By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
As if Jacob Wheeler hasn't had enough success in the Forrest Wood Cup – now FLW has gone and put the event on a body of water that bears his name.
Wheeler has never actually competed on Wheeler Lake, but his Cup ledger is so stellar that he has to be among the favorites at next week's championship derby in Alabama. It'll be his sixth Cup appearance, and he's never fished lower than 12th in the previous five. His record includes a win at Lake Lanier in 2012, a runner-up finish a year later at the Red River and a 4th last year at Lake Ouachita.
He said that growing up in Indiana, where bass are generally few in number and smallish in size, is a big part of the reason that he's excelled in FLW's premier derby.
"Fishing the BFL's and whatnot back home in Indiana, if you catch five you're going to be in the Top 5," he said. "It's a way I like to fish – cover a lot of water and try to get five big bites. Some days it doesn't work, but if you play the percentages and fish hard in a productive area, you can sometimes make it happen.
"Fishing is pretty tough just about everywhere at this time of year and that brings a lot more of the mental side into it. A lot of times you're just fishing for those five bites."
Could Be His Swan Song
There's a chance that this will be Wheeler's final Cup appearance. He finished 5th in this year's Bassmaster Southern Open points standings, which will garner him an invitation to compete on the Elite Series in 2017.
He'll accept that berth, but dearly hopes that the yet-to-be-released Elite schedule will permit anglers to fish both major circuits if they choose to go that route. Such an itinerary was feasible in 2014 and more than a dozen anglers pulled it off. It was much more logistically demanding in 2015 and only a couple of competitors took on the challenge. It was impossible this year, as the schedules overlapped at three junctures.
"I'm looking at fishing both if I can, but if I can't, I'll be fishing the Elites," he said. "It's not easy to qualify for the Elites and I've been trying to do it for several years and it wouldn't make sense to pass up that opportunity.
"I think FLW's a great trail and they do everything right, and I have nothing negative to say about it. I know I wouldn't be fishing professionally without FLW and I really appreciate all of the opportunities the people there have given me.
"Knowing that there's never been a two-time (Cup) champion and not knowing what the future holds, I really want to win this one."
Seed Planted Long Ago
The 25-year-old Wheeler first fantasized about the scenario that will play out next week a long time ago. As a fishing-obsessed grade-schooler of no more than 8 years old, he remembers watching a TV show about an FLW tournament on Wheeler Lake. That show aired shortly after that year's Tour championship – called the Jacobs Cup back then.
"I remember thinking how cool it would be to win the Jacobs Cup on Wheeler Lake," he said.
He'll go into the tournament fishing about as solidly as he ever has. He was 4th in this year's Angler of the Year (AOY) race, with no finish lower than 46th. In his four Bassmaster Open outings (three Southern and one Northern), he's fared no worse than 35th and was the runner-up at Oneida Lake earlier this month.
"As far as consistency, I think I fished better this year than I ever have," he said. "The only thing is I haven't won a tournament, but there's been some close calls."
He got his first-ever look at his namesake lake a few weeks ago, just before heading to Florida for ICAST (the venue went off-limits to competitors on July 17). He did a lot of looking around, but didn't form any conclusions.
"It seemed like a tough fishery," he said. "I could get bit, but anything over 2 pounds was very difficult to catch. In 2 1/2 days I only caught eight or 10 bass, but I was basically just looking and running around and fishing the stuff that looked good. I didn't try anything off the wall or anything that would be real time-consuming, but it sure as heck wasn't easy.
"I knew things were going to change and I didn't want to get caught up in any one thing. The Tennessee River is known for offshore fishing, but the longer the summer goes on, the tougher that gets."
The only certainty is that he has a considerable amount of work to do when official practice gets under way on Sunday.
"I feel like my pre-practice is going to help, but I certainly didn't figure out what I need to do to win. I skimmed a lot of stuff just trying to get an idea of what's going on.
"The big thing about the Cup is that one big day can go a long way toward winning the tournament, especially in the summertime. If you can catch 20 pounds one day and then back it up with two 12 pound bags, you've got a really good shot."
