Entering the penultimate event of the Bass Pro Tour season, Jacob Wheeler finds himself in a familiar position – right in the thick of the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race. The angler who leads him by a single point? Not so much.
Zack Birge has been consistently excellent since the inception of the Bass Pro Tour, with three Top-10 finishes in the points (including finishing sixth each of the past two seasons). But never in his touring career has he reached this point of the season with a legitimate shot to claim the coveted AOY crown.
On paper, that might seem to give an edge to Wheeler, who has won the AOY title each of the past two years and four of the last five. However, Birge is preparing to fish Zenni Stage 6 Presented by Toyota in his home state at a fishery he knows well (Grand Lake). Plus, it’s not like Birge’s incredible 2026 campaign – he’s notched a win and five Top 10s in six BPT events – has been a blip. He also has a win on the NPFL this year and is right in the thick of that Angler of the Year race, too.
Here’s a rundown of the AOY contenders and how each has fared in the past at the final two fisheries on the schedule.
Current Fishing Clash Angler of the Year standings:
- Zack Birge – 373 points
- Jacob Wheeler – 372
- Drew Gill – 356
- Justin Lucas – 344
- Spencer Shuffield – 339
- Michael Neal – 318
- Dustin Connell – 309
- Adrian Avena – 308
- Banks Shaw – 307
- Jacob Walker – 306
Birge not letting AOY aspirations change mindset
Birge has been at or near the top of the points standings throughout this season. Until recently, he’s put the Angler of the Year race on the back burner, focusing on one tournament at a time.
With two events left, though, it’s getting tougher to ignore.
“Of course it’s been on my mind a little bit more now,” Birge said. “Mainly because I’m getting asked about it more now, I think.”
Still, Birge is trying not to approach the final two regular-season events any different than he did the first five. Namely, he’s looking to maintain the open-mindedness and confident decision making that he believes have powered his breakthrough season.
“Really the only thing that I have done any different, I used to second-guess myself a lot,” he explained. “I would think about something, sit around, sit around, not do it, and then I’d be like, ‘Dang, I wish I would have done that.’ Or something crossed my mind, but I never made a move on it. But really the past two years, I’ve been a lot more open to, if I think about it, ‘Hey, let’s go try it for a little bit.’
“A lot of times this year, that’s been a good move, and it’s worked. I think a lot of times when that happens two or three times in a row and your intuition tells you something like that, and you go with it, it gives you a lot more confidence to continue to do it.”
Birge has fished 15 prior MLF events on Grand, the most of any BPT pro. That includes wins at both the Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League levels. While none of those events have taken place in the summer, he still feels confident he can hold serve there.
Much more daunting is the season finale on Lake Erie, which will launch out of Sandusky, Ohio. Birge has only fished one prior event out of Sandusky – the 2020 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super Tournament – and he struggled to find fish on Erie, so he ran to Lake St. Clair each day. That won’t be an option this time around.
“I just couldn’t catch them in the lake,” Birge said. “And I believe it’s probably similar or worse than it was then, and the largemouth fishing has gotten a little tougher there, as well. So, it’s just kind of a curveball for me. That one scares me a little bit for AOY.
“So, I’ll just do the best I can and practice daylight to dark and let it play out how it does.”
When asked what it would mean to claim his first tour-level Angler of the Year title, Birge said it’s hard to know until he experiences it. But he assured that “it’d be special.”
“I gotta get it done first before I can really feel what it would be like,” he said. “When I won my first BPT event, I didn’t know what it would feel like, either, and then it took a while to set in. It was pretty special. So, I assume this would even be more. That’s an accumulation of good outcomes from all year. It’d be special.”
Wheeler a safe bet to close strong
Wheeler has been outspoken about the pride he takes in owning the Angler of the Year crown. But as bad as he surely wants to win his fifth title in six years, his focus has been elsewhere during the past month. His wife, Alicia, was diagnosed with cancer, prompting Wheeler to skip the recent Heavy Hitters event (which doesn’t impact the AOY standings) on Florida’s Orange Lake.
If Wheeler is able to fish the final two events with his usual sharpness, history says he’ll be tough to beat.
Wheeler’s results since the inception of the Bass Pro Tour are incredible no matter the sample, but his performances to end the season have been otherworldly. Since 2019, he’s competed in 22 events held in June or later. He’s won five of them and finished second five more times. He’s finished in the Top 10 at 18 of those events – a Top 10 rate north of 80%.
Oh by the way, one of those runner-up finishes was on Lake Erie at the 2020 Super Tournament. That’s one of five top-five showings on the Great Lakes or fisheries connected to them in eight such events during that timeframe.
Wheeler doesn’t have as much history on Grand, having only fished two MLF events there during his career (and only one since 2013). But he cashed a check both times and nearly won REDCREST 2022. He finished third, but just one more scorable bass would have put him ahead of champion Bobby Lane.
Gill still has a shot to break through
Like Wheeler, Drew Gill finds himself in a familiar spot. The young star is positioned to finish third or better in the Angler of the Year standings for the third time in three Bass Pro Tour seasons. He finished second (to Wheeler) as a rookie in 2024 before finishing third a year ago.
Gill has acknowledged that winning his first tour-level AOY title is at the top of his priority list. Unfortunately, he dug himself a bit of a hole with his 33rd-place finish at Stage 2 on Lake Hartwell, and is still working to get out of it. Gill will arrive at Grand 17 points behind Birge.
The good news for Gill is he’s already secured entry into REDCREST 2027 and World Bass Enterprises’ The Champions tournament this fall (a $3.25 million purse event that will include BPT regular-season winners and the Top 25 anglers in the points). So, he can fish free in the final two events – he has nothing to lose.
He should also arrive at Grand with some fond memories of the fishery. In his past two events there, Gill has finished 11th at a 2023 Toyota Series event and tied for first (although he officially finished second via tiebreaker) at the Toyota Series Championship last fall. Those tournaments don’t bear much similarity to Stage 6 – both were five-fish limit events, and the Toyota Series Championship was a November grinder. But Gill should at least have a good feel for how Grand sets up and how its bass behave. Don’t be surprised if he’s still within striking distance entering the season finale.
Lucas, Shuffield waiting in the wings
In fourth and fifth place, respectively, Justin Lucas and Spencer Shuffield would really need things to break their way to have chances at climbing to the top of the standings. Lucas is 29 points behind Birge, while Shuffield is 34 points back.
That said, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if both anglers at least do their part and position themselves to take advantage should the pros in front of them stumble.
Lucas won the aforementioned 2020 Super Tournament on Lake Erie, and he’s been a force on the Great Lakes throughout his career. Likewise, Shuffield is always a threat to win northern events. The Arkansas angler has plenty of experience on Grand, too. And he’s at his best this time of year. Shuffield has finished in the Top 20 at 16 of 21 tour-level events held in June or later since 2020, including three straight Top 10s to close the 2025 campaign.