By MLF Communications Staff

It was a back-and-forth battle at the top for most of the day Saturday between Jacob Wheeler and Zack Birge at the Lake Travis MLF Bass Pro Tour in Austin, Texas. The duo traded the lead back and forth for most of Period 2, however Wheeler boated a 4-pounder right near the end of the period, then added another 4-pounder shortly after the start of Period 3 to increase his lead to just over 10 pounds.

Then, Mother Nature intervened.

Lightning in the area forced tournament officials to institute a weather-delay at 1:35 p.m. as the 40 anglers on the water stopped fishing and took shelter. After a two-hour delay, and with no end in sight, officials called the day and competition was over. It was the first time in BPT history that competitors did not complete three full periods and was also the shortest day of competition in history.

On the day, Wheeler caught 16 bass weighing 52-11 to lead Group B on its first day of competition. Wheeler will bring a 10-09 lead over Birge (18 fish for 42-02) into Monday’s second day of competition for Group B. In 3rd place is Ish Monroe, who caught 13 bass weighing 28-05.

The 40 anglers in Group B will have the day off on Sunday, while the 40 in Group A will complete their two-day Qualifying Round. Group B will conclude its Qualifying Round on Monday.

“I had a tough practice and never really got dialed in, so I didn’t know what was going to go down this morning,” Wheeler said. “To have it all come together, it ended up being a really awesome day. I’m super blessed to be in the position that I am in, but I’m definitely going to have to catch them again on Monday.”

Wheeler said that he caught his fish on two different patterns.

“I don’t want to get too specific since we’ve still got a ways to go, but basically it came down to two different things for me – spending time on the bank with a topwater bait and catching fish around boat docks,” Wheeler said. “It seemed today like every dock had multiple fish on it. It’s just whether they were the right quality. This lake is full of 3/4- to 1-pounders, but it’s not that easy to generate the bigger bites. I was fortunate to get into a little stretch today and catch a couple of the right ones.”

For Birge, he did all of his damage on just one bait, although he also was not ready to divulge specifics.

“I actually started in a place I wasn’t planning on fishing,” Birge said. “I went in there to look for some schoolers because it wasn’t windy, but the schooling fish never showed up so I just went to the bank and started fishing what looked good and I ended up catching a bunch of fish.

“I caught everything on just one bait, but I didn’t really try anything else because they were biting it so good,” Birge said.

Birge did not mention his exact bait but did offer clues that he was running steep banks with an Omega Custom Tackle lure. His setup included a 7-foot, 3-inch Favorite Fishing Rush Casting rod and he threw his bait on 12-pound Yo-Zuri T7 fluorocarbon line.

Fletcher Shryock won Saturday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, weighing in an 8-04 largemouth that bit a jig during Period 1. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler who weighs the biggest bass each day and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament.

Anglers take off at 6:30 a.m. CT each day of competition from Mansfield Dam Park, located at 4370 Mansfield Dam Park Road in Austin. The takeout is held at the park daily beginning at 3 p.m.

The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney breaks down the extended action on each day of competition from 6:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW! is live-streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.



Group B – Qualifying Day 1

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish of the round)

1. Jacob Wheeler -- 52-11 (16) -- 5-02

2. Zack Birge -- 42-02 (18) -- 4-08

3. Ish Monroe -- 28-05 (13) -- 2-14

4. Fletcher Shryock -- 22-12 (8) -- 8-04

5. Andy Montgomery -- 20-03 (10) -- 2-15

6. Fred Roumbanis -- 20-00 (10) -- 3-01

7. David Walker -- 19-11 (7) -- 5-04

8. Ott DeFoe -- 18-15 (9) -- 3-13

9. Anthony Gagliardi -- 18-09 (9) -- 2-08

10. Jesse Wiggins -- 17-12 (9) -- 2-13

11. Jonathon VanDam -- 14-06 (8) -- 2-02

12. Dustin Connell -- 14-04 (6) -- 3-06

13. Cliff Crochet -- 14-02 (6) -- 3-11

14. Roy Hawk -- 14-01 (4) -- 6-10

15. Gary Klein -- 13-15 (6) -- 4-04

16. Michael Neal -- 12-13 (6) -- 3-03

17. Jared Lintner -- 12-03 (7) -- 2-00

18. Alton Jones -- 11-12 (6) -- 2-10

19. Cliff Pace -- 10-06 (6) -- 2-04

20. Kevin VanDam -- 9-12 (5) -- 2-13

21. Luke Clausen -- 9-09 (6) -- 1-11

22. Scott Suggs -- 9-06 (6) -- 1-10

23. Edwin Evers -- 8-15 (4) -- 2-11

24. Bradley Roy -- 8-06 (5) -- 1-14

25. Wesley Strader -- 8-05 (5) -- 1-15

26. Dicky Newberry -- 8-05 (4) -- 2-08

27. Andy Morgan -- 7-14 (3) -- 3-07

28. Marty Robinson -- 7-11 (4) -- 2-04

29. Dean Rojas -- 7-02 (4) -- 2-01

30. Adrian Avena -- 7-01 (4) -- 2-03

31. Shaw Grigsby -- 6-05 (3) -- 2-12

32. Mike McClelland -- 6-01 (3) -- 2-06

33. Jason Lambert -- 5-10 (3) -- 2-10

34. Dave Lefebre -- 4-15 (3) -- 1-14

35. Paul Elias -- 4-15 (2) -- 3-07

36. Bill McDonald -- 4-11 (2) -- 2-09

37. Aaron Martens -- 3-12 (2) -- 1-15

38. Brett Hite -- 3-00 (2) -- 1-08

39. Kelly Jordon -- 2-00 (1) -- 2-00

40. Bryan Thrift -- 1-11 (1) -- 1-11