World Fishing Tour by KGuardGuttering.com crowned new WFT Champions on Truman Lake on Saturday.
That being said, Michael Harlin and Warsaw's Brad Jelinek are no strangers to cashing checks in bass fishing and it doesn't matter if they are traveling the MLF Invitationals, BFL's, Toyota's, or just grinding the local area Ozark trails like Joe Bass, Angler's in Action, or the like. Harline and Jelinek flat out know how to catch them on any body of water. Pair them up and watch out!
That's exactly what happened on Saturday when Harlin and Jelinek taking first place and reeling in their biggest catch of the day, a check worth $10,000, with much thanks to added money from the WFT's title sponsor, K-Guard Guttering. With Truman Lake reportedly fishing a little tough right now, representatives of the tour said that they would be willing to bet that the duo did not think their limit of 15.29 pounds was going to be enough, and especially in a field against some of the best local and Ozarks area fishing hammers sitting in 33 different boats that launched onto Truman from the Shawnee Bend boat ramp. Just to qualify in the World Fishing Tour is no small feat. Some of the lakes most consistent check cashing teams did not even make the cut, including the defending champs from the 2022 season.
"This will not be the last time that you'll see Brad Jelinek or Michael Harlin's name at the top of a leaderboard of a professional tour," World Fishing Tour owner Travis Burch said. "Keep your eyes on their journeys; they are only getting stronger in the sport by the day."
Second place was the father/son duo of Jeremy and Joel Johnson. The Johnson team cash checks pretty much every trail they fish, whether it's AIA, Joe Bass, or even when Jeremy throws his name in the Solo Pro, Bassmaster Opens, Toyota's, and BFL's hat. Those boys can flat out catch them. The Johnson's showed that with 20.06 pounds in their qualifying round followed up by a second place finish on Championship Saturday.
Third place was the team of Brock Bila and Josh Pladies. Bila has cut his teeth on the college circuits and has had great success in some of the most renowned fisheries in the USA. Pladies was his team partner and is no slouch either owning one of the most highly sought after glide bait lines on the market. Pladies' attention to detail is insane and knowledge is out of this world when it comes to bait design for Clutchswimbaitco.com All that time on the water pays off in fishing and bait design and it shows.
Fourth place went to Chris Bridges and Steve Prince. They mentioned going into today wishing fish would cooperate a little better in the hot high skies and that just didn't happen. Bridges and Prince are also no strangers to cashing checks together on Truman Lake.
Fifth place was another MLF Invitationals Pro in Brock Reinkemeyer and Anthony Johnson. They were one big keeper from a different article. As locals to the lake, they know where they live too. So to see a fifth from this team you know the lake and the tournament is fishing tough.
Sixth place proves how tough it really was. The team of Darrell Reach and John Bennett have probably made more money on Truman Lake than any other team in Truman's history. They are the one team representatives from the WFT fielded the most calls about now two years in a row. Prior to events, many angler's want to know if the Reach/Bennett team is fishing. But even some of the most feared legends can't win them all. Reach and Bennett have been big supporters of Fishwft.com as well as their closest fishing friends, some of which the WFT was shocked to be missing in Saturday's action.
Rounding out championship day was the team of Bob and Shawn Saathoff from Kansas. Bob is a lot like Reach and Bennett and started fishing Truman Lake when the trees were still alive and the lake was flooding. The Saathoff's love the WFT format and are hitting the Kansas Bass Nation recruitment trail for WFT to grow to even bigger prize pools.
Harlin and Jelinek's win also qualified them for the WFT's season ending championship to be held in October on Oklahoma's Lake Eufaula. There is one final event remaining on the schedule when the tour visits Wilson Lake in Kansas in August.
Do you want to see WFT re-entry fishing championship style format come to a lake near you? Contact WFT and your local chamber offices and make it happen!
Visit www.fishwft.com for more details.
