By MLF Communications Staff
CALVERT CITY, Ky. – For almost 24 hours, it looked like Jacob Wheeler had no interest in winning the Qualifying Round at Kentucky Lake. As usual, the Bass Pro Tour superstar rocketed to a fast start during Day 1, stacking up more than 95 pounds during the first half of the day. At that point, he strapped his rods down and spent the rest of the day searching for new schools of offshore fish, not adding another scorable bass to his total.
Friday morning brought more of the same, with Wheeler idling and graphing for just about all of Period 1 and only boating one scorable bass during that time. Then, during the break between Periods 1 and 2, he FaceTimed his wife, Alicia.
“I FaceTimed my wife at the break, and she said, ‘I didn’t marry a loser,’” Wheeler said with a laugh. “That’s actually the real story.”
Whether to appease his wife, strategize the best way to try to win his ninth Bass Pro Tour trophy or solidify his lead in the Angler of the Year race – or, realistically, a combination of all three – Wheeler resumed reeling them in. During the second period, he racked up 50 pounds, 1 ounce on 17 scorable bass. He went back to scouting during the third period but added a couple more fish in the process, bringing his two-day total to 152-8, which earned him the Qualifying Round win by 28-9 over Day-1 leader Michael Neal.
Always one of the savviest strategists on the Bass Pro Tour, Wheeler took to the water Friday torn about whether to fish for the Qualifying Round win. Normally, the automatic Championship Round berth is coveted. But given how much the bass on Kentucky Lake seem to be moving around and the value of idling and graphing to find them, he wanted to spend as much time as possible scouting for the potential winning school.
Both approaches had their advantages. On one hand, if he were to start strong once again during the Knockout Round, Wheeler could spend even more time graphing, and being on the water Saturday would give him a better idea of which schools are getting pressured by other anglers. On the flip side, though, he’d have to burn fish just to make it to the Championship Round, and advancing wouldn’t be guaranteed. He also noted that he can learn more about how to maximize a school by fishing for the bass than just graphing them.
“You get a better understanding about how to fish a place when you actually catch them,” he said. “There were a couple places I hadn’t fished that I had found, and I wanted to sort of catch a few and get an idea. And I was like, ‘well, heck, I might as well catch enough to win, and if it happens, great, and if it doesn’t, whatever.’”
The factor that pushed Wheeler to fish for the win was the fact that he has a chance to take a commanding lead in the AOY race. Gunning for his fourth points title in the past five seasons, Wheeler has now assured himself a fifth Top 10 in as many regular-season events this season. Meanwhile, his two closest pursuers entering Stage 5, Drew Gill and Matt Becker, both finished outside the Top 20. Wheeler is now guaranteed to have a lead of at least 28 points with two events left in the season.
“It’s hard, because it’s split between (winning the event and) Angler of the Year,” he said. “If I was just completely focused on winning, I wouldn’t have tried to catch them today. But, at the end of the day, I’m like, take the guarantee and let’s roll with it.”
Once Wheeler decided to add more weight to his total, he did so seemingly at will. Despite the fact that he essentially only fished for one-third of the day, his Day-2 total of 56-9 marked the second-best day of anyone on the water behind only Nick Hatfield’s 66-2. Interestingly, he caught an even split of smallmouth and largemouth, whereas the rest of the field has caught about 80 percent largemouth. Wheeler’s best spot produced a 4-1 smallmouth, a 4-15 smallmouth and a 5-6 largemouth.
“One cast can be a largemouth, one cast can be a smallmouth,” Wheeler said. “Pretty crazy.”
Wheeler is now one day away from adding to his Bass Pro Tour-best win total. While he always wants to hoist the trophy, this victory would be especially sweet coming on the heels of consecutive second-place finishes in each of the past two regular-season events, including a last-second loss to Jake Lawrence at Chickamauga and Nickajack.
“Absolutely, I’d love to win this one,” Wheeler said. “You have a couple second places, and you’re like ‘gosh dang it, I’ve been so close.’ If I can figure out a way to win this thing. That’s the plan, for sure.”
Throughout Day 2, anglers constantly shuffled spots around the elimination line. It wasn’t until the final minute of competition that the Top 20 was set.
Brent Ehrler caught a 2-5 with about 12 minutes left to jump from 21st place to the right side of the cut. He then secured his spot with a 3-0 a few minutes later. Ehrler’s fish bumped Brandon Coulter out of the Top 20. However, Coulter quickly answered with a 2-6. That knocked Alton Jones to 21st place with about 4 minutes left.
