Wheeler Has 80-Pound Day At Harris Chain

By MLF Communications Staff

LEESBURG, Fla. – Across a Bass Pro Tour career that has seen him earn eight wins and three Angler of the Year titles, Jacob Wheeler has enjoyed a lot of memorable days on the water. Even though there wasn’t a trophy up for grabs (yet), Thursday’s opening day of the event at the Harris Chain of Lakes just earned a spot near the top of the list.

On a day that saw the Harris Chain produce impressive numbers of bass. including 10 over 6 pounds, Wheeler set a scorching pace. He stacked up 80 pounds, 3 ounces on 26 scorable bass, including an 8-7 and a 7-15, to claim the top spot on ScoreTracker. Wheeler leads Michael Neal by 10-15, and no other angler is within 28 pounds of his total.

“One of the best days I’ve ever had,” Wheeler said. “And to do it in a tournament, that’s always a great thing. Catching the quality of fish that we caught, whew, it was a lot of fun.”

Wheeler has embraced forward-facing sonar as enthusiastically as just about anyone during his domination of the BPT. His mastery of the technology is a big reason why he’s won three AOY crowns and six events since the start of the 2021 season.

But that kind of sustained excellence requires versatility, and Wheeler showed Thursday that he’s quite capable of catching bass without the beam, too. He made it a point to never unlock his forward-facing sonar transducers, even though the 2025 rules allow each angler to utilize the technology for one period each day.

Instead, Wheeler glued a flipping stick in his hands and spent his entire day methodically picking apart reed patches.

“That was a point that I wanted to make: It doesn’t really matter,” Wheeler said. “The anglers that do well in these tournaments, it doesn’t matter whether you’re using (forward-facing sonar) or you’re not. It’s all strategy; it’s all part of the game we play, and I just wanted to say, hey, look, it doesn’t matter, guys.”

Wheeler’s day actually got off to a slow start. He made a long run from takeoff at Venetian Gardens in Lake Harris to his starting spot that included a wait to pass through a lock, which resulted in him missing a good chunk of Period 1. By the time he arrived at his destination, he was more than 19 pounds back of Dean Rojas, the early leader, and it took a few moments to settle himself down.

He made up the deficit in a hurry. Wheeler boated his first scorable bass around 9:30 a.m. Over the next 34 minutes, he added seven more for a total of 27-9, which vaulted him into the lead. He’d hold the top spot for almost the entire rest of the day.

That early flurry included the 8-7, which earned Berkley Big Bass honors for the day. Wheeler also landed another near-8-pounder and three bass of 5 pounds or bigger – plus he hooked and lost one that he estimated to be around 7. He attributed his ability to generate bigger-than-average bites to his bait selection. He caught all his fish on a Rapala CrushCity Bronco Bug, which he helped design.

“That bait does some things that just gets bites,” Wheeler said. “It has a pretty big profile; it has a little bit more meat to it. But I’m able to maneuver it, really get into those areas, generate those big ones to bite.”

After another string of catches early in Period 3 extended his cushion on the rest of the field, Wheeler started to think about his strategy for the days ahead. He hasn’t yet decided whether to return to the area that produced most of his Day 1 weight on Friday and fish for the Qualifying Round win – which would allow him to bypass the Knockout Round and advance directly to the Championship Round – or to search for new water.

He’s hoping he can do both, as he thinks fishing pressure and the strong southwest wind that’s forecast to blow Sunday will force him to fish elsewhere.

“If I happen to catch them practicing, too, I could still win (the Qualifying Round),” Wheeler said. “So, I don’t know yet. I’m going to sleep on it, think about it. You know, my mind is always working, trying to figure out how to win this tournament.

“I can’t win doing what I was doing,” he continued. “The wind is just not going to cooperate, I don’t think. Now, maybe I’m wrong. We’ll see. I need to find a couple little sneaky stretches to myself or a couple areas that are going to be protected from the wind with that really bad forecast for Championship Day.”

The full field of anglers compete in the two-day Qualifying Round on Thursday and Friday. After the two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the pro with the highest two-day total advances directly to Sunday’s Championship Round. Anglers who finish 2nd through 20th will advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round.

In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining anglers compete to finish in the Top 9 to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. Weights will again be zeroed in the Championship Round and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $150,000.

