By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Through seven MLF Bass Pro Tour events this year (including the REDCREST Championship and Heavy Hitters), Jacob Wheeler has five finishes of 3rd place or better, along with a 12th. Two of those were victories, the latest being his triumph at the St. Lawrence River two weeks ago.

He doesn't lead the Angler of the Year race with two tournaments remaining, however. He's not even in 2nd place.

That's due to a 51st-place showing at the Harris Chain of Lakes in May. That outlier has him in 3rd place in the points standings heading into next month's derby at Lake Champlain, 14 points behind leader Ott DeFoe (also a two-time winner this year) and 4 behind Brent Ehrler.

"That was one I was a little disappointed in," said Wheeler, who continues to maintain a massive lead atop the BassFan World Rankings. "I spent a little time down there (before the fishery went off-limits to competitors) and I felt like I put in as much preparation as anybody else.

"There are certain times you don't make the right decisions or you don't get on the right pattern, but that wasn't one of them. I'm not one to dwell on lost fish, but on that first day I hooked 17 scorable fish and caught seven of them, so I was way under 50 percent. It's typical to lose some on a crankbait with treble hooks, but I was losing them on everything I threw.

"It was the craziest thing," he continued, "but that's the way the event went that whole week. I fished the same stretch as Ott and Andy Montgomery and (Brent) Chapman and they all made the Top 10. I just could not get my bites in the boat."

Hard One to Shake Off

The performance didn't set well with Wheeler in the immediate aftermath of his rare elimination after the Qualifying Round.

"I was pissed," he said. "On a scale of 1 to 10, I was about a 12. I was so mad."

In an attempt to cover up some of the bad memories, he joined good pal and reigning REDCREST champion Dustin Connell for a Thursday night team event at a nearby lake. They won with three fish that combined to weigh almost 23 pounds and donated their prize money (approximately $300) back to the field.

"I knew it was a mental thing and I wanted to fish my way through it – I couldn't just put my rods down," he said. "We caught four over 6 pounds and we culled a 6 1/2.

"Everybody in this sport has to go through these little mental blocks and tough times, no matter who you are, and at the time you know it's happening. There are some events when things just don't go right. You can make the right decisions, but they don't translate to fish in the boat."

Is This the Year?

Wheeler appears headed to his sixth straight single digit finish in an AOY race – a run that spans three different tours (FLW in 2016, Bassmaster Elite Series in 2017-18 and BPT from 2019 through the present). That title is the only gap on his résumé.

It's likely that one of the current Top 3 will claim this year's BPT crown, as 4th-place Bobby Lane sits 27 points behind Wheeler. If Wheeler doesn't win it, the sub-par outing at the Harris Chain will likely be the reason.

"If that happens, it is what it is," he said. "I'm at peace with it now – I made the right decisions and I generated enough bites. Sometimes no matter what you do, you can't pull things back together fast enough after you've dug your hole too deep. Everybody's got to deal with it.

"Other years it's come down to one fish or one decision I made. In that one, it was just an inability to land bites."