DAYTON, Tenn. (June 23, 2020) – Major League Fishing (MLF) pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, crossed the weigh-in stage Tuesday with a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds, 9 ounces to lead day one of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super-Tournament at Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee. Wheeler now holds a 1-pound, 3-ounce lead in the $1.3 million tournament that features 204 anglers competing from FLW and MLF
“In these ledge tournaments, during practice you just graph and graph and find groups of fish, then on the first day of the tournament you kind of figure out what you have got,” said the 29-year-old Wheeler, who has career earnings of more than $2 million. “I hit 30 or 40 spots today, and I didn’t catch a ton of fish but I caught a decent number and was able to put together a solid bag. It was a good day.”
Wheeler said that he caught his fish in a mixture of areas. Of the five bass that he weighed in, two came offshore and three out of shallow grass.
“I had around 20 rods on the deck ready to roll today,” Wheeler said. “I caught them on two or three baits out deep and two or three different baits shallow. It was not one bait. I think this week it’s going to take a little bit of everything – a hodge-podge deal – to do well. I’m just trying to stay consistent and average about 20 pounds a day.
“It feels good to be back out on the home pond and back where I started,” Wheeler went on to say. “Even though I’m a transplant and I just moved here three years ago, I’ve been fishing this lake since I was three years old and I just seem to gel with it. But I also know that some days it leaves you scratching your head. We’ve got three more days and there is a lot of fishing left to do.”
The top 10 pros after day one on Lake Chickamauga are:
1st: Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 24-9
2nd: John Cox of DeBary, Fla., five bass, 23-6
3rd: Jason Reyes of Huffman, Texas, five bass, 22-10
4th: Lendell Martin Jr. of Nacogdoches, Texas, five bass, 21-9
5th: Justin Lucas of Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 20-3
6th: Joshua Weaver of Macon, Ga., five bass, 19-14
7th: Christopher Brasher of Longview, Texas, five bass, 18-12
8th: Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Mich., five bass, 18-8
9th: Kyle Cortiana of Coweta, Okla., five bass, 18-7
9th: Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 18-7
For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.
Martin won the day’s $500 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division after bringing a largemouth weighing 9 pounds, 8 ounces to the scale.
Overall there were 959 bass weighing 2,565 pounds, 8 ounces caught by 203 pros Tuesday. The catch included 173 five-bass limits.
The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Lake Chickamauga is hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic & Tourism Council.
In Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super-Tournament competition, the full field of 204 pro anglers compete in the two-day opening round on Tuesday and Wednesday. The top 50 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight advance to Thursday. Only the top 10 pros continue competition on Championship Friday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.
FLW anglers are vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota, the Pro Circuit championship. The 2020 Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota will be held on the St. Lawrence River in Massena, New York, Aug. 24-29.
MLF pros competing in the Pro Circuit “Super Tournaments” will fish for prize money only. No points will be awarded toward any championship or title to MLF competitors. Only the original Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit anglers will compete for the AOY title throughout the remainder of the season. AOY points in the final events will be awarded based on Pro Circuit anglers finishing order. The top-finishing FLW pro will receive “first-place points” regardless of where he finishes in the overall standings, and so on.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 a.m. EDT each day from Point Park at Dayton Boat Dock, located at 185 Chickamauga Drive, in Dayton. The weigh-in each day will also be held at Dayton Boat Dock and will begin at 3 p.m. To minimize the spread of COVID-19, attendance is limited to competing anglers and essential staff only. Fans are encouraged to forgo the daily takeoffs and weigh-ins and follow the event online through the expanded “FLW Live” broadcasts and weigh-in coverage at FLWFishing.com.
Television coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Lake Chickamauga will premiere at 7 p.m. EDT, Aug. 14 on the Outdoor Channel. Beginning July 3 and running through Dec. 27, FLW will air 312 hours of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit action on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Episodes have been expanded to two hours long, allowing each show to go in-depth to break down the final rounds of regular-season competition. Each episode will premiere in Friday night primetime slots on the Outdoor Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel.
The popular FLW Live on-the-water broadcast has been expanded to air on all four days of competition, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran is joined by Toyota Series pro Todd Hollowell and MLF’s Marty Stone to break down the extended action each day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. On-the-water broadcasts will be live streamed on FLWFishing.com, the FLW YouTube channel and the FLW Facebook page.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.