BAY CITY, Mich. — After a scorching opening day on Saginaw Bay, the bite somehow got even better on Day 2 of Toyota Stage 7 Presented by Ranger Boats. Edwin Evers led the way, cracking the 100-pound mark for the second day in a row and adding 105 pounds, 2 ounces on 43 scorable bass to bring his two-day total to 216-5.
Nick Hatfield put up a fight for the Qualifying Round win and the automatic Championship Round berth that comes with it, but Evers ultimately pulled away to top SCORETRACKER® by more than 17 pounds. His two-day tally is the third-highest Qualifying Round weight in BPT history, just 6-7 shy of Michael Neal’s record set in 2021 on Lake St. Clair.
Meanwhile, Jacob Wheeler was content to let others duke it out for the Qualifying Round win, but he solidified the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title. Wheeler’s fourth Bass Pro Tour points crown in the past five years earned him another $100,000 and put him in even more elite historical company.
Complete results can be found here.
Evers blitzes them on a buzzbait
Catching 88 bass over 2 pounds and more than 200 pounds total across two days would be any angler’s idea of fun. But the fact that Evers caught just about all those fish on a buzzbait made this Qualifying Round stand out amid his storied, 25-year touring career.
“It was a lot of fun,” Evers said. “I know I have never caught that many bass on a topwater two days in a row. It was incredible.”
Evers has wrestled in the past with deciding whether or not to push for a Qualifying Round win. While Bryan Thrift and Keith Carson, the anglers who bookended Evers on the leaderboard to start the day, opted not to keep the pedal to the floor, Evers thinks it was worth leaning on his best area again Friday to book his spot in the Championship Round.
For one thing, he noted that he hasn’t seen any competitors fishing nearby, so he thinks the area will get a chance to rest Saturday. He’s optimistic it might even reload with some fresh fish.
He also entered the season finale needing a high finish to climb from 43rd place in the points standings into the top 29, which would earn him a spot in the field for REDCREST 2026. He figured the best way to get there was to guarantee himself a place in the Top 10.
“Nobody else is in that area,” Evers said. “Those fish can rest tomorrow. And for me to make REDCREST, I have to be in the Top 10. So, to chance tomorrow and something not going right, I just thought that was the thing to do.”
The Top-10 finish will be Evers’ first in a regular-season BPT event since May of 2023 (although he finished fifth at Heavy Hitters this year). The 13-time winner said putting himself in contention to hoist another trophy feels good.
If he can sneak into the REDCREST field, it’ll feel even better. The 2019 REDCREST champ has only missed out on one championship event in his career (the 2010 Bassmaster Classic), and his top goal every season is to put himself in the championship field.
“It’s just something that through my whole career I’ve been able to hang my hat on,” Evers said. “I’ve made it with the exception of one time – and there’s a big story behind that. It’s part of my testimony. The one year I didn’t make it, I took a Catch a Dream kid fishing the exact week of the championship. And I’ve just always felt like that’s what I’m supposed to do is be at those championships. And I don’t want to not make one.”
Wheeler’s reign continues
By finishing the Qualifying Round in 11th place and earning a spot in the Knockout Round field, Wheeler ensured that he’ll finish ahead of runner-up Jake Lawrence in the Angler of the Year standings. The triumph marks Wheeler’s fourth Bass Pro Tour AOY crown (to go along with titles in 2021, 2022 and 2024) and adds to his fast-growing case to be considered one of the best tournament anglers of all time. He’s now one of just five pros to win four or more tour-level Angler of the Year awards and the third ever to win four in a five-year span, joining Bass Fishing Hall of Famers Roland Martin and Kevin VanDam.
Wheeler has now made the Knockout Round in six of seven events on the season, and he has a chance to make it six Top 10s as well. He opened the season with a fifth-place finish at Lake Conroe, then finished sixth at the Harris Chain. He wound up second at both Stage 3 on Lake Murray and Stage 4 on Chickamauga and Nickajack before breaking through to win his ninth BPT event on Kentucky Lake.
Shortly after lines out, Wheeler reflected on his journey from an aspiring angler growing up in Indiana to the undisputed top pro in the world.
“This is what’s crazy to me: Starting where I started, with no boat and going up through the junior program, qualifying through the BFL All-American and winning the BFL All-American, I basically had a one in a million shot that there was a chance that I would be out here fishing professionally,” Wheeler said. “My parents didn’t have a whole lot; I didn’t have a whole lot. And so, to be in this position in this sport, I don’t take that lightly.”
Be on the lookout for more in-depth coverage of Wheeler’s AOY season at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
What’s next at Stage 7
Aside from Evers, the rest of the Top 20 will hit the water Saturday with weights zeroed for the Knockout Round. The nine best finishers there will then earn spots in the Championship Round, where $150,000 and the final trophy of the season will be up for grabs.
Even though it took more than 115 pounds to earn a spot in the Knockout Round field, the battle to finish above the elimination line came down to ounces. Less than 1 pound separated 19th through 22nd place, with Bobby Lane and Shin Fukae nabbing the last two spots above the cut, while Drew Gill and Jared Lintner fell just short.
Watch all the action Saturday and Sunday on the MLFNOW! livestream from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET at MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and Rumble.
Other notes:
- Several anglers pulled off huge rallies on Friday to climb above the elimination line. Zack Birge, Dylan Hays, Andy Morgan and Jeff Sprague all finished among the Top 20 after starting in 39th place or worse. Birge’s comeback was the most dramatic – he put together the best day of anyone in the field, stacking up 115-1 on 48 scorable bass to vault from 56th place into ninth.
- After a handful of anglers got off to strong starts targeting smallmouth, largemouth dominated on Day 2. Green fish accounted for 80% of the scorable bass caught by the field, and only two anglers managed to make the Top 20 cut by catching mostly smallmouth (Dustin Connell and Bobby Lane).
- Evers wasn’t the only angler who put himself in position to pick up some much-needed points in the chase to qualify for REDCREST. Todd Faircloth, James Elam and Marshall Hughes should all be just about assured of a spot in the championship field after making the Knockout Round. Lane, Hatfield and Morgan all entered Stage 7 a little further back of the cut line and likely still have work to do, but they’ll have a chance to earn more points this weekend.