Michael Harlin Wins MLF Toyota Series Lake of the Ozarks

Michael Harlin caught a fish that weighed in excess of 5 pounds on each of the three days of the recent Lake of the Ozarks Plains Division Toyota Series event. If the big one was the only fish he'd caught in the final round, he still would've won.

With a trio of stringers that eclipsed the 20-pound mark, the 26-year-old rolled to an easy victory on his home lake that netted him the top prize of $37,802. His 62-01 total left him more than 15 pounds in front of runner-up Andy Newcomb.

He did most of his work with an umbrella rig – a YUMbrella Flash Mob Jr. with 1/8-ounce jigheads that held 3.8-inch swimbaits. He also caught a few fish in the final round on a jerkbait.

"I like throwing (an umbrella rig)," he said. "If it's pre-spawn in the Ozarks and the fish are biting, you'd better be throwing it or you're going to get whooped. It has a lot of drawing power – you can cover a lot of water and pull fish in from a long ways off.

"I caught my first 20-pound bag on an A-Rig when I was in college (at the University of Missouri). That was kind of where it all started."

Usually in the Vicinity

Harlin not only spends a lot of time on Lake of the Ozarks itself, but on the dry ground around it, as well. He's a realtor by trade and his operation is centered on properties situated close to the water.

"It works out well because my schedule is usually pretty open," he said. "Working for yourself, you can put in more time on the water than if you had to ask for a vacation."

He put in three days of practice for the Toyota derby – more than that was pretty much impossible due to the previous spate of winter weather that left much of the lake in a frozen state. He used the time to find brushpiles located between the toll bridge and the dam that he was previously unaware of and those were the ones he exploited during the tournament.

He had about 15 locales waypointed and had whittled that number down to eight or 10 by the final day. Forward-facing sonar was critical to his program.

"For the most part, I had to revisit a lot of stuff multiple times during the day to get them to bite," he said. "Some of the piles were holding 10 to 15 fish, but the ones holding four or five usually had better quality.

"Long casts were ideal, but you can't do that when it gets too windy and sometimes I was making 30- to 40-foot casts. The retrieve was pretty slow – we were dealing with 36-degree water most of the time."

His biggest fish of the event was the 6-06 he caught on day 1. He went through a lot of fish en route to compiling his bags, catching 20 or more on two of the three days.

"I think the biggest key for me was just focusing on structure that I knew was holding fish and not fishing everything that looked good."

Winning Gear Notes

> Umbrella rig gear: 7'7" heavy-action FX Custom rod, Shimano Curado 200 casting reel (7.4:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, YUMbrella Flash Mob Jr. with 1/8-ounce Crock-O-Gator jigheads, 3.8-inch Keitech Swing Impact FAT swimbaits (French pearl or pro blue read pearl.

> His jerkbait was a Megabass Vision 110 (stain reaction OB).

Notable

> Harlin fished the event from a borrowed boat, as his new one had yet to arrive at his local dealership.

> He'd like to fish at the tour level at some point, but isn't obsessed with it. "I'm just going to ride it as far as it'll go. If that route opened up, I'd be happy to do it, but I'm also happy just fishing around the house."

John Johnson. "Harlin Cruised With Umbrella Rig On Brush: Ozarks Toyota Series Winning Profile" 12 March 2021, bassfan.com/news_article/10164/harlin-cruised-with-umbrella-rig-on-brush#. Accessed 12 March 2021.