Wheeler Catches 7½-Pounder, Makes Final 10 for Championship Round

April 13, 2021
Major League Fishing (MLF) Archive
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Bass Fishing

RALEIGH, N.C. (April 13, 2021) – One fish. $50,000. Pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, boated a 7-pound, 8-ounce, largemouth Tuesday afternoon on Shearon Harris Reservoir, the largest fish of the day, to win $50,000 at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Heavy Hitters in Raleigh, North Carolina. Wheeler finished the day in 2nd place and punched his ticket straight to Wednesday’s final-day Championship Round.

“50 g’s, heck yeah, that is unreal,” Wheeler said in his post-game interview. “That will be a fish that I remember for the rest of my life. I was cruising down the bank and when I saw that fish, I literally stopped and was like ‘Whoa, that’s a $50,000 bass.’ It took me about 45 minutes trying to figure out how to catch her, and it was pretty dang awesome when I did.”

Wheeler caught the big bass on a soft plastic stick bait.

“I got really close to winning here two years ago, and I’d love to try to take home the title and get a little pay back on this lake this time around. So far, after today, it’s treating me pretty solid. Shearon Harris… I love you.”

Joining Wheeler in the Championship Round will be pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tennessee, who won Tuesday’s Knockout Round with 15 bass weighing 46 pounds, 11 ounces.

“It was a great day for me, and well beyond my expectations,” said Morgan. “It was pretty simple fishing – just looking for spawning fish. They were up super-shallow, right around the bank. Weed clumps, trees, logs – whatever they could get around.

“I caught them on just a couple of baits,” Morgan continued. “I threw a ½-ounce Strike King Thunder Cricket with a chartreuse and white-colored Zoom Swimmer on the back. I also caught them flipping a Zoom Brush Hog and a Zoom Z-Craw . Some of the fish were actually feeding – those ones I’d catch on the Cricket. The bass that I caught flipping were primarily all spawning.”

Morgan fished the Thunder Cricket on a 7-foot, 2-inch medium-heavy Favorite Fishing Big Sexy casting rod, paired with a Lew’s 6:3:1 reel and spooled with 16-pound fluorocarbon line. For his flipping setup, he Texas-rigged the creature baits and threw them on a Favorite Fishing Pro Series The GOAT rod paired with an 8:3:1 Lew’s Flipping and Pitching reel and 20-pound fluorocarbon line.

Wednesday’s Championship Round will feature Qualifying Round winners Fletcher Shryock and Bryan Thrift, along with the top eight anglers from Tuesday’s Knockout Round, competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000. In addition to the tournament purse, a $100,000 Big Bass Bonus will be awarded to the angler that lands the single biggest fish on the final day.

The top eight pros from the Knockout Round that advanced to Wednesday’s final-day Championship Round on Shearon Harris Reservoir are:

  1st:          Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 46-11
  2nd:         Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 13 bass, 41-6
  3rd:         Alton Jones, Woodway, Texas, 13 bass, 39-6
  4th:         Ish Monroe, Oakdale, Calif., 12 bass, 36-15
  5th:         Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., 10 bass, 35-8
  6th:         Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., nine bass, 30-3
  7th:         Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 10 bass, 29-13
  8th:         Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, nine bass, 29-13

Eliminated from competition after the Knockout Round on Shearon Harris Reservoir are:

  9th:         Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., eight bass, 27-7, $4,000
  10th:       Cliff Pace, Petal, Miss., eight bass, 27-0, $4,000
  11th:       Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., seven bass, 24-5, $4,000
  12th:       Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., seven bass, 19-15, $4,000
  13th:       Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., seven bass, 17-9, $4,000
  14th:       Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., four bass, 15-5, $4,000
  15th:       Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., four bass, 13-5, $4,000
  16th:       Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., three bass, 8-12, $4,000
  17th:       Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., three bass, 6-12, $4,000
  18th:       Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., one bass, 2-15, $4,000

Overall, there were 143 bass weighing 453 pounds even caught by the 18 pros on Tuesday, which included one 7-pounder, one 6-pounders and seven 5-pounders caught from Shearon Harris Reservoir.