Jacob Wheeler
The heat wave that greeted the Bass Pro Tour field upon its arrival to the James River for practice prior to the Major League Fishing (MLF) General Tire Stage Six presented by O
Reilly Auto Parts relented during the opening day of competition, but only barely, with temperatures still climbing into the low 90s. The fishing, meanwhile, was just as hot.
Of the 39 pros who took to the water for the first day of qualifying in Group A, 27 stacked at least 20 pounds on Scoretracker and 11 hit the 40-pound mark.
It took 40 pounds, 6 ounces to claim a spot inside the cut line – the third-heaviest 10th-place total for an opening day of qualifying all season, narrowly trailing only the first two days of Stage Three at Dale Hollow.
And yet, despite that torrid pace, two-time Fishing Clash Angler of the Year Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tn., still managed to put plenty of distance between himself and the rest of the field. Wheeler stacked up 78-8 on 33 scorable bass, 30-15 ahead of General Tire pro Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif., in second. Behind Wheeler, the weights are tightly bunched, with just 2-9 separating Reese from seventh place.
The six-day tournament showcases 78 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $659,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship.
Seeing Wheeler’s name atop Scoretracvker might not come as a surprise to anyone. A two-time winner this season, he’s made the Knockout Round in six of seven events and the Championship Round in five of them. But based on his practice, Wheeler said he didn’t anticipate such a strong start.
“I did not expect that at all,” he said. “You’d get a bite here, a bite there in practice, and then when you really lean on things, you start to realize what you have. Some places I thought were going to be really good, they were horrible, and I didn’t catch anything. And then other places that I thought were like ‘ehh’ were really good.”
Wheeler made it a point to cover water Tuesday. He caught fish in multiple areas using “five completely different techniques.” While that might sound random, it’s not; he’s matching the technique to the area to the tide.
The mouth of the Chickahominy River, a popular James tributary, experienced low tide (typically regarded as the best bite) around the end of the first period on Day 1. Wheeler’s most productive stretch came shortly thereafter. Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., he racked up more than 60 pounds on 24 scorable bass.
“There are bite windows on this body of water, and the tide dictates that,” Wheeler explained. “There are bite windows at high tide, there are bite windows at incoming, outgoing. So, it’s just slowly dialing that in, and today, everything collided and worked out well.”
As impressive as Wheeler’s opening day was, he knows he’ll need to adapt as the tournament progresses. Even though he didn’t have much trouble accessing the spots he wanted to hit Tuesday, fishing pressure could impact the bite, with much of the field crowded in and around the Chickahominy. More important will be adjusting to the changing tide, with low tide getting later each day.
That’s where Wheeler’s sizable advantage over the cut line could help him. As usual, he caught as much weight as possible on Day 1 with the hope that he can use the second day of qualifying to continue to learn the fishery. More than 38 pounds clear of 11th place, he should only have to catch a few scorable bass to ensure himself a spot in the Knockout Round.
“I think I have some stuff that will continue, but it’s definitely temperamental,” Wheeler said. “Looking at paper, you’re like, ‘holy crap, Wheeler is going to win.’ But it’s not like that. We’re running an incoming tide on the Championship Day. I think we’re going to have a very little bit of an incoming tide on the Knockout Round. I mean, it’s just completely different conditions, and I’m going to have to make the right adjustments to have a really good finish in this tournament.”
Wheeler’s biggest takeaway from his first day of competition on the James was the fruitfulness of the fishery. He estimates he caught at least 80 bass on the day including those under the 1-8 minimum weight.
“This place is really healthy,” Wheeler said. “It’s got an insane number of bass in it. My thumbs are definitely sore.”
The top 20 pros in Group A after Day 1 on James River are:
1st: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 33 bass, 78-8
2nd: Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., 21 bass, 47-9
3rd: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 21 bass, 47-5
4th: Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., 21 bass, 47-0
5th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 21 bass, 46-6
6th: Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 22 bass, 45-3
7th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 20 bass, 45-0
8th: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 20 bass, 43-10
9th: Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 21 bass, 41-9
10th: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 15 bass, 40-6
11th: Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 20 bass, 40-4
12th: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 15 bass, 39-6
13th: Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 18 bass, 37-0
14th: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 17 bass, 34-10
15th: Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 14 bass, 33-5
16th: Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 14 bass, 33-1
17th: Jared Lintner, Covington, Ga., 15 bass, 31-1
18th: Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., 13 bass, 30-9
19th: Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, 13 bass, 29-7
20th: Grae Buck, Green Lane, Penn., 13 bass, 28-8