Sunrise Beach’s McKnight Wins Co-angler Division

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (July 1, 2019) – Boater Michael Harlin of Sunrise Beach, Missouri, caught five bass Saturday weighing 24 pounds, 9 ounces, to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament on Lake of the Ozarks. Harlin pocketed $4,463 for his win in the event and 250 points in the Ozark Division presented by Bassing Bob standings. The winner of the division’s Angler of the Year title after five tournaments will win $3,000.

“I basically fished from the dam to the mouth of the Gravois arm,” said Harlin, who earned his first career win in FLW competition. “I had spent my practice mainly idling around and graphing, looking for schools that were off the beaten path. I had found five or six good spots that had fish on them and weren’t getting pressured, and Saturday they were there.

“I had around 15 keepers and was pretty much done fishing by 10:30 (a.m.),” Harlin continued. “I was throwing back 3-pounders like they were nothing. I lost a couple of big ones, too. I’m very confident I could have weighed in 26 pounds if everything had stayed buttoned up.”

Harlin said that all of his fish came on a chartreuse and powder blue-colored Strike King 6XD crankbait.

“The key was really my electronics and throwing a specific line,” Harlin went on to say. “I wasn’t fishing around spots – I was making exact casts and bringing my crankbait right through the school. I was catching them every single cast.”

.The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1^st:          Michael Harlin, Sunrise Beach, Mo., five bass, 24-9, $4,463

2^nd:         Brad Jelinek, Deepwater, Mo., five bass, 21-3, $2,232

3^rd:         Austin Lowrey, Webb City, Mo., five bass, 20-15, $1,489

4^th:         Kirk Smith, Edmond, Okla., five bass, 20-13, $1,041

5^th:         Rick Johnston, Webb City, Mo., five bass, 20-4, $893

6^th:         Chuck Austin, Saint Peters, Mo., five bass, 19-14, $818

6^th:         Mike Roller, Purdy, Mo., five bass, 19-9, $944

8^th:         Larry Stoafer, Leavenworth, Kan., five bass, 19-8, $1,019

9^th:         Brett Govreau, House Springs, Mo., five bass, 18-15, $595

10^th:       Rob Bueltmann, Osage Beach, Mo., five bass, 18-10, $473

10^th:       Cory Steckler, Rocky Mount, Mo., five bass, 18-10, $473

10^th:       Mark Wiese, High Ridge, Mo., five bass, 18-10, $473

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Raymond Bates of Lake Quivira, Kansas, caught a 6-pound, 10-ounce bass – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $640.

Kevin McKnight of Sunrise Beach, Missouri, won the Co-angler Division and $2,232 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 19 pounds, 8 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers were:

1^st:          Kevin McKnight, Sunrise Beach, Mo., five bass, 19-8, $2,232

2^nd:         Andrew Messina, Valley Park, Mo., five bass, 17-8, $1,116

3^rd:         Anthony Johnson, Excelsior Springs, Mo., five bass, 16-14, $743

4^th:         Matthew Hargarten, Bolivar, Mo., five bass, 16-10, $841

5^th:         Dillon Saffle, Ballwin, Mo., five bass, 16-9, $446

6^th:         Dennis Young, Olathe, Kan., five bass, 16-6, $659

7^th:         Ralph Laney, Rogersville, Mo., five bass, 16-0, $372

8^th:         Bruce Lyford, Liberty, Mo., five bass, 15-15, $366

9^th:         Dewey Lewis, Asbury, Mo., five bass, 15-15, $316

10^th:       Michael Fey Sr., Cuba, Mo., five bass, 15-8, $260

Hargarten caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $320.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 24-26 BFL Regional Championship on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518L with a 200-horsepower outboard.

The 2019 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2020 BFL All-American will be held April 30-May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina, and is hosted by Visit Anderson. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.