A CHAMPIONSHIP FINISH: ALEXANDER & MAYNARD WIN THE 2026 3X9 SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP

Dean Alexander and Ronnie Maynard bring 16.07 pounds to the scales to capture the season finale on Stillhouse Hollow Lake

STILLHOUSE HOLLOW LAKE — SEPTEMBER 27, 2026

Twenty-six regular-season events. Months of Tuesday nights. Hundreds of hours on Stillhouse Hollow.

It all came down to one final day.

The 2026 Tuesday Night 3X9 Series Championship closed out another season of Central Texas tournament fishing Sunday, September 27, with 27 qualified teams competing for the final big prize of the year.

When the last bag crossed the scales, Dean Alexander and Ronnie Maynard stood at the top.

Their five-fish limit weighing 16.07 pounds was enough to claim the 2026 3X9 Series Championship and the $3,000 first-place payday.

ALEXANDER & MAYNARD GET IT DONE

Championship fishing is different.

There is no next Tuesday to make up for a mistake. No next event to regain lost points.

You get one day.

Alexander and Maynard made theirs count.

Their 16.07-pound limit topped a competitive Championship field and put their names on the final victory of the 2026 season.

But they didn’t have much room to relax.

Thomas Wells and Bobby Babcock—who had already put together an outstanding season—made another run at the top, weighing 15.11 pounds to finish second and collect $1,000.

Just 0.96 pounds separated first and second.

Wells and Babcock weren’t finished collecting hardware, either.

Their Championship runner-up performance capped the season in which they earned the 2026 3X9 Series Anglers of the Year title and the $500 AOY award.

That’s one heck of a way to finish a season.

RILEY & DELRIO BRING THE HAMMER

The biggest individual bass of the Championship belonged to John Riley and John Delrio.

Their 5.81-pound Stillhouse bass was the biggest fish recorded in the Championship results and helped push their five-fish limit to 14.41 pounds.

That was good enough for third place and a listed payout of $1,150, giving Riley and Delrio one of the strongest performances of Championship Sunday.

Not far behind them were Rodney Thompson and Bill Blisard, who brought 13.83 pounds to the scales, anchored by a 5.60-pound bass.

They finished fourth and collected $900.

With Riley and Delrio weighing 5.81 and Thompson and Blisard weighing 5.60, the big-fish race came down to just 0.21 pounds.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP TOP 12

The 2026 Championship paid through 12 places:

1st — Dean Alexander & Ronnie Maynard — 16.07 lbs — $3,000

2nd — Thomas Wells & Bobby Babcock — 15.11 lbs — $1,000

3rd — John Riley & John Delrio — 14.41 lbs — $1,150
Big Bass: 5.81 lbs

4th — Rodney Thompson & Bill Blisard — 13.83 lbs — $900
Big Fish: 5.60 lbs

5th — Davion Spiller & Joshua Gibbons — 12.72 lbs — $700

6th — Daniel Barnes & Tanner Barnes — 12.65 lbs — $600
Big Fish: 5.10 lbs

7th — Pete Lewis & Alexia Lewis — 11.31 lbs — $500
Big Fish: 5.21 lbs

8th — Fred Nazario & Garrett Hennig — 11.00 lbs — $450

9th — Chris Perry & Mathew Perry — 10.90 lbs — $400

10th — Donnie Mathes & Tim Rake — 10.09 lbs — $300

11th — Ty Butler & Braxton Butler — 9.86 lbs — $250

12th — Jason Garza & Josh Garza — 8.98 lbs — $250

That is a Championship scoreboard filled with names that 3X9 anglers have seen around the scales throughout the season.

92 FISH — MORE THAN 209 POUNDS

The numbers tell another part of the Championship story.

The 27-team field brought 92 fish across the scales for a combined weight of 209.55 pounds.

The average fish weighed 2.28 pounds, while the average team brought 7.48 pounds to the scales.

Even more important for the lake and the future of the fishery, 89 of the 92 fish were released alive, producing a 97% release rate.

Those are numbers worth recognizing.

WELLS & BABCOCK — YOUR 2026 ANGLERS OF THE YEAR

While the Championship belonged to Alexander and Maynard, the season-long title belonged to Thomas Wells and Bobby Babcock.

Winning Anglers of the Year isn’t about having one great Tuesday night.

It’s about doing it over and over again.

Every fish matters.

Every ounce matters.

Every finish matters.

And eventually all those Tuesday nights become a season.

Wells and Babcock put together the consistency necessary to finish at the top of the standings and earn the 2026 3X9 Series AOY Championship and its $500 award.

Then, just to put an exclamation point on their season, they went out in the Championship and finished second with 15.11 pounds.

Congratulations to Thomas and Bobby on an outstanding year.

THREE HOURS AT A TIME

The Tuesday Night 3X9 Series has never been about having all day to figure them out.

That’s part of what makes it different.

You get three hours.

You make your decisions.

You live with them.

Some nights everything falls into place.

Other nights you spend the drive home replaying the fish you lost, the spot you should have tried or the decision you wish you could make again.

Then the next Tuesday rolls around and everybody gets another shot.

That repeated three-hour battle on Stillhouse is what ultimately leads to Championship Sunday.

The Championship field wasn’t simply fishing for a bigger check.

They were fishing for the right to finish a season’s worth of competition on top.

2026 IS OFFICIALLY IN THE BOOKS

For the final time this year, the scales have closed.

Dean Alexander and Ronnie Maynard are your 2026 3X9 Series Champions.

Thomas Wells and Bobby Babcock are your 2026 Anglers of the Year.

John Riley and John Delrio brought the Championship’s biggest bass at 5.81 pounds.

But the real story of the 3X9 Series isn’t just who won.

It’s the anglers who kept showing up.

It’s backing a boat down the ramp after a long day at work because it’s Tuesday and there’s a tournament to fish.

It’s the competition.

The friendships.

The rivalries.

The trash talking.

The one that got away.

The last-minute cull.

And that walk toward the scales when you know you’ve got a bag that might just be enough.

That’s what keeps local tournament fishing alive.

To every angler who fished with us in 2026, every person who helped at the ramp and scales, every sponsor who supported the series, and everyone who followed along throughout the year:

Thank you.

You made the 2026 season what it was.

Enjoy the offseason, because it won’t last forever.

Soon enough, we’ll be standing around the ramp again.

The boats will be ready.

The livewells will be open.

And somebody will look at the clock.

THEN IT’LL BE TIME TO SAY IT AGAIN:

LINES IN.

The Tuesday Night 3X9 Series returns in Spring 2027.

Stillhouse Hollow Lake

THREE HOURS. NINE POUNDS. ONE MORE SEASON TO PROVE IT.

See you at the ramp.