By MLF Communications Staff
LEESBURG, Fla. – When Jacob Wheeler took the water for the second day of the MLF Bass Pro Tour event on the Harris Chain of Lakes, his goal wasn’t necessarily to finish atop ScoreTracker.
Sure, the winner of the two-day Qualifying Round would earn a direct berth to Sunday’s Championship Round, and Wheeler started the day with a lead of nearly 11 pounds over his nearest pursuer. But he was more concerned with positioning himself to earn his ninth Bass Pro Tour victory than notching his 34th Top 10 (both far and away the highest marks among BPT anglers), and he didn’t want to handicap his chances by catching too many of the fish he’d found during practice.
Turns out, Wheeler achieved both objectives. He added 21 pounds, 6 ounces on six scorable bass, bringing his two-day total to 101-9. That was easily enough to retain his spot atop the leaderboard, 13-14 ahead of Takahiro Omori. As a result, he’ll take Saturday off, while finishers 2 through 20 contest the Knockout Round, then join the Top 9 from there in the winner-take-all Championship Round.
One of the leaders when it comes to tournament strategy, Wheeler didn’t decide to fish for the Qualifying Round win (rather than using all of Day 2 to scout new water) until he’d made the long run to Lake Apopka Friday morning.
Wheeler, who spent both days of practice as well as Day 1 in the southernmost lake on the Harris Chain, suddenly found himself with more company. As a result, he decided to return to the areas where he’d done most of his damage on Thursday. He figured they’d get fished hard by someone, so it might as well be him.
“Today, there was probably 30-plus local anglers and probably 25 or 30 of our guys that decided to move down (to Apopka), so it fished really small, and things got pressured a ton,” Wheeler explained. “And so, in that instance, you’ve got to start thinking through things and saying, alright, it’s not going to be as easy now as it would have been, because things are getting more pressure than I anticipated. Once I saw the pressure, I’m like, it’s not a guarantee I make the Top 10 (during the Knockout Round).”
Wheeler, who has amassed all his weight flipping a Rapala CrushCity Bronco Bug around reed clumps, also chose to ply a stretch that he figures will be unfishable during the Championship Round due to the strong southwest wind forecast for Sunday. The area yielded his biggest bass of the day, a 6-9. Through two days, he’s now boated seven bass of 5 pounds or bigger.
“I knew even if I fished the Championship Round, I would never be able to fish the fish that I caught midway through the second period, so I just caught them,” Wheeler said.
After pushing his lead back above 20 pounds, Wheeler used just about all of Period 3 to check out new water – “eliminating places” for the Championship Round, he said. The benefit of having spent his entire practice in Apopka – which much of the field initially avoided due to reports of a recent fish kill – is that he still has a few areas in his back pocket that he’s yet to visit during competition.
“There’s still areas that I have not visited that I will fish in the Championship Round,” Wheeler said. “There’s probably three different zones that I have not made a cast on.”
In some ways, Wheeler said, sitting out the Knockout Round could be a disadvantage. Those anglers who take the water will have a better idea which zones are getting pressured the hardest and have a better chance of finding fresh groups of spawners that might be more willing to bite. That said, he’s excited about the opportunity to spend a day with his 6-year-old daughter, Olivia, and 3-year-old son, Hudson, who made the trip to Florida to cheer him on.
Wheeler is confident he can put himself around the winning fish. The key to cementing victory No. 9 will be making the right adjustments to counter the changing weather and mounting fishing pressure – something he’s historically done better than any of his peers.
“I feel like the tournament will be won in Apopka,” Wheeler said. “Now, do I feel like there’s an outside chance that I turn on (forward-facing sonar) in the last period or something like that? There is. I’ll make a decision based on the conditions, and I’ll fish the conditions exclusively. The guy who makes the right decisions and makes adjustments will win this tournament on that final day. It’ll all come down to the adjustments made on that day, and that’s what is going to be fun about it.”
While Wheeler held the top spot all day, Friday brought plenty of movement around the Elimination Line. Seven anglers who started the day outside the Top 20 moved across the cut and qualified for the Knockout Round: Jacob Wall, Terry Scroggins, Zack Birge, Matt Becker, John Hunter, Edwin Evers and Justin Cooper.
