LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – The final episode of the MLF General Tire Team Series Championship premiered Saturday, and Team Crockett Creek Beef Jerky, led by a 56-fish day from captain Jacob Wheeler, dominated the final day of competition to win the inaugural championship event and earn the $300,000 top prize.
Wheeler, along with teammates Jason Lambert and Dylan Hays, caught 68 scorable bass weighing 133 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the event by a huge 72-08 margin. Team Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff & Pouches (Bryan Thrift, Terry Scroggins and Anthony Gagliardi) finished the event in second place with 23 scorable bass weighing 60-12, while Team Builders FirstSource (Jeff Sprague, Randall Tharp and Cliff Crochet) finished third with 24 bass weighing 49-15.
“This is unreal,” Wheeler said in his post-game interview. “I was just sitting in one spot, and when you know that you just fired up a school of bass and it is a feeding frenzy – there is nothing like it.
“This event has been so unique, and so much fun,” Wheeler continued. “The teamwork that we’ve had – Jason (Lambert) carried us in Minnesota.”
“Dylan (Hays) has been ‘Steady Eddy’ this whole time, and the last two days Wheeler has just been Wheeler,” Lambert added. “You can’t take any of these for granted. You never know if you’re going to get an opportunity to do something like this again.”
Wheeler’s 56-fish day came via a not-yet-released prototype Rapala jerkbait called The Maverick.
“They have been working on this jerkbait for several years now, and the one thing that separates this bait from any other out there on the market is the realistic colors and its unbelievable action,” Wheeler said. “Action is everything in a jerkbait. When the fish were grouped up, I could throw this bait in there and literally make them bite. It was the reaction strike – that’s what it was all about today. That was the juice, and that is the bait that made our team $300,000 richer.”
Here's a look at the final results:
1st: Team Crockett Creek, 68 bass, 133-04
Jacob Wheeler, 56 bass, 101-06
Jason Lambert, eight bass, 21-15
Dylan Hays, four bass, 9-15
2nd: Team Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff & Pouches, 23 bass, 60-12
Bryan Thrift, 10 bass, 28-08
Terry Scroggins, 10 bass, 23-01
Anthony Gagliardi, three bass, 9-03
3rd: Team Builders First Source, 24 bass, 49-15
Jeff Sprague, 16 bass, 32-03
Cliff Crochet, four bass, 11-10
Randall Tharp, four bass, 6-02
The event was shot over nine days in December and featured nine teams of three anglers visiting Lake County, Florida, to compete on different lakes on the Clermont Chain on each day of competition. Each day the fisheries were unknown to the anglers – they did not learn where they were competing until they arrived at the launch ramp each morning of competition.
All seven episodes of the series are now available for viewing on the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) streaming app. The full television schedule can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
