Elite Series pro Jesse Wiggins captured his second Bassmaster Open victory of the year on Saturday as he caught a 13-08 stringer to give him a 39-15 total in the final Southern Division event at Smith Lake, his home water.
The 27-year-old Wiggins won the Southern opener at Florida's Harris Chain of Lakes in January and went on to finish 37th in the Elite Series Angler of the Year race as a rookie. His latest triumph made him a triple-qualifier for the 2018 Bassmaster Classic and gave a berth in that event to veteran Steve Kennedy, who ended up 40th on the points list.
“This is what I dream about every time I go bass fishing,” Wiggins said to a weigh-in crowd that included dozens of family members and friends. “I wanted to win so bad, and now that it’s here, I’m speechless. I just love bass fishing.
Wiggins has fished on Smith since his childhood. He has a deep knowledge of the sometimes-fickle 21,000-acre reservoir and he put it to good use this week.
While many of the 175 competitors in the field struggled to even catch a fish during the first two days of competition, Wiggins was steady. He boated a five-bass limit on Thursday that weighed 15-02 and put him only 2 ounces out of first place. Wiggins caught another limit of 11-05 on Friday, and that gave him a 2 1/2-pound edge on the field heading into the final day of competition.
Wiggins’ local smarts were really on display Saturday, as he was one of only four anglers to catch a limit. The others (Justin Lucas, Kyle Monti and Brandon Lester) didn’t have enough weight to vault into the pole position, though Lester did make a move from 12th on Friday to 3rd overall.
Wiggins still won the tournament by more than 5 pounds.
Unseasonably warm temperatures in the low 90s on Thursday and mid to upper 80s on both Friday and today had some anglers fishing offshore ledges for suspended bass. Wiggins, however, pounded Smith’s shorelines with buzzbaits and worms.
“I started with a black and white Horny Toad first thing in the morning going down the banks and would catch a couple key fish on that,” Wiggins said. “And then in the evenings I would throw a worm; a shaky-head (green pumpkin) with a Zoom Fluke stick on it around docks. I also threw a Jenko CD Squared some on rocky banks and another unnamed 1.5 crankbait on rocky banks.”
The win netted him more than $7,000 in prize money, plus a Skeeter ZX200 and Yamaha SHO 200 boat/motor package for total winnings of more than $50,000.
Five anglers qualified for 2018 Elite Series by virtue of their point totals in the 2017 Southern Opens – Kyle Monti, Hunter Shryock, Bill Weidler, Morris and Shin Fukae. Justin Lucas and Marty Robinson were among the top 5 in Southern Opens points, but are pre-qualified Elite pros.
Here are the final totals for the top 12 finishers at Smith:
1. Jesse Wiggins: 39-15
2. Rick Morris: 34-14
3. Brandon Lester: 33-07
4. Justin Lucas: 31-15
5. Kyle Monti: 30-07
6. Todd Auten: 29-12
7. Shin Fukae: 29-04
8. Jordan Lee: 29-01
9. Will Davis Jr.: 28-15
10. David Kilgore: 28-08
11. John Hunter Jr.: 27-14
12. Greg Pugh: 24-10