Anglers launch at 7:15 a.m. ET each day from the Venetian Gardens, located at 201 E. Lake Harris Drive in Leesburg. Each day’s takeout is held at the same location, beginning at 3:45 p.m.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action live on each day of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

The tournament features anglers competing with a 1 1/2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the BPT, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

Qualifying Round – Day 1

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler’s heaviest fish for the day)

1. Jacob Wheeler -- 80-03 (26) -- 8-07

2. Michael Neal -- 69-04 (29) -- 5-01

3. Drew Gill -- 52-01 (20) -- 5-13

4. Andy Morgan -- 52-01 (24) -- 5-01

5. Takahiro Omori -- 51-14 (20) -- 4-08

6. Keith Poche -- 49-08 (21) -- 5-14

7. Mark Davis -- 46-01 (16) -- 7-01

8. Anthony Gagliardi -- 45-09 (22) -- 3-12

9. Fletcher Shryock -- 39-15 (14) -- 5-03

10. Bobby Lane -- 37-11 (15) -- 5-13

11. Cole Floyd -- 36-14 (17) -- 3-09

12. Nick Hatfield -- 36-09 (16) -- 3-15

13. Adrian Avena -- 35-11 (16) -- 3-06

14. Luke Clausen -- 35-07 (16) -- 3-15

15. Alton Jones Jr. -- 33-13 (15) -- 4-12

16. Todd Faircloth -- 33-02 (12) -- 6-09

17. James Elam -- 32-12 (15) -- 3-07

18. Jeremy Lawyer -- 32-08 (17) -- 2-12

19. Martin Villa -- 31-12 (17) -- 3-03

20. Andy Montgomery -- 30-10 (12) -- 3-15

21. Brent Ehrler -- 29-07 (13) -- 3-14

22. Justin Lucas -- 29-00 (9) -- 7-06

23. David Walker -- 28-02 (12) -- 3-13

24. John Hunter -- 27-15 (10) -- 4-00

25. Casey Ashley -- 26-07 (7) -- 5-13

26. Skeet Reese -- 25-14 (9) -- 7-13

27. Jacob Wall -- 25-10 (12) -- 3-13

28. Gary Klein -- 25-03 (10) -- 3-15

29. Dean Rojas -- 25-00 (9) -- 6-00

30. Matt Becker -- 25-00 (11) -- 4-00

31. Nick LeBrun -- 25-00 (11) -- 3-05

32. Chris Lane -- 24-15 (10) -- 6-11

33. Shin Fukae -- 22-01 (9) -- 3-05

34. Jared Lintner -- 21-03 (11) -- 2-07

35. Jeff Sprague -- 21-02 (12) -- 2-06

36. Bryan Thrift -- 21-00 (8) -- 4-00

37. Edwin Evers -- 20-05 (8) -- 3-13

38. Keith Carson -- 19-07 (9) -- 2-13

39. Dustin Connell -- 19-06 (9) -- 3-07

40. Ron Nelson -- 19-05 (5) -- 8-00

41. Spencer Shuffield -- 19-03 (8) -- 3-12

42. Colby Miller -- 18-14 (8) -- 5-06

43. Dave Lefebre -- 18-08 (9) -- 3-00

44. David Dudley -- 18-07 (7) -- 5-07

45. Bradley Roy -- 18-06 (9) -- 3-13

46. Justin Cooper -- 17-15 (9) -- 2-11

47. Zack Birge -- 17-05 (6) -- 3-13

48. Terry Scroggins -- 17-02 (5) -- 4-15

49. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 17-00 (7) -- 5-07

50. Brent Chapman -- 16-13 (9) -- 2-10

51. Brandon Coulter -- 14-13 (7) -- 3-07

52. Marshall Robinson -- 14-04 (8) -- 2-07

53. Marshall Hughes -- 13-11 (6) -- 4-06

54. Jesse Wiggins -- 13-10 (6) -- 3-12

55. Dylan Hays -- 13-05 (6) -- 3-08

56. Alton Jones -- 13-01 (7) -- 2-05

57. Greg Vinson -- 12-03 (5) -- 3-06

58. Ott DeFoe -- 11-02 (6) -- 2-04

59. Jake Lawrence -- 10-15 (6) -- 2-09

60. Josh Bertrand -- 10-14 (5) -- 3-08

61. Fred Roumbanis -- 10-02 (3) -- 4-02

62. Gerald Spohrer -- 9-02 (4) -- 2-12

63. Mark Rose -- 7-14 (3) -- 2-14

64. Wesley Strader -- 6-14 (4) -- 2-02

65. Britt Myers -- 6-05 (3) -- 2-13

66. Marty Robinson -- 3-07 (2) -- 1-12