Kline entered the final day of competition Saturday with a near 7-pound lead over Williams in second place, but with a largemouth-based primary pattern that seemed to be dissipating by the hour. After nearly three hours of fishing with just one strike that he didn’t connect with, Kline stowed the heavy casting gear, broke out a 7-foot, 6-inch Okuma Dead Eye Pro Series rod and Helios reel spooled with 5-pound-test line and went to work with a ¼-ounce Coolbaits Lure Co. The Down Under Underspin, with green-pumpkin and shad-colored swimbait trailers.
“I ran at least 10 spots and put in the time on my primary pattern, but it just wasn’t happening,” Kline said. “At the time I was thinking to myself ‘Man, you have a good lead, but you can’t go in [to weigh-in] with nothing and end up finishing 10th’. I was planning in the back of my mind to make that change, but by around 9:30, 10 o’clock, it was obvious that it was time to make a move.”
Kline continued to plink away with the underspin, gradually building a 15-plus-pound bag and maintaining his composure when he lost at least one more giant while his Strike King co-angler (and eventual co-angler winner) Todd Woods piled up 14-6 on four fish fishing behind Kline.
“I had maybe eight keepers on the underspin by the end of the day and lost a couple of really big ones – I’m not going to lie, I was worried that I might’ve left the door open with those two big misses,” Kline admitted. “You don’t have any other choice but to stay focused. I’m a religious guy, so I know the outcome was already determined and that I was just along for the ride, but it was pretty stressful.”
Kline’s stress spiked during weigh-in, as first-time Toyota Series pro Jason Marquez brought 24-6 to the scale and Williams held serve with 19-1 – “I always small-eye my fish, I didn’t think I had enough,” Kline admitted.
“I’ve been in second place going into the final day and came in second to one of the Williams brothers. I didn’t want to squander this opportunity. To have that trophy now is pretty cool. I have four on the home mantle with FLW as a co-angler and now this one as a pro with MLF, and I couldn’t be happier.”
The top 10 pros on Lake Havasu finished:
1st: Todd Kline, San Clemente, Calif., 15 bass, 60-14, $29,392 2nd: Mike Williams, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 15 bass, 57-6, $11,614 3rd: Jason Marquez, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 14 bass, 56-5, $8,218 4th: Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 15 bass, 55-2, $6,848 5th: Chris Kinley, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 15 bass, 52-7, $6,163 6th: Kyle Grover, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., 15 bass, 51-9, $5,478 7th: David Valdivia, Riverside, Calif., 15 bass, 50-12, $4,794 8th: Kurt Dove, Del Rio, Texas, 15 bass, 49-0, $4,109 9th: Justin Kerr, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 14 bass, 45-10, $3,424 10th: Mark Williams, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 12 bass, 44-0, $2,739
Pro Nick Salvucci of Atascadero, California, won the $500 Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Thursday with a bass weighing 5 pounds, 12 ounces. On Friday, Kline earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass prize after bringing a 7-pound, 2-ounce largemouth bass to the scale.
Mike Williams took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing Phoenix MLF Bonus member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the Phoenix MLF Bonus contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.
Todd Woods of Long Beach, California, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 11 bass weighing 32 pounds, 14 ounces. Woods took home the top co-angler prize package worth $33,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.
The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Lake Havasu finished:
1st: Todd Woods, Long Beach, Calif., 11 bass, 32-14, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard 2nd: Tom Nokes, Riverton, Utah, seven bass, 22-7, $3,534 3rd: Kirk Marshall, Discovery Bay, Calif., seven bass, 20-5, $2,827 4th: Tyson Christman, Glendale, Ariz., eight bass, 20-4, $2,474 5th: Blaine Christiansen, San Jose, Calif., six bass, 18-1, $2,120 6th: Bruce Harris, Oakdale, Calif., eight bass, 17-3, $1,767 7th: Daniel Lutz, Las Vegas, Nev., six bass, 16-4, $1,414 8th: Jason Webb, Medford, Ore., five bass, 16-3, $1,237 9th: Mike Walsh, El Cajon, Calif., five bass, 14-12, $1,210 10th: Brett Robbins, Solvang, Calif., four bass, 13-8, $883
Ken Whalen was the Berkley Big Bass $150 award winner in the Strike King co-angler division, Thursday, with a 6-pound, 8-ounce bass, while the Day 2 $150 award went to Gabriel Diaz of Nuevo, California, with a 6-pound, 4-ounce fish.
With one regular-season event in the Toyota Series Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse now complete, Kline jumped out to the early lead in the Western Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 260 points, while ,Woods leads the Strike King Co-angler Division AOY race with 260 points.
The Toyota Series at Lake Havasu Presented by Psycho Tuna, hosted by Go Lake Havasu, was the first of three regular-season events for the Toyota Series Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Central Division opener – the Toyota Series at Lake Guntersville, Feb. 16-18, in Scottsboro, Alabama. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The 2023 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2024. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2023 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, and is hosted by ExploreBranson.com.
Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Toyota Series include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Black Rifle Coffee Company, E3, Favorite Fishing, Fox Rent a Car, General Tire, Gill, Grundéns, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Wiley X and YETI.