Jones, one of the few anglers to find success fishing shallow, flipped up a 3-1 largemouth with less than a minute left to put himself into the Top 20 and knock Coulter back to 21st. As a result, both Jones and his son, Alton Jones Jr., will compete in Saturday’s Knockout Round after starting Friday outside the Top 20.
Jared Lintner earned the Day 2 Berkley Big Bass Award Friday with a 5-7 largemouth that he caught on a swim jig in Period 3. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.
Anglers launch at 7:15 a.m. CT from the Kentucky Dam Marina, located at 466 Marina Drive in Gilbertsville. Takeouts are held at the same location beginning at 3:45 p.m. daily.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action live on all four days of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
Qualifying Round – Day 2
(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the day)
1st. Jacob Wheeler -- 95-15 (40) -- 56-09 (20) -- 152-08 (60) -- 5-06
2nd. Michael Neal -- 103-10 (39) -- 20-05 (9) -- 123-15 (48) -- 4-14
3rd. Jacob Wall -- 59-10 (26) -- 53-10 (22) -- 113-04 (48) -- 4-01
4th. Nick Hatfield -- 36-02 (16) -- 66-02 (26) -- 102-04 (42) -- 5-06
5th. Zack Birge -- 51-15 (25) -- 49-06 (24) -- 101-05 (49) -- 4-10
6th. Jake Lawrence -- 100-03 (40) -- 0-00 (0) -- 100-03 (40) -- 0-00
7th. Justin Lucas -- 81-06 (34) -- 18-01 (8) -- 99-07 (42) -- 3-07
8th. Justin Cooper -- 52-11 (23) -- 40-15 (17) -- 93-10 (40) -- 5-03
9th. Colby Miller -- 68-06 (29) -- 20-14 (8) -- 89-04 (37) -- 3-15
10th. Jesse Wiggins -- 51-02 (25) -- 37-05 (17) -- 88-07 (42) -- 4-04
11th. Cole Floyd -- 72-15 (30) -- 14-02 (6) -- 87-01 (36) -- 3-06
12th. John Hunter -- 31-03 (12) -- 55-09 (23) -- 86-12 (35) -- 3-14
13th. Mark Rose -- 65-08 (25) -- 21-03 (9) -- 86-11 (34) -- 3-10
14th. Spencer Shuffield -- 56-09 (24) -- 29-15 (13) -- 86-08 (37) -- 4-03
15th. Andy Montgomery -- 54-02 (23) -- 31-11 (14) -- 85-13 (37) -- 4-04
16th. Adrian Avena -- 62-06 (22) -- 23-06 (10) -- 85-12 (32) -- 3-05
17th. Alton Jones Jr. -- 32-07 (16) -- 48-13 (20) -- 81-04 (36) -- 4-05
18th. Alton Jones -- 42-04 (17) -- 37-11 (15) -- 79-15 (32) -- 4-10
19th. Brent Ehrler -- 52-03 (23) -- 27-01 (10) -- 79-04 (33) -- 4-00
20th. Dustin Connell -- 63-06 (23) -- 14-11 (6) -- 78-01 (29) -- 3-03
21st. Brandon Coulter -- 36-09 (18) -- 41-06 (20) -- 77-15 (38) -- 4-08
22nd. Brent Chapman -- 54-07 (22) -- 19-15 (11) -- 74-06 (33) -- 2-09
23rd. Takahiro Omori -- 32-01 (14) -- 40-01 (15) -- 72-02 (29) -- 4-14
24th. Marshall Hughes -- 32-02 (15) -- 38-10 (17) -- 70-12 (32) -- 3-06
25th. Ron Nelson -- 41-08 (19) -- 26-12 (12) -- 68-04 (31) -- 3-13
26th. Shin Fukae -- 43-11 (19) -- 17-11 (8) -- 61-06 (27) -- 3-10
