Hometown angler Jordan Wiggins wins MLF Toyota Series at Lewis Smith Lake

CULLMAN, Ala. – Pro Jordan Wiggins of Cullman, Alabama, crossed the stage with a five-bass limit Thursday weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces to win the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lewis Smith Lake and earn the top payout of $90,500, including the lucrative $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus. Wiggins’ three-day total of 15 bass weighing 44-14 earned him the victory by a 4-pound, 3-ounce margin over second-place finisher Emil Wagner of Marietta, Georgia, who weighed in 15 bass totaling 40-11 to earn $22,300.

“Man, I am speechless,” Wiggins said. “I’ve been close so many times. I blew it on an Open down here where all I had to do was catch 12 pounds, and I couldn’t do it. That was not going to happen today. I was going to do whatever I had to do to catch 13 to 15. I went as fast as I could go to places where I have caught them this time of year and it just worked out.

Wiggins got started early on the final day, limiting and culling quickly to work his way into the low teens.

“The start this morning was just unbelievable,” he said. “I mean I won it in the first hour, to be honest with you. I had 13-something then, and in the end, it all worked out. I thought if I could catch 15 pounds, I was for sure going to win it because 17 pounds down here is hard to do. But you can pull into a spawning pocket on a herring bite and catch 17 pounds, and that was what made me nervous.”

After chasing fish that were staging in ditches and drains to open the event, Wiggins switched gears midway through the morning of Day 2. He went to work on shelf rock and structure with immediate deep-water access that spotted bass were using to spawn. He said he focused on darker-colored banks that featured large chunk rocks and docks, a mix he felt was key to attracting spawners.

“I feel like I kind of got lucky because they were moving up as the tournament went along,” Wiggins said. “I had a ditch bite going the first day. I caught two big ones, like a 4 and about a 3¼ and that’s what got me [almost] 16 the first day. I tried to make the ditch bite work [on Day 2], I caught a limit but there just weren’t any big ones. So, I abandoned it and went to a stretch where they typically spawn every year and they were all the right ones.”

Wiggins attempted to take advantage of the herring spawn as bluebird skies and moderate winds took hold on Lewis Smith, but it didn’t turn out to be productive. Ultimately, the same spawning pattern he’d been on since Day 2 showed him the path to victory, as he used a 3/16-ounce homemade shaky head and a green pumpkin 6.5-inch Reaction Innovations Flirt Worm to seal the deal.

“I tried to make the wake bait bite work and it just wasn’t happening,” he said. “I’d gone into two places towards the end of the day and caught two 3-pounders on the shaky head that kind of bumped me up to what I had.”

Jordan’s brother, Bass Pro Tour angler Jesse Wiggins, made an appearance on Day 3 also, showing up with his own kids in tow to support his brother and lifelong fishing buddy.

“That’s awesome,” he said. “He drove all the way back from the Bass Pro Tour event just to watch me fish. That is special, man. If he fishes in a bigger tournament down here, then I follow him around. It’s just solid support, you can’t ask for anything better. [The family] has my back through thick and thin, it’s awesome. We are just a fishing family.”

Jesse wasn’t the only Wiggins member deserving of a shoutout in Jordan’s eyes, as the whole Wiggins family came out to weigh in to show support throughout the week.

“I got to give a shoutout to my wife Whitney,” said Wiggins. “She puts up with me fishing week in and week out, I’m always gone it seems like, but she’s stuck with me so far. My kids keep me going also, they support me big time.”

The Top 10 pros on Lewis Smith Lake finished:

• 1^st: Jordan Wiggins, Cullman, Ala., 15 bass, 44-14, $90,500 (includes $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus)
• 2^nd: Emil Wagner, Marietta, Ga., 15 bass, 40-11, $22,300
• 3^rd: Wesley Sams, Vinemont, Ala., 15 bass, 40-0, $15,250
• 4^th: Joseph Webster, Winfield, Ala., 15 bass, 39-6, $13,250
• 5^th: Austin Swindle, Grant, Ala., 15 bass, 39-1, $12,250
• 6^th: Johnny Patterson, Grant, Ala., 15 bass, 38-6, $9,625
• 7^th: Grant Galloway, Houlka, Miss., 15 bass, 38-1, $8,300
• 8^th: Jeremy Gordon, Rutledge, Tenn., 15 bass, 37-15, $7,300
• 9^th: Paul Marks, Cumming, Ga., 15 bass, 37-5, $6,300
• 10^th: Jimmy Neece, Jr., Bristol, Tenn., 15 bass, 36-12, $4,700

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Pat Eichmann of Nancy, Kentucky, won the $500 Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Tuesday with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces. On Wednesday, Steele, Alabama’s Josh Johnson earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass prize with a 6-pound, 19-ounce bass.

Chris Graham of Epworth, Georgia, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Thursday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 37 pounds, 9 ounces. Graham took home the top co-angler prize of $35,250, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

The Top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Lewis Smith Lake finished:

• 1^st: Chris Graham, Epworth, Ga., 15 bass, 37-9, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard + $1,750
• 2^nd: Drexal Hubbard, Connersville, Ind., 15 bass, 36-5, $6,625
• 3^rd: Pop Catalin, Cookeville, Tenn., 15 bass, 34-13, $5,300
• 4^th: Doug Vaughn, Houston, Ala., 15 bass, 34-3, $4,150
• 5^th: Sakae Ushio, Tonawanda, N.Y., 14 bass, 28-9, $3,650
• 6^th: Hoyt Tidwell, West Point, Tenn., 15 bass, 28-5, $3,150
• 7^th: Jose Salgado, Artemus, Ky., 14 bass, 27-11, $2,650
• 8^th: Larry James, Helena, Ala., 13 bass, 27-7, $2,075
• 9^th: Justin Stephenson, Jasper, Ala., 12 bass, 26-12, $1,630
• 10^th: Andrew Harper, Shelbyville, Ill., 12 bass, 25-10, $1,390

Andy Vance of Danville, Indiana, earned Tuesday’s $150 Berkley Big Bass award after weighing in a 5-pound, 14-ounce bass, while the Day 2 $150 award went to Dominic Bogolo of Hamilton, Ohio, with a 4-pound, 14-ounce fish.

With two regular-season events in the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division now complete, Trent Suratt of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, leads the Central Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 481 points, while Alan Hults of Gautier, Mississippi, leads the Strike King Co-angler Division AOY race with 508 points.

The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lewis Smith Lake was hosted by the Cullman County Tourism Bureau. It was the second of three regular-season events for the Toyota Series Central Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Toyota Series at Lake Okeechobee, March 30-April 1, in Clewiston, Florida. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2023 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2024. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2023 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, and is hosted by ExploreBranson.com.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Toyota Series include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Black Rifle Coffee Company, E3, Favorite Fishing, Fox Rent a Car, General Tire, Gill, Grundéns, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Next Gen Lithium, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Wiley X and YETI.

For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Toyota Series updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.