Evers and Hunter made the most dramatic rallies. Both anglers found themselves on the wrong side of the Elimination Line with 30 minutes left in Period 3 but manufactured clutch flurries to make the cut. Hunter boated three scorable bass totaling 6-9 in the final 15 minutes, while Evers caught three for 6-1 in the last 22 minutes.
Wheeler earned the Day 2 Berkley Big Bass Award with the 6-9 largemouth that he caught in Period 2. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.
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 2
(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler’s heaviest fish for the day)
1. Jacob Wheeler -- 80-03 (26) -- 21-06 (6) -- 101-09 (32) -- 6-09
2. Takahiro Omori -- 51-14 (20) -- 35-13 (12) -- 87-11 (32) -- 5-13
3. Mark Davis -- 46-01 (16) -- 38-13 (11) -- 84-14 (27) -- 6-05
4. Andy Morgan -- 52-01 (24) -- 28-11 (11) -- 80-12 (35) -- 5-06
5. Keith Poche -- 49-08 (21) -- 31-01 (13) -- 80-09 (34) -- 4-04
6. Michael Neal -- 69-04 (29) -- 11-02 (5) -- 80-06 (34) -- 3-01
7. Adrian Avena -- 35-11 (16) -- 32-14 (13) -- 68-09 (29) -- 7-02
8. Jacob Wall -- 25-10 (12) -- 42-09 (22) -- 68-03 (34) -- 3-14
9. Bobby Lane -- 37-11 (15) -- 30-07 (12) -- 68-02 (27) -- 5-06
10. Todd Faircloth -- 33-02 (12) -- 34-12 (14) -- 67-14 (26) -- 6-09
11. Drew Gill -- 52-01 (20) -- 13-15 (3) -- 66-00 (23) -- 5-08
12. Fletcher Shryock -- 39-15 (14) -- 24-09 (10) -- 64-08 (24) -- 3-15
13. James Elam -- 32-12 (15) -- 30-04 (14) -- 63-00 (29) -- 3-08
14. Terry Scroggins -- 17-02 (5) -- 45-06 (17) -- 62-08 (22) -- 4-14
15. Zack Birge -- 17-05 (6) -- 44-10 (23) -- 61-15 (29) -- 3-04
16. Nick Hatfield -- 36-09 (16) -- 25-03 (12) -- 61-12 (28) -- 4-01
17. Matt Becker -- 25-00 (11) -- 32-13 (12) -- 57-13 (23) -- 5-10
18. John Hunter -- 27-15 (10) -- 29-10 (15) -- 57-09 (25) -- 3-04
19. Edwin Evers -- 20-05 (8) -- 36-08 (12) -- 56-13 (20) -- 6-15
20. Justin Cooper -- 17-15 (9) -- 37-01 (15) -- 55-00 (24) -- 4-11
The following anglers did not make the cut and will not advance to the Knockout Round
21. Ron Nelson -- 19-05 (5) -- 34-01 (15) -- 53-06 (20) -- 4-15
22. Gary Klein -- 25-03 (10) -- 28-02 (10) -- 53-05 (20) -- 5-13
23. Keith Carson -- 19-07 (9) -- 31-03 (10) -- 50-10 (19) -- 6-06
24. Luke Clausen -- 35-07 (16) -- 15-02 (7) -- 50-09 (23) -- 3-13
25. Anthony Gagliardi -- 45-09 (22) -- 4-07 (2) -- 50-00 (24) -- 2-15
26. Jeff Sprague -- 21-02 (12) -- 28-10 (13) -- 49-12 (25) -- 3-06
27. Cole Floyd -- 36-14 (17) -- 12-00 (6) -- 48-14 (23) -- 2-12
28. Nick LeBrun -- 25-00 (11) -- 19-00 (10) -- 44-00 (21) -- 2-11
