MANY, La. — Jacob Wheeler’s objective during Group A’s second day of qualifying at B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One presented by Power-Pole on Toledo Bend wasn’t really to catch bass. The two-time Fishing Clash Angler of the Year had already secured a spot in Saturday’s Knockout Round by catching 91 pounds on Day 1. Thursday was all about exploring new water in preparation for the weekend.
Still, no one caught more weight on the day than Wheeler. He added 19 bass for 60 pounds, 7 ounces to SCORETRACKER®, bringing his two-day total to 151-7. That topped Drew Gill by 11-12 to lead the way in Group A.
The full standings can be found here.
Wheeler said he wasn’t necessarily trying to stay atop the leaderboard. He fished only water that he hadn’t visited on Day 1, and his 19 scorable catches were simply a product of sampling each new area.
“There’s a lot of junk fish out there, catfish and everything else, or they’re smaller bass,” Wheeler explained. “If I was going to pull into a new area, I wanted to catch one or two to know, okay, yes, this is 2 1/2- to 3-pounders, or this is all [catfish].”
On a day when both total numbers and weights dipped across the board, that should be a scary thought for the rest of the field.
While Wheeler estimated about a third of his Day 2 weight came from areas he won’t revisit this week, he felt like he achieved his goal of expanding his pattern and identifying some options he can turn to if conditions change in the coming days.
“I feel like I definitely can catch ‘em, and I feel like I found a couple areas that I definitely would like to fish a little bit more,” he said. “A lot of stuff I was just fortunate to catch a fish or two on, and I won’t be going back, so it just depends on what’s really going down and how those fish are acting come Saturday.”
Wheeler caught virtually all his fish on a Rapala CrushCity Freeloader after pinpointing them on forward-facing sonar. While it’s been on the market for less than a year, the minnow-style soft plastic should be familiar to Bass Pro Tour fans, as Wheeler used it to dominate on Lake Guntersville last season. Key this week, he said, has been experimenting with jighead size. He’s affixed the bait to ball heads ranging from 1/8 ounce to 1/2 ounce.
Wheeler is far from alone in his approach – each of the top five finishers in Group A caught the bulk of their weight using a jighead minnow and forward-facing sonar. At this point, he feels confident that “there’s a good chance the tournament is going to be won doing what I’m doing.”
But while it might look like it to viewers on MLFNOW!, the technique isn’t as simple as scanning the depths until you see a bass, then casting to it and reeling it in – especially given the number of anglers that will likely be doing the same thing during the Knockout and Championship Rounds. Wheeler believes his day of exploration allowed him to further dial in the subtleties that could make the difference down the stretch.
“That’s literally the goal to start the week is if you can make … a Top 10 cut in one day, you better dang well do it, because you’re going to give yourself an opportunity to have time to go check some stuff out,” he said. “And I was able to revisit some areas that completely changed, and they weren’t on that stuff, and I was able to go to places that I hadn’t even had a chance to look at. So that’s what you’ve got to do.”
Gill proving he belongs on BPT stage
Seeing Wheeler’s name atop SCORETRACKER® has become commonplace. But the angler who pushed him for the Group A lead throughout the day might have raised some eyebrows.
It didn’t surprise Gill, the 21-year-old Bass Pro Tour rookie, to find himself leading Wheeler for a spell Thursday. Since he arrived at Toledo Bend, Gill’s sights have been set not on cashing a check or making the Knockout Round, but on the winner’s circle.
“If my goal was just to make it here and survive, I probably would have been pretty jittery – it’s kind of like an end-of-the-road happy moment,” Gill explained. “But my goal’s not just to be here. I want to win.”
During his first two days of BPT competition, Gill has shown why he’s so confident in his abilities. A forward-facing sonar whiz, he backed up 81-14 on Day 1 with 16 fish for 57-14 on Thursday. And much like Wheeler, he held a lot back.
Gill said his two primary objectives Thursday were finding new groups of fish and upgrading his biggest bass of the event to bolster his chances of qualifying for General Tire Heavy Hitters. Check and check. He “found a bunch of new fish,” picking up the trolling motor and moving every time he caught one from a school. He also hauled in four bass over 5 pounds, including a 6-8. He believes he’s unlocked a key for drawing bigger bites.
“It’s really not as much of a how I’m fishing thing as much as where,” Gill explained. “There are some areas that are just more conducive to having big ones around. So that’s kind of what I ran into today. I found a section of the lake that’s holding some better-than-average fish on everything that looked right, and I’m really excited to start leaning on it in the Knockout Round.”
How amped is Gill to fish his first Knockout Round? In his words, “10 out of 10,” but he doesn’t expect his week to end there.
“I’m jacked up, dude,” he said. “Unless the sky falls, I’m making the Championship Round, so my sights are set on the end of this tournament. And I’m just very excited to start leaning on some areas I found today and leaning on some stuff I’ve let sit, and just see how it unfolds. Because when I get around them and I get in a rash of them, I catch them in a hurry.”
Late pivot pays off for DeFoe
Halfway through the third period, Ott DeFoe knew he needed to make a change. Nearly 10 pounds back of the elimination line, DeFoe put down the bladed jig that had accounted for all his weight to that point in the day and switched tactics.
He didn’t head offshore and start beaming like the leaders. Instead, DeFoe pulled out a buzzbait.
Throwing a topwater on Feb. 1 might not compute for many anglers, but it didn’t take long for DeFoe’s decision to pay off. Within minutes, a 5-12 brute devoured the buzzbait. DeFoe scooped it into the boat, then punctuated the thrilling live shot with a jab at the forward-facing sonar anglers in the field: “Get you some, ‘Scopers!”
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DeFoe went on to add three more scorable bass for 6-6 on the buzzbait. That proved to be just enough to lift him into the Knockout Round, 1-1 ahead of Edwin Evers.
DeFoe wasn’t the only angler to make a late move across the cut line. Zack Birge beat the buzzer with a pair of largemouth that weighed 2-7 apiece in the final 10 minutes of Period 3. That boosted him from 11th place into ninth.
On the day, Birge pulled off the biggest comeback of any angler to make the Knockout Round, catching 40-2 on 16 fish to climb up from 16th place at takeoff. Ryan Salzman also moved into the Top 10, finishing seventh after starting in 11th by boating 12 bass for 37-4.
What’s next for Stage One
The 40 anglers in Group B will return to the water Friday to vie for the final 10 spots in the Knockout Round. Tune in to the MLFNOW! livestream from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT on MajorLeagueFishing.com or the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app to watch the action.
Fishing Clash AOY
Bass Pro Tour anglers will compete throughout the 2024 season for the prestigious Fishing Clash Angler of the Year award and its $100,000 payday. Fishing Clash – an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s played by more than 80 million people worldwide – is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League.
You can download Fishing Clash for free in the App Store and on Google Play or log on to www.fishingclash.game for more information.
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