27th. Andy Morgan -- 41-13 (19) -- 17-07 (7) -- 59-04 (26) -- 4-03
28th. Edwin Evers -- 9-15 (4) -- 48-14 (23) -- 58-13 (27) -- 3-08
29th. Wesley Strader -- 29-12 (14) -- 27-07 (13) -- 57-03 (27) -- 2-15
30th. Drew Gill -- 36-08 (17) -- 19-05 (9) -- 55-13 (26) -- 3-07
31st. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 30-07 (13) -- 25-03 (12) -- 55-10 (25) -- 2-15
32nd. Luke Clausen -- 49-07 (20) -- 3-09 (2) -- 53-00 (22) -- 1-14
33rd. Josh Bertrand -- 30-13 (14) -- 21-04 (10) -- 52-01 (24) -- 3-06
34th. Jeff Sprague -- 21-01 (9) -- 28-08 (11) -- 49-09 (20) -- 3-14
35th. Marty Robinson -- 29-04 (13) -- 19-12 (10) -- 49-00 (23) -- 2-06
36th. Marshall Robinson -- 31-02 (16) -- 16-03 (9) -- 47-05 (25) -- 2-14
37th. Britt Myers -- 22-02 (10) -- 24-04 (10) -- 46-06 (20) -- 3-09
38th. Matt Becker -- 23-07 (11) -- 22-08 (11) -- 45-15 (22) -- 3-04
39th. Bradley Roy -- 31-07 (13) -- 13-04 (6) -- 44-11 (19) -- 2-15
40th. Chris Lane -- 26-02 (13) -- 17-06 (8) -- 43-08 (21) -- 3-00
41st. Dylan Hays -- 30-00 (13) -- 12-11 (5) -- 42-11 (18) -- 3-05
42nd. Todd Faircloth -- 10-06 (4) -- 31-13 (12) -- 42-03 (16) -- 4-03
43rd. Bobby Lane -- 23-02 (10) -- 18-14 (7) -- 42-00 (17) -- 4-04
44th. Dave Lefebre -- 28-01 (12) -- 13-14 (7) -- 41-15 (19) -- 2-10
45th. Casey Ashley -- 25-11 (12) -- 15-03 (7) -- 40-14 (19) -- 2-11
46th. Gerald Spohrer -- 34-06 (14) -- 5-09 (3) -- 39-15 (17) -- 2-02
47th. Terry Scroggins -- 16-03 (5) -- 23-08 (9) -- 39-11 (14) -- 4-01
48th. Jared Lintner -- 19-05 (10) -- 18-13 (7) -- 38-02 (17) -- 5-07
49th. Keith Poche -- 23-10 (11) -- 13-05 (7) -- 36-15 (18) -- 3-05
50th. Fletcher Shryock -- 21-14 (11) -- 13-02 (6) -- 35-00 (17) -- 3-04
51st. Ott DeFoe -- 16-10 (6) -- 17-03 (7) -- 33-13 (13) -- 3-15
52nd. Keith Carson -- 18-01 (7) -- 15-09 (7) -- 33-10 (14) -- 3-04
53rd. David Dudley -- 10-05 (5) -- 22-13 (9) -- 33-02 (14) -- 4-03
54th. Nick LeBrun -- 22-02 (9) -- 10-12 (5) -- 32-14 (14) -- 2-10
55th. Martin Villa -- 22-11 (11) -- 8-10 (5) -- 31-05 (16) -- 2-06
56th. Greg Vinson -- 15-03 (6) -- 14-03 (8) -- 29-06 (14) -- 2-02
57th. James Elam -- 19-13 (10) -- 6-13 (3) -- 26-10 (13) -- 2-11
58th. Skeet Reese -- 12-09 (5) -- 12-00 (6) -- 24-09 (11) -- 2-09
59th. Gary Klein -- 15-07 (6) -- 7-09 (4) -- 23-00 (10) -- 2-04
60th. Dean Rojas -- 9-13 (3) -- 12-15 (4) -- 22-12 (7) -- 4-08
61st. Bryan Thrift -- 5-14 (3) -- 16-14 (6) -- 22-12 (9) -- 4-00
62nd. Jeremy Lawyer -- 1-09 (1) -- 17-15 (8) -- 19-08 (9) -- 3-10
63rd. David Walker -- 10-00 (4) -- 8-12 (5) -- 18-12 (9) -- 2-03
64th. Mark Davis -- 8-15 (3) -- 5-02 (3) -- 14-01 (6) -- 1-14
65th. Fred Roumbanis -- 9-03 (5) -- 3-10 (2) -- 12-13 (7) -- 2-01
66th. Anthony Gagliardi -- 0-00 (0) -- 1-08 (1) -- 1-08 (1) -- 1-08
