OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (May 3, 2022) – Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, boated just four scorable bass weighing 16 pounds, 9 ounces, Tuesday, but it was still enough to hold off a hard-charging Keith Poche of Pike Road, Alabama, and win the two-day Qualifying Group B round at the MLF Bass Pro Tour Stage Four tournament on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. After Wheeler started the day with a 16-pound, 5-ounce lead, Poche, who started the day in 15th place, caught 14 bass weighing 40-15 to rally to within 7¼ pounds of Wheeler’s lead late in the third period, but alas Wheeler had already caught enough to earn the victory with a two-day total of 19 bass weighing 64 pounds, 2 ounces.
Poche caught a two-day total of 19 bass weighing 57 pounds even to end the round in second place, while Hot Springs, Arkansas pro Stephen Browning, finished the round in third place with a two-day total of 16 bass weighing 47 pounds, 5 ounces. pro Zack Birge of Blanchard, Oklahoma, ended the round in fourth place with a two-day total of 17 bass for 45-12. Rounding out the top five was local favorite, pro Jeremy Lawyer of Sarcoxie, Missouri, who caught 16 bass for 43-8 to advance in fifth place.
The remaining 38 anglers – 19 from each group – now advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed, and the anglers compete to finish in the top eight to advance to the Championship Round on Thursday. The Championship Round will feature Group A winner Jordan Lee, Group B winner Jacob Wheeler, and the top eight finishers from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.
“Man, that turned in to a little bit of a nail-biter towards the end, but we got it done,” Wheeler said in his postgame interview. “I was sitting on a decent bed fish, and I really didn’t want to catch it if I didn’t have to. I was on it for kind of a safety thing – if Keith caught one near the end, I wanted to make sure that I had enough to still win and earn the auto-qualification into the Championship Round.”
Wheeler didn’t fish much, Tuesday. He caught two good scorable bass off of the beds in Period 1, then spent most of the day looking for more bed fish and trying to find developing patterns for Thursday’s Championship Round.
“I caught a lot of fish the last couple of days, but I shook some fish off a couple of different times as well,” Wheeler said. “I didn’t go to any of the 4+ pounders that I have marked on the bed. Ultimately, I feel like those fish are the ones that are going to help you win the Championship Round.”
Wheeler has sight-fished this week with a white craw-style bait and a bait that he said is more “translucent.”
“Some fish are a little bit goofier and you have to throw the more natural-type colors, and then some of the fish want more of a visual-type thing and I can get those fish to bite the straight white craw,” Wheeler said.
“They’re saying we’re going to have lots of rain, clouds and wind for our final day,” Wheeler went on to say. “The fish I shook off today gave me an idea of some different baits that I think I can use to trigger the fish into biting. It’s my third Championship Round auto-qualification this season, so maybe the third time is the charm and we can close this thing out and get the win.”
Poche had the best day on the water among the 40 competitors today but was disappointed that he wasn’t able to catch Wheeler.
“Man, I was so close,” Poche said in his post-game interview. “I had a really good day and I fought hard; I almost got it done. I lost some key fish that would have really put me over the top. But that’s just the way it goes, sometimes.
“I was catching them on a (Berkley) MaxScent General,” Poche continued. “It was a 5-inch, green-pumpkin, and I fished it on a shaky-head rig – nice and simple. But they were smoking it. I figured out some stuff and was looking for the right kind of banks – a little wind blowing on them really helped.
“We did all we could, and it was a lot of fun, but we came up a little bit short today,” Poche went on to say. “Hopefully we’ll catch them good in the Knockout Round tomorrow.”
The six-day tournament, hosted by Central Missouri’s Tri-County Lodging Association, the Lake of the Ozarks Fishing Council and BassingBob.com, showcases 80 top pro bass-fishing anglers competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner. The tournament is livestreamed each day at MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MOTV app, and also filmed for broadcast later this fall on the Discovery Channel.
The top 20 pros in Qualifying Group B that now advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round on Lake of the Ozarks are:
1st: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 19 bass, 64-2
2nd: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 19 bass, 57-0
3rd: Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., 16 bass, 47-5
5th: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 17 bass, 45-12
4th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 16 bass, 43-8
6th: Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 13 bass, 42-1
9th: Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 12 bass, 41-13
7th: Randall Tharp, Port Saint Joe., 12 bass, 41-11
8th: Jared Lintner, Covington, Ga., 13 bass, 39-11
10th: Cody Meyer, Star, Idaho, 13 bass, 39-2
11th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 14 bass, 38-9
12th: James Watson, Lampe, Mo., 12 bass, 38-6
13th: Mark Daniels, Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 13 bass, 37-9
14th: Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., 12 bass, 37-9
15th: Brandon Coulter, Knoxville, Tenn., 11 bass, 37-4
16th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 14 bass, 36-9
17th: Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., 12 bass, 35-3
18th: Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, 11 bass, 34-7
19th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 12 bass, 34-3
20th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 34-0
Overall, there were 203 scorable bass weighing 600 pounds, 14 ounces caught by 39 pros Tuesday, which included 23 four-pounders and 12 five-pounders.
https://dev.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/mlf-ozarks-tournament-5322.html
Major League Fishing (MLF) Archive