EUFAULA, Ala. – An now, after five days of unpredictable water conditions and extremely predictable productivity on 5-plus-pound largemouth, the final 10 anglers are ready to start fishing on Championship Wednesday of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One presented by Power-Pole.
It’s a 7 1/2-hour sprint now: weights back to zero, and may the best man win at the end of three periods.
3:02 p.m. CST — Barring a miracle, it looks like this is Jacob Wheeler’s trophy. Wheeler has put 32 pounds, 4 ounces of bass on SCORETRACKER® in the last 47 minutes. His lead is now up to 23-2 over Bryan Thrift. It is looking like Wheeler’s second Bass Pro Tour win and his fifth MLF win overall.
2:42 p.m. CST — Jacob Wheeler has found an offshore school and he is crushing them. Wheeler went through a period of about 18 minutes where he caught seven bass for more than 22 pounds. He has sprinted in front of Bryan Thrift by 18 pounds, 13 ounces.
1:57 p.m. CST — There’s a new leader with a little over two hours to go. Bryan Thrift has caught three fish to start the third period, the biggest a 5-11, to move him more than 7 pounds ahead of Ott DeFoe.
1:35 p.m. CST — Rob Newell caught up with Ott DeFoe to try and get a game plan for Period 3 and Ott said, “I’m just fishing.” He had a productive spot that netted him that 6-pounder and a 4-pounder, but he hasn’t caught a whole lot besides that. Ott seems calm but with Wheeler and Connell right on his heels, he said that he knows right where they are on SCORETRACKER® and he’s keeping an eye on them.
1:15 p.m. CST — Period 2 just wrapped up. Only one more period to go until we crown a champion. It got a lot closer this period with a few anglers getting tighter to Ott DeFoe.
- Ott DeFoe 27-00
- Jacob Wheeler 25-11
- Dustin Connell 24-00
- Bryan Thrift 23-08
- Brent Chapman 17-08
- Takahiro Omori 16-04
- Brett Hite 9-13
- Alton Jones, Jr. 6-15
- Jordan Lee 5-10
- Adrian Avena 2-03
12:47 p.m. CST — Dustin Connell’s productive pocket is showing out again. Connell lost a big fish and then immediately hooked a 5-11. As DeFoe has slowed down, Connell is now in second place and only 3 pounds behind him for the lead. Watch out, because it’s getting interesting on Lake Eufaula.
12:33 p.m. CST — Jacob Wheeler is making a run at Ott DeFoe’s lead. Wheeler has caught seven bass in Period 2 including four in a 10-minute span. The Tennessee pro is fishing offshore with a spinnerbait paired with a swimbait trailer.
11:48 a.m. CST — Ott DeFoe caught his first bass of the second period, a 4-14. DeFoe went almost an hour and a half between catching a scorable bass. He leads Bryan Thrift by 9-12.
11:20 a.m. CST — Dustin Connell just missed what he thought was a 5-pounder flipping some docks with a black and blue jig. Right after missing it, DC hooked a 3-pounder that he was able to get into the boat. Connell is in third place and 8-3 behind DeFoe.
10:50 a.m. CST — Jordan Lee didn’t catch a fish in the first period yesterday before going on that insane rune of five bass for over 32 pounds in Periods 2 and 3. He caught one bass this morning but just reeled in his second of the day to start Period 2. A 3-8 has Lee in sixth place and 16-8 behind DeFoe for the lead. That deficit is easily surmountable with the type of fish we’ve seen Lee pull out of the water.
10:30 a.m. CST — Period 1 is in the books and here’s where we stand this morning:
- Ott DeFoe 22-02
- Bryan Thrift 17-04
- Takahiro Omori 9-15
- Brett Hite 9-13
- Dustin Connell 7-14
- Brent Chapman 4-12
- Jordan Lee 2-02
- Jacob Wheeler 2-00
- Adrian Avena 0-00
- Alton Jones, Jr. 0-00
Takahiro Omori just had a 5- or 6-pounder on a spinnerbait to end the period but lost it as it got close to the boat. He was visibly frustrated as you would expect.
9:32 a.m. CST — We have a new leader and it’s Ott DeFoe after catching three impressive fish in a 10-minute span. DeFoe is throwing a chartreuse deep-diving crankbait and hooked a 6-15, 4-2 and a 3-2 to catapult him to the top spot. DeFoe is giving his crankbait an extra little jerk that he uses to get leaves and vegetation off of his bait. That action, he says, is causing those fish to bite.
9:15 a.m. CST — Brent Chapman is back on the same spot where he caught his 8-15 yesterday. He’s the closest angler in the field to the takeoff at Lakepoint State Park. He’s on the board with 4-12 and fishing quickly, Power-Poling down occasionally to make multiple casts to one area.
9:00 a.m. CST — Alton Jones, Jr. was throwing a buzzbait around shallow boat docks this morning and explained why he was doing so. Jones said that if you have really dirty water, shallow water, all coupled with a warming trend, then a buzzbait can really do some damage. He has yet to get a bite on it this morning but he continues to keep that bait on the deck of his boat.
8:41 a.m. CST — Jordan Lee made it to his spot up in Uchee Creek after about a 50-minute run. He told the camera that he’s going to fish slow and steady today, not thinking about any pressure until the end of the day. He made the comment that he knows what is swimming around in here so all he has to do is be patient and get them to bite.
As we saw in yesterday’s Knockout Round, Eufaula’s big fish showed up in force. That included a big-fish bonanza for Jordan Lee, and a quick swim in Eufaula’s 60-degree waters for Adrian Avena. Plenty more drama to come!
8:40 a.m. CST — We are on B. Hite in Wylaunee Creek. He’s fishing along a grassy bank and he’s hooked up. This is the area that has been good to him all week long. Our boat driver said the next pocket over has been one of his best areas later in the day for both all three of his rounds.
8:27 a.m. CST — Leader Bryan Thrift just mentioned that he is fishing a flat with scattered rock around it. It’s a spot he has fished before earlier this week where he found some success. Thrift said thanks to a 15-minute break between periods a couple of days ago, this spot was able to come through for him. That’s where he’s starting this morning and finding success.