By MLF Communications Staff
MANY, La. – Group A pros faced a stingier Toledo Bend Reservoir Thursday as conditions began to change across the fishery, with many of the pros weighing considerably fewer scorable bass on their second day of competition. But less was still good enough for Jacob Wheeler – the two-time Angler of the Year (AOY) – who maintained his spot atop the leaderboard to win the Qualifying Round for Group A in the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour season opener.
Wheeler caught 91 pounds of scorable bass on Day 1 and added 60-7 Thursday for a two-day total of 47 bass weighing 151-7.
Rookie Drew Gill of Mount Carmel finished the round in second place with a two-day total of 42 bass weighing 139-12. Spencer Shuffield boated a two-day total of 44 bass weighing 130-3 to end the round in third place, while local favorite rookie Justin Cooper of Zwolle, Louisiana finished the day in fourth place with a two-day total of 27 bass weighing 80-9. Wesley Strader rounded out the Top 5 with a two-day total of 31 bass weighing 80 pounds even.
The top 10 anglers advancing from Group A will now have an off day from competition Friday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will complete their two-day Qualifying Round. The Top 10 anglers from each group advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to the Championship Round. In Sunday’s Championship Round, weights are again zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.
Wheeler’s objective Thursday wasn’t really to catch bass. After his huge first day, Thursday was all about exploring new water in preparation for the weekend.
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- or 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 said he 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 BPT 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- to 1/2-ounce.
Wheeler is far from alone in his approach – each of the Top 5 inishers 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 who 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,” Wheeler said. “If you can make a Top-10 cut in one day, you better dang well do it because that’s going to give you the time and opportunity to go check some other stuff out.”
Pro Brent Ehrler earned Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award with an 8-9 largemouth that he caught on a jerkbait during Period 3. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.
Anglers launch at 7:30 a.m. CT each day from Cypress Bend Park, located at 3462 Cypress Bend Drive in Many. Each day’s takeout is held at the park beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the ScoreTracker leaderboard and event coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action live from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.
The tournament features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
Group A Qualifying Round – Day 2
(Figure at far right denotes weight of angler's heaviest fish for the round)
1. Jacob Wheeler -- 91-00 (28) -- 60-07 (19) -- 151-07 (47) -- 6-00
2. Drew Gill -- 81-14 (26) -- 57-14 (16) -- 139-12 (42) -- 6-08
3. Spencer Shuffield -- 88-01 (29) -- 42-02 (15) -- 130-03 (44) -- 3-10
4. Justin Cooper -- 36-14 (12) -- 43-11 (15) -- 80-09 (27) -- 4-00
5. Wesley Strader -- 49-13 (19) -- 30-03 (12) -- 80-00 (31) -- 3-00
6. James Elam -- 49-15 (17) -- 26-15 (9) -- 76-14 (26) -- 3-15
7. Ryan Salzman -- 35-14 (11) -- 37-04 (12) -- 73-02 (23) -- 5-01
8. Martin Villa -- 40-07 (12) -- 31-12 (11) -- 72-03 (23) -- 4-11
9. Zack Birge -- 29-04 (9) -- 40-02 (16) -- 69-06 (25) -- 3-07
10. Ott DeFoe -- 39-02 (15) -- 28-01 (11) -- 67-03 (26) -- 5-12
The following anglers did not make the cut and will not advance to the Knockout Round
11. Edwin Evers -- 35-03 (11) -- 30-15 (10) -- 66-02 (21) -- 4-02
12. Jeremy Lawyer -- 4-10 (2) -- 54-02 (14) -- 58-12 (16) -- 6-00
13. Keith Poche -- 28-00 (10) -- 29-15 (11) -- 57-15 (21) -- 4-12
14. Justin Lucas -- 36-05 (10) -- 20-15 (6) -- 57-04 (16) -- 4-15
15. Bryan Thrift -- 39-01 (14) -- 15-13 (5) -- 54-14 (19) -- 5-13
16. Nick LeBrun -- 32-00 (11) -- 19-00 (6) -- 51-00 (17) -- 4-10
17. John Hunter -- 30-00 (10) -- 19-02 (5) -- 49-02 (15) -- 5-06
18. Brent Ehrler -- 12-13 (4) -- 34-12 (11) -- 47-09 (15) -- 8-09
19. Mark Davis -- 13-05 (5) -- 34-03 (11) -- 47-08 (16) -- 4-15
20. Bradley Roy -- 19-06 (8) -- 26-15 (10) -- 46-05 (18) -- 3-05
21. Marshall Robinson -- 23-07 (10) -- 22-07 (10) -- 45-14 (20) -- 2-11
22. Dean Rojas -- 29-15 (9) -- 13-01 (4) -- 43-00 (13) -- 5-10
23. Cliff Crochet -- 22-02 (4) -- 17-14 (5) -- 40-00 (9) -- 4-12
24. Casey Ashley -- 28-09 (11) -- 8-12 (3) -- 37-05 (14) -- 3-11
25. Todd Faircloth -- 9-10 (4) -- 19-12 (7) -- 29-06 (11) -- 3-10
26. Bobby Lane -- 15-07 (6) -- 11-08 (3) -- 26-15 (9) -- 5-14
27. Gary Klein -- 6-09 (3) -- 20-03 (7) -- 26-12 (10) -- 4-04
28. Luke Clausen -- 24-05 (8) -- 2-00 (1) -- 26-05 (9) -- 2-00
29. Jonathon VanDam -- 13-07 (5) -- 12-14 (5) -- 26-05 (10) -- 2-14
30. Joshua Weaver -- 10-11 (4) -- 15-10 (6) -- 26-05 (10) -- 2-14
31. Alton Jones -- 14-00 (4) -- 12-04 (4) -- 26-04 (8) -- 4-03
32. David Dudley -- 12-15 (4) -- 13-05 (4) -- 26-04 (8) -- 4-14
33. Kelly Jordon -- 9-11 (4) -- 16-05 (6) -- 26-00 (10) -- 3-04
34. Keith Carson -- 11-11 (4) -- 12-10 (5) -- 24-05 (9) -- 3-11
35. Fred Roumbanis -- 10-01 (2) -- 12-12 (3) -- 22-13 (5) -- 5-00
36. Scott Suggs -- 4-13 (2) -- 16-08 (6) -- 21-05 (8) -- 4-00
37. Boyd Duckett -- 4-03 (2) -- 12-02 (5) -- 16-05 (7) -- 2-15
38. Andy Montgomery -- 5-10 (2) -- 4-12 (2) -- 10-06 (4) -- 2-11
39. Fletcher Shryock -- 6-10 (3) -- 2-10 (1) -- 9-04 (4) -- 2-10
40. Stephen Browning -- 0-00 (0) -- 0-00 (0) -- 0-00 (0) -- 0-00
