Top 10 baits from the Harris Chain - Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southern Division
by Major League Fishing 3 Apr 15:12 BST
March 27-29, 2025
The trend of young winners continued this week at the Harris Chain. Angler: Dylan Quilatan © Rob Matsuura / Major League Fishing
The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southern Division event at the Harris Chain on March 27-29 was dominated by two things: Dylan Quilatan and Lake Apopka.
While Quilatan blasted them in Lake Beauclair, almost everyone else in the Top 10 made Apopka part of their game plan in some way. As a tournament with a good mix of new-school and old favorites, there were lots of ways to catch bass on the Harris Chain.
Here's what worked best for the top pros.
1. Quilatan laps the field
After winning a Phoenix Bass Fishing League event the weekend before, Quilatan kept the ball rolling and went wire-to-wire in the Toyota. Mining a big flat, the high school angler mostly used an X Zone Deception Worm with a 1/16-ounce nail weight and a Ryugi Talisman hook. He also used a 7-inch No Live Bait Needed K-Tail with a 3/4-ounce head to tempt the bigger fish. He threw everything on rods he built with components from Get Bit Outdoors.
2. Things go almost perfectly for Bakewell
Bobby Bakewell has basically perfected nearly winning Toyota Series events, and he took it to new heights at the Harris Chain. There, he averaged more than 23 pounds a day, used multiple lakes and somehow still finished 13 pounds off the lead.
For Bakewell, a Neko and a couple of jerkbaits got the job done. For his Neko, Bakewell used a 7.5-inch Bruiser Baits Stickster with a 3/32-ounce Flat Out Tungsten Spike Weight and a No. 1 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Stinger. For his jerkbaits, he used two prototype Yo-Zuri models, in a medium runner and shallow version.
Bakewell used unreleased 10-pound Yo-Zuri finesse braid with a 17-pound Yo-Zuri SuperFluoro leader for his Neko. He used 14-pound Yo-Zuri T-7 for both jerkbaits, with a 6-foot, 10-inch moderate Scenko Stix rod for the shallow jerkbait and a 6-11, medium fast Scenko Stix rod for the deeper model.
Bakewell fished about every lake in the chain, mostly sticking with Harris on Day 1, doing his damage in Beauclair on Day 2, and then rolling to Apopka on Day 3.
"I had a 23-pound average, and I got a dang second place," Bakewell said with a laugh. "But, it is what it is. It was fun. I have no regrets. And, I only got one day of practice. So, you know, off of that, I'm proud of that."
3. Mrazek makes the run
The first of the Top 10 to rely mostly on Apopka, Chad Mrazek weighed 17 pounds on Day 1 and followed it up with big bags, despite fishing time that was limited by the run and a poorly functioning livewell.
For baits, Mrazek used a 6th Sense Swank 77X, a 1/2-ounce vibrating jig with a 4.5-inch 6th Sense Whale in green pumpkin juice and a 6th Sense Provoke 106 DD in wabi sabi. He used a 7-5, medium heavy 6th Sense Team 6 for the crank, a 6-9, medium 6th Sense Team 6 for the jerkbait and a 7-3, medium heavy 6th Sense Response for the vibrating jig.
While a little offshore shad spawn in Eustis and one good mat produced some fish for Mrazek, the main deal was offshore clumps of grass in Apopka.
"I figured it out the first 2 hours I was in Apopka in practice, and then I dropped my trolling motor and idled with Perspective View on my console unit," Mrazek said. "I marked every single clump that I possibly could, and I just rotated them in the tournament. The final day there, I had one clump that I probably got like 25 fish out of."
4. Barnes plies a jerkbait
Weighing bags in the high teens every day, Justin Barnes did most of his damage with a worm and a jerkbait. His worm of choice was a 6th Sense Boosa Ribbon Tail Worm, and his jerkbait of choice was a 6th Sense Provoke 106 DD.
5. Apopka run plays for Cortiana
Knocking down another Top-10 finish, Kyle Cortiana made the run to Apopka every day, even when he only had a little time to fish once he was there.
His key baits were a pair of 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammers with a 5-inch YUM FF Sonar Minnow for a trailer. He used an 8:1 Kistler reel and a 7-2, medium heavy Kistler Feel N Reel rod.
Cortiana was burning his ChatterBait.
"I was burning those jokers," he said. "On Day 2, my co-angler didn't have a fish, I said, 'Dude, just do me a favor, just burn it. Like, don't even think about how fast you're reeling it. I want you to reel as fast as you can reel it.' He caught three in 10 minutes.
"I thought it helped, I didn't realize it helped you that much. He caught a 4 (pounder), 3, and a 2 or something. It was really important, you had to just never let them chase it and look at it, they had to only have the option to eat it or it was gone."
6. Simple does the trick for Kremer
John Kremer got it done fishing in Dora and Apopka on Day 1, just Dora on Day 2, and then mostly Apopka on the final day. His primary bait was a Bitter's Jitter Craw with a 1/2-ounce tungsten weight and a 4/0 hook flipped in shallow cover.
7. Griffin produces for Davis
Heading to Lake Griffin every day, Flint Davis caught piles of fish on the way to a Top 10.
Davis used both a Megabass Vision 110 and a Megabass Vision 110+1, throwing both on 10-pound Sunline Sniper.
"The first day I rolled into practice, I had 30 minutes that afternoon before dark, and I had to come by Griffin to go to the house we were staying at," he said. "So I just put in at Griffin, ran out there, and had like 15 pounds in 30 minutes. And I was like, 'OK, this is plenty good enough for me to spend my whole practice here and dial it in.' I was catching 60 a day, I just had to weed through them to get to the big ones."
8. Campbell doesn't overcomplicate it
Running to Apopka every day, Brody Campbell didn't do anything too crazy, relying on just one bait to seine offshore grass.
"I was running to Apopka every day and just getting a little bit of time to fish," he said. "The first day, I jumped off about 25 pounds, and then the next few days, I just kept them hooked. Just fishing isolated clumps of eelgrass offshore, burning that lipless through there, and they were just locking it up. I just couldn't fish for them long enough."
Campbell's key bait was a BOOYAH One Knocker, which he threw on a Bird Dog Rod.
9. Minnesota's Knudsen keeps it rolling down south
Through two Southern Division events, Parker Knudsen is in the lead for Fishing Clash Angler of the Year, a long way from his Minnetonka, Minnesota, home.
Mixing Apopka, Harris and Beauclair, Knudsen caught fish on a variety of baits. A Texas-rigged Gambler Fat Ace did work, as did a Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer with a Yamamoto Zako, and a Big Bite Baits Nekorama with a 3/32-ounce nail weight. He used Shimano reels and G. Loomis rods for the whole gamut of baits.
10. Apopka also carries Phillips
Tracen Phillips got it done with a couple simple standards this week.
"The first day, I was boat eight, so I ran straight to Apopka, and every one of my fish came out of there," he said. "The second day, I was 147, and I fished in Little Lake Harris and Lake Dora and caught my limit, then ran to Apopka, got there around 12:30, and caught one big one and called up a couple times. Then the third day, I went straight to Apopka."
On Day 1, Phillips' key bait was a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer with a Yamamoto Zako. As the event went on, he mixed in a 1/2-ounce Dirty Jigs No-Jack Swim Jig with a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper trailer.