By MLF Communications Staff
Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, boated a 7-pound, 3-ounce kicker just four minutes into the start of competition Saturday and never looked back. Wheeler caught 14 scorable bass totaling 56 pounds, 7 ounces to grab the early lead for Group A on Day 1 of the event at Lake Fork in Texas.
Wheeler will bring a comfortable lead into Monday’s second day of competition for Group A, with an 8-02cushion over second-place angler pro Ish Monroe of Oakdale, California, who caught 13 bass totaling 48-05. In third is Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who caught 13 bass totaling 44-14.
Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Arkansas , sits in fourth place with 13 bass weighing 33-14. Rounding out the Top 5 is pro Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, South Carolina, who weighed in eight bass totaling 32-03.
Fresh off his victory two weeks ago in Louisiana, Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, boated the biggest bass of his career Saturday – and the second-biggest bass ever weighed in Bass Pro Tour history – an 11-11 giant that earned Roy the first $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award. 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.
The 40 anglers in Group A will now have an off day from competition, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will begin their first day of competition Sunday.
“Today has been a lot of fun,” Wheeler said in his post-game interview. “They’re not easy to catch, but when you do find some, it’s a lot of fun. This event is going to end up being all about decision-making.”
Wheeler spent the day throwing multiple different jerkbaits around the isolated timber.
“The jerkbait was the name of the game for me today,” Wheeler continued. “I was throwing them on a 6-foot, 10-inch medium-heavy action rod, using 12-to-14-pound line, depending on the cover I was fishing. I threw a various amount of jerkbaits, but my biggest bass this morning came on a (Rapala) Shadow Rap, deep. It was first thing – my third cast of the day.”
Saturday marks the seventh time that Wheeler has “won” Day 1 of his Qualifying Round of competition. The next closest anglers to that mark are Zack Birge and Michael Neal, who each have won three times. If Wheeler can hang on and win his Qualifying Round on Monday, it will mark the sixth time that Wheeler has won his two-day Qualifying Round.
“We’ll see how it all ends up. Today was nice, but the rest of the week is a little different,” Wheeler said. “I’m going to take my day off tomorrow and regroup to come up with a game plan on how we can win the round. The biggest thing this week is going to be about making adjustments, and I’m going to need to make some adjustments for Monday if I want to take it down."
Unlike Wheeler, who did his damage today on a jerkbait, Monroe caught his 13 scorable bass on a lipless crankbait.
“Congratulations to Jacob on a great day, but I’m right behind him – 8 pounds on this lake is nothing,” Monroe said. “I fished hard, today, throwing a River2Sea Ruckus lipless (crankbait).
“Bradley (Roy) got an 11-pounder, which is awesome. Zack Birge got a 10, and that is awesome. But I plan on catching me a double-digit as well, so get ready.”
After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers who finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Thursday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are again zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.
Anglers will launch each day at 7:30 a.m. from the Oak Ridge Marina, located at 2949 TX-154 in Quitman, Texas. Takeouts will be held at the marina beginning at 4:30 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 MLF NOW! live stream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The event features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable.
The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action each day of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.
Group A Qualifying Round – Day 1
(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the round)
1. Jacob Wheeler -- 56-07 (14) -- 7-03
2. Ish Monroe -- 48-05 (13) -- 5-05
3. Kevin VanDam -- 44-14 (13) -- 4-12
4. Mark Davis -- 33-14 (13) -- 5-02
5. Andy Montgomery -- 32-03 (8) -- 5-14
6. Jeff Sprague -- 32-02 (8) -- 5-07
7. Bradley Roy -- 28-14 (5) -- 11-11
8. Fletcher Shryock -- 28-06 (8) -- 5-00
9. Zack Birge -- 28-03 (5) -- 10-14
10. Marty Robinson -- 27-11 (8) -- 5-06
11. Takahiro Omori -- 26-14 (6) -- 7-14
12. Jonathon VanDam -- 26-01 (5) -- 6-07
13. Cliff Crochet -- 25-10 (8) -- 5-05
14. Justin Lucas -- 23-12 (7) -- 5-13
15. Matt Lee -- 23-10 (6) -- 5-13
16. Brent Chapman -- 23-07 (6) -- 8-05
17. Cole Floyd -- 22-10 (6) -- 7-09
18. James Elam -- 22-01 (6) -- 5-10
19. Keith Poche -- 21-07 (5) -- 6-11
20. Jordan Lee -- 20-12 (7) -- 3-11
21. Anthony Gagliardi -- 20-11 (7) -- 4-02
22. Josh Bertrand -- 17-11 (4) -- 7-08
23. Britt Myers -- 16-14 (4) -- 5-15
24. Dylan Hays -- 16-04 (5) -- 4-07
25. Randy Howell -- 16-02 (5) -- 4-15
26. Michael Neal -- 16-01 (3) -- 5-15
27. Randall Tharp -- 13-07 (5) -- 3-09
28. Tommy Biffle -- 13-03 (4) -- 6-13
29. Todd Faircloth -- 12-02 (3) -- 6-10
30. Wesley Strader -- 11-00 (3) -- 5-06
31. David Dudley -- 10-03 (3) -- 4-07
32. Paul Elias -- 9-02 (2) -- 6-07
33. Gerald Spohrer -- 7-07 (3) -- 3-03
34. Brandon Coulter -- 6-08 (2) -- 4-02
35. Fred Roumbanis -- 6-06 (2) -- 3-06
36. Clabion Johns -- 6-04 (2) -- 3-05
37. Brett Hite -- 5-06 (2) -- 3-05
38. Shaw Grigsby -- 5-03 (1) -- 5-03
39. Jared Lintner -- 3-02 (1) -- 3-02
40. Jason Lambert -- 0-00 (0) -- 0-00