29. Dean Rojas -- 25-00 (9) -- 18-11 (8) -- 43-11 (17) -- 3-12
30. Brent Chapman -- 16-13 (9) -- 26-02 (10) -- 42-15 (19) -- 4-12
31. Casey Ashley -- 26-07 (7) -- 16-04 (5) -- 42-11 (12) -- 6-13
32. Alton Jones Jr. -- 33-13 (15) -- 8-03 (3) -- 42-00 (18) -- 4-04
33. Brent Ehrler -- 29-07 (13) -- 12-07 (4) -- 41-14 (17) -- 4-03
34. Martin Villa -- 31-12 (17) -- 9-06 (5) -- 41-02 (22) -- 3-00
35. Jake Lawrence -- 10-15 (6) -- 27-06 (13) -- 38-05 (19) -- 3-01
36. David Walker -- 28-02 (12) -- 9-11 (4) -- 37-13 (16) -- 3-12
37. Jared Lintner -- 21-03 (11) -- 16-05 (8) -- 37-08 (19) -- 3-03
38. Andy Montgomery -- 30-10 (12) -- 6-08 (3) -- 37-02 (15) -- 2-06
39. Greg Vinson -- 12-03 (5) -- 24-15 (11) -- 37-02 (16) -- 3-02
40. Colby Miller -- 18-14 (8) -- 17-12 (7) -- 36-10 (15) -- 4-11
41. David Dudley -- 18-07 (7) -- 18-00 (6) -- 36-07 (13) -- 8-00
42. Jeremy Lawyer -- 32-08 (17) -- 1-10 (1) -- 34-02 (18) -- 1-10
43. Ott DeFoe -- 11-02 (6) -- 21-12 (7) -- 32-14 (13) -- 7-03
44. Bryan Thrift -- 21-00 (8) -- 11-03 (5) -- 32-03 (13) -- 4-01
45. Justin Lucas -- 29-00 (9) -- 3-01 (2) -- 32-01 (11) -- 1-09
46. Shin Fukae -- 22-01 (9) -- 9-13 (4) -- 31-14 (13) -- 4-06
47. Brandon Coulter -- 14-13 (7) -- 16-15 (6) -- 31-12 (13) -- 4-09
48. Mark Rose -- 7-14 (3) -- 23-04 (12) -- 31-02 (15) -- 3-02
49. Chris Lane -- 24-15 (10) -- 5-13 (3) -- 30-12 (13) -- 1-15
50. Skeet Reese -- 25-14 (9) -- 4-04 (2) -- 30-02 (11) -- 2-10
51. Marshall Hughes -- 13-11 (6) -- 16-05 (6) -- 30-00 (12) -- 3-13
52. Jesse Wiggins -- 13-10 (6) -- 16-04 (8) -- 29-14 (14) -- 2-11
53. Dave Lefebre -- 18-08 (9) -- 10-15 (5) -- 29-07 (14) -- 3-07
54. Bradley Roy -- 18-06 (9) -- 8-12 (4) -- 27-02 (13) -- 2-07
55. Dustin Connell -- 19-06 (9) -- 7-00 (4) -- 26-06 (13) -- 1-14
56. Marshall Robinson -- 14-04 (8) -- 11-08 (5) -- 25-12 (13) -- 2-12
57. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 17-00 (7) -- 7-09 (3) -- 24-09 (10) -- 4-05
58. Alton Jones -- 13-01 (7) -- 11-03 (3) -- 24-04 (10) -- 5-12
59. Josh Bertrand -- 10-14 (5) -- 13-03 (5) -- 24-01 (10) -- 4-11
60. Spencer Shuffield -- 19-03 (8) -- 3-03 (2) -- 22-06 (10) -- 1-10
61. Dylan Hays -- 13-05 (6) -- 8-09 (4) -- 21-14 (10) -- 2-15
62. Wesley Strader -- 6-14 (4) -- 13-11 (6) -- 20-09 (10) -- 3-00
63. Fred Roumbanis -- 10-02 (3) -- 8-08 (4) -- 18-10 (7) -- 2-07
64. Gerald Spohrer -- 9-02 (4) -- 9-04 (4) -- 18-06 (8) -- 3-11
65. Britt Myers -- 6-05 (3) -- 9-14 (4) -- 16-03 (7) -- 3-03
66. Marty Robinson -- 3-07 (2) -- 4-00 (2) -- 7-07 (4) -- 2-04
