland were crowned the victors! Rylan had an amazing day 2 on the water with a 5 fish total of 20.39, anchored by the overall big bass of the event, a 6.23 Michigan behemoth largemouth! That brought Rylan’s two-day total to 38.12, a commanding victory! Rylan said the key to his success was noting the drop in water temp overnight, changing tactics from more of a bait focused pattern, to running some of his old honey holes until he found the mega school on a hard spot.

On the co side, Nick held off the competition in a true nail biter, winning by just .11 of a lb. His Day 2 bag included 2 bass for a total of 2.41, combined for a total weight of 8.98 lbs. His key to success was also adapting to the conditions each day and maximizing on all of the bites he got. Congratulations to all of the competitors in the 2025 Michigan Semi-Final!

It turned out to be a close tournament with tough fishing conditions. Catching big fish
would be the challenge as the numbers of small fish was there. Flat calm and 75
degree average water temperatures was what awaited the 50 anglers during the
practice period for the TBF District 21 National Semi-Finals. During tournament days
the wind averaged 5-10 mph with gusts to 20.

Jeremy Fuentes from New Mexico weighed in 11.95 lbs. Day 1 to take a lead on the
boater side and followed it up with 10.75 lbs. Day 2 for a total of 22.70 lbs. On the Co
Angler side, Richard Sainz from New Mexico weighed in 12.06 lbs. on
Day 1 and 8.34 lbs. Day 2 for a total of 20.40 lbs. They would not look back and went on
to claim the Boater and Co-Angler 2025 District 21 Champion titles. Both will be moving
on to the 2026 TBF National Championship. Joining them will be the top boater from Colorado, Troy Stinson with a 2-Day total of
17.72 lbs. and top Co-Angler from Colorado, Carey Goldberg with a 2-Day total of 13.79
lbs. Brian Hickey was the highest finishing boater from Colorado during the tournament with
a 2-day total of 19.31 lbs. but had already qualified to the 2026 TBF National
Championship through the TBF State Champions Program along with his son, Kaden
Hickey. A total weight of 650.16 lbs. was brought to the scales.
CTBF would like to thank you the City of Grove, GRDA, and Cherokee Casino for
hosting the event.

SEPT 20th – 21st, 2025

Beautiful weather for the event. We had 47 teams for the event, a great bunch of guys eager to fish the Bay of Quinte. The Bay of Quinte is on of the greatest fishing areas in Ontario.

District 14 Boater Champion

District 14 Co-angler Champion

With the cool weather we had the week prior and an algae bloom last week, made it a bit of a tough bite for some anglers, but it was figured out and there were some great weights brought in.