Wheeler tops Knockout Round, field set for Championship Sunday on Lake Conroe
CONROE, Texas — A new season on the Bass Pro Tour arrived with several new wrinkles, most notably the league’s limitations on forward-facing sonar. Yet a familiar name topped SCORETRACKER® in the Knockout Round at B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 Presented by Power-Pole.
Jacob Wheeler stacked up 75 pounds, 7 ounces on 35 scorable bass to pace the 19-angler field, topping Jacob Wall by 2-5. The most decorated angler in BPT history added a 30th Championship Round appearance (in 51 total events) to his gaudy résumé. Sunday, he’ll seek to tack on his ninth victory, too.
Wheeler and the rest of the top-nine finishers will join Qualifying Round winner Nick LeBrun in what’s shaping up to be a wide-open Championship Round. Six anglers weighed more than 69 pounds on Saturday, and that doesn’t include LeBrun, who totaled 83-6 on Day 1. Totals will once again zero overnight, and the angler who catches the most weight will take home the $150,000 top prize. Catch all the action live on MLFNOW! from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT at MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.
Full results can be found here.
Wheeler successfully runs from the crowd
It came as little surprise that Wheeler opted to use his one period with forward-facing sonar in Period 1, as most anglers have done all week. However, he still threw the field a curveball. Rather than starting his day in Caney Creek, which has been by far the most popular area of Conroe, Wheeler spent the opening frame in a new cove on the lower section of the lake.
Wheeler felt like the bass in Caney Creek had received too much fishing pressure, and he didn’t want to risk sharing water with other competitors during his forward-facing sonar period, which has proven to be pivotal this week. The decision paid off. Wheeler landed 23 scorable bass totaling 47-4 in Period 1, which positioned him in fourth place.
“Everybody and their brother had been in those same places, and I just didn’t want to be back in the same old rotation and potentially only catch 20 pounds,” Wheeler said. “I needed some fresh fish and felt like the area had the potential for that, and it turned out to be a good start.”
Wheeler’s forward-facing sonar success didn’t come as a surprise; he caught more than 50 pounds in the opening period on Day 1. During the Knockout Round, he was able to keep the momentum rolling after turning his transducers off better than he had during the first two days.
Across the final two periods, Wheeler added another 12 bass for 28-3, largely by seining submerged hydrilla with a lipless crankbait and vibrating jig. While he admitted he hadn’t leaned on his best grass areas on Days 1 and 2 (and he eventually switched into practice mode Saturday afternoon as well), he also thinks he’s identified a few spots that fresh fish have moved into.
“We had that rain on the off day and then the first day of the tournament, and that really stained up the middle of the creeks and made some areas that were a little bit too clean to catch them in (productive),” Wheeler explained. “I fished this patch of grass twice in practice and never got a bite, and today I rolled up there and caught a 3-14. It’s a combination of the weather warming up and the water being a little bit more stained.”
That ability to keep his finger on the pulse of a fishery throughout the course of a tournament and find new, productive water has long been one of Wheeler’s hallmarks. He didn’t rule out starting in a different spot again on Sunday – or even waiting until later in the day to utilize forward-facing sonar, a decision he’ll base on the weather forecast.
“I seriously do not know yet,” Wheeler said of his Championship Round strategy. “A lot of the stuff that I was fishing, I’m not fishing by myself. At least for shallow stuff, it’s pretty crowded. And then the deeper stuff, I had that one zone, but there were also a lot of locals in that area that saw where I was fishing, too.”
One thing Wheeler feels pretty sure about is that it’s going to take at least 80 pounds to claim the first trophy of the 2025 season. He figures he needs to catch at least half that weight during the forward-facing sonar period to have a chance at adding it to his extensive collection – but given the number of forward-facing sonar wizards in the field, the other periods could make the difference.
“I think 80-plus pounds wins the tournament,” he said. “If I catch 40 (in Period 1) and then 20 and 20 (in each of the next two periods), or catch 60 and then catch 10 and 10, then I give myself a chance to win. So, that’s the goal. We’ll see what happens.”
Two rookies keep stellar debuts rolling
A pair of newcomers have already made the leap to the Bass Pro Tour look easy. Now, Jake Lawrence and Colby Miller will seek to finish their debuts with an exclamation point.
Both rookies cruised into the Championship Round. Miller finished Saturday in third place with 70-5, while Lawrence was right behind him with 69-7.
No surprise, the two rising stars took full advantage of the forward-facing sonar bite in Period 1. Each held the top spot on SCORETRACKER® for a bit, and Lawrence finished the frame in second place with Miller in third. Both anglers then did enough with their transducers off that they didn’t have to sweat the Elimination Line late in the day.
Aside from, of course, the first ever Bass Pro Tour event, no angler has ever won their BPT debut. Lawrence and Miller will both have a shot to be the first on Sunday.
Other notes:
- Starting the day by using forward-facing sonar continues to be the popular (and effective) play. Seventeen of the 19 anglers on the water Saturday used forward-facing sonar in Period 1. Alton Jones Jr. opted to use his in Period 2 and made the strategy work, although that was mostly due to his production without the technology. Jones caught the most weight of anyone in Saturday’s field during his periods without forward-facing sonar: 34-5. Spencer Shuffield gambled and waited until Period 3, but his comeback attempt fell 8 pounds short of the Elimination Line.
- Justin Cooper not only qualified for his second career Championship Round, he ended the day in style. Cooper landed the Berkley Big Bass of the day, a 7-11 he caught about 15 minutes prior to lines out.
- Stage 1 marks the first of seven events in the quest to win the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title. Wheeler, who has claimed the crown in three of the past four seasons, is off to a strong start in his bid to win No. 4. Keep up with the competition throughout the season at MajorLeagueFishing.com.