SHREVEPORT, La. (May 20, 2011) – Jacob Wheeler of Indianapolis, Ind., weighed a five-bass limit Friday totaling 10 pounds, 4 ounces to lead day two of the BFL All-American bass fishing tournament on Cross Lake. Wheeler, with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 28-10, holds a massive 9-pound, 8-ounce lead going into the final day of competition. Mike Brueggen of La Crosse, Wis., is in second place with a two day total of 19 pounds, 2 ounces in a tournament featuring the top 49 boaters and top 49 co-anglers from across the country.
“Today was a much tougher day for me,” said Wheeler, who is fishing in his first BFL All-American. “The wind really muddied up a lot of my water and changed the way I fished today. I slowed down a lot and just tried to maintain my lead, I was very fortunate to gain a few pounds with a much smaller bag than yesterday.
“Yesterday I hit about 30 spots, today only 10. I tried to fish each area thoroughly and didn’t do nearly the running and gunning I did yesterday. Most of my fish were caught on tubes, cranking and with topwater baits. I had a ton of unders today, but only five keepers. I know tomorrow is going to be different again and I just hope I can figure something out.”
While the wind hurt both the leaders in the boater and co-angler division today, it helped second place Brueggen jump all the way from 42nd place into second place with a massive 17-14 stringer. Brueggen entered the day with only 1-4.
Rounding out the top 10 boaters and fishing tomorrow for the BFL All-American crown are:
3rd: Lloyd Pickett Jr., Bartlett, Tenn., 10 bass, 18-10
4th: Kip Carter, Loganville, Ga., six bass, 17-7
5th: Mike Hicks, Goochland, Va., seven bass, 17-4
6th: George Kapiton, Inverness, Fla., six bass, 17-0
7th: Charles Cummings, Leeds, Ala., nine bass, 16-7
8th: Jake Morris, McKee, Ky., nine bass, 15-4
9th: Don Boeger, Caldwell, Idaho, eight bass, 14-11
10th: Harry Barton, Sterrett, Ala., seven bass, 13-6
Overall there were 126 bass weighing 224 pounds, 11 ounces caught by 49 boaters Friday. The catch included nine five-bass limits.
Shane Winchester of Glasgow, Ky., leads the Co-angler Division with a two day total of six bass weighing 14-8 followed by Greg Gilley of Orange Beach, Ala., in second place with a two day total of five bass weighing 12-6.
“I’m still shaking from my catch yesterday, I didn’t get much sleep last night,” said Winchester, who caught the biggest bass of the tournament so far. “The wind really hurt me today. I just couldn’t get my game on. I had a lot of bites and I had a lot of fish in the slot. I just couldn’t do what I did yesterday. I am hoping tomorrow is better.”
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers and fishing the final day are:
3rd: Kermit Crowder, Matoaca, Va., seven bass, 11-3
4th: Tyler Wood, Collinsville, Miss., four bass, 11-2
5th: Gerrit Goins, Cleveland, Tenn., seven bass, 11-0
6th: Kevin Crady, Desoto, Mo., five bass, 10-8
7th: Kyle Radake, Cape Girardeau, Mo., five bass, 9-10
8th: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., five bass, 9-5
9th: Tony Grubb, Ann Arbor, Mich., seven bass, 7-11
10th: Jason Hester, Haleyville, Ala., four bass, 7-10
Overall there were 58 bass weighing 77 pounds, 6 ounces caught by 49 co-anglers Friday. The catch included only one five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $60,000 this week plus qualification into the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off from the American Legion Hall located at 5315 South Lakeshore Drive in Shreveport at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. Final weigh-in will be at the Shreveport Convention Center located at 400 Caddo Street in Shreveport, starting at 3 p.m. prior to the day three weigh-in of the Walmart FLW Tour on the Red River presented by OFF!.