eam O’Reilly Auto Parts flips jigs to pace final Knockout Round match with 55 bass totaling 88 pounds, 11 ounces, final four teams set for Friday’s Championship Round
MINOCQUA, Wis. (Sept. 18, 2025) – In commanding fashion, Team O’Reilly Auto Parts – Jacob Wheeler and Mark Daniels Jr. – locked up their spot in the Championship Round of the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies with a wire-to-wire victory on Big Arbor Vitae Lake. The duo stacked up 55 scorable bass for 88 pounds, 11 ounces, cruising past the competition by more than 34 pounds in Knockout Round Match 2 at the second event of the 2025 Major League Fishing (MLF) Fishing Clash Team Series.
Team Star Tron, made up of Drew Gill and Marshall Robinson , kept pace early with a productive topwater bite, mixing in both largemouth and smallmouth before transitioning to wood and docks in the afternoon. Their 54-9 total wasn’t enough to challenge Team O’Reilly Auto Parts for the win, but it was more than enough to secure the second qualifying spot.
For Team Ferguson (Nick LeBrun and Marty Robinson ), the day was a struggle from start to finish. After an opening bite near a culvert pipe, they never established a steady rhythm and finished with just 16-6 on the day. A late rally around boat docks produced a few fish, but it was too little, too late, and Team Ferguson was eliminated from the competiton.
Link to HD Video Clip of Heritage Cup Knockout Round Match 2 Highlights
Link to Morning Photo Gallery: Knockout Round resumes with new teams on Big Arbor Vitae
Afternoon Photo Gallery: Two teams set the pace during Heritage Cup Knockout Match 2
Wheeler led all anglers with 46 pounds, 3 ounces on SCORETRACKER®, and both anglers credited a back-to-basics approach for the dominant showing.
“Today was another solid day for us,” Wheeler said. “We just went old school. Flipping a jig around docks and shallow cover was the number one thing and where we got the majority of our bites today. Mark would throw the wacky worm when the fish got a little more pressured, but the jig carried us. Hopefully we can keep that momentum rolling into the Championship Round.”
Daniels agreed, noting that their quick adjustment set the tone.
“The jig was a big player on Day 1 on Minocqua Lake, so we knew we’d probably get bites. Big Arbor Vitae didn’t have near the number of docks on it, so we were a little worried about that at first,” Daniels said. “But we were the first boats to get on them, and we started catching them right off the bat. We just rolled with that, even circled back to the same docks later with different baits and got a few more bites. I’ll tell you what – 20-pound fluorocarbon line, a flipping stick and a jig – it doesn’t get any better than that.”
“We got some work to do tomorrow,” Wheeler added. “I’m looking forward to getting back out there on the water and seeing where they put us for the Championship Round.”
“If it’s half as good as this place was, we’ll be alright,” Daniels agreed. “I feel like this whole area up here is great, though. Tons of fish. When we get up north, there are so many lakes, especially in Wisconsin and Minnesota, that don’t get the pressure we see down south. These suckers fight.”
The pair admitted they worked hard to unlock the offshore bite but found more consistency up shallow.
“We tried hard to find a group in that offshore grass this morning, and we picked off a few,” Daniels said. “The quality is better out there, to be honest. But in this game, every fish counts, and we just couldn’t find a group of them.”
Wheeler echoed the sentiment, noting their late adjustments.
“They definitely weren’t wadded up out there like we needed them to be to make something happen, and we never really found that one mystical group of bass,” he said. “Toward the end of the third period we ran some more grass lines quickly, just trying to check the temperature of some hard cover and laydowns, too.”
With their win, Wheeler and Daniels know what’s ahead – strong competition and a lake that may fish very differently. Despite the margin of victory, Wheeler and Daniels know they can’t let off the gas with the championship on the line.
“I know Ott and Andy – if there’s an opportunity to be fishing docks tomorrow, they’re going to be fishing docks,” Wheeler said. “We’ll be doing that too, and I’m sure Drew and Marshall are going to try to stay out there wide. So, we’re just keeping our minds open and our options available as we go into the Championship Round.”
The top two teams from Knockout Round Match 2 at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies that now advance to Friday’s Championship Round are:
1st: Team O’Reilly Auto Parts, 55 bass, 88-11
Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 30 bass, 46-3
Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 25 bass, 42-8
2nd: Team Star Tron, 29 bass, 54-9
Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 16 bass, 32-7
Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 13 bass, 22-2
Eliminated from competition are:
3rd: Team Ferguson, 11 bass, 16-6
Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., eight bass, 13-1
Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., three bass, 3-5
Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 95 bass weighing 159 pounds, 10 ounces caught by the three teams in Knockout Round Match 2 Thursday on Big Arbor Vitae Lake. Team Star Tron pro Drew Gill caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a smallmouth weighing 4 pounds, 5 ounces.
The final four teams that will compete in Friday’s final-day Championship Round at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies are:
Team BUBBA:
Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn.
Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C.
Team Fishing Clash:
Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash.
Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla.
Team O’Reilly Auto Parts:
Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn.
Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala.,
Team Star Tron:
Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill.
Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala.
The Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies is hosted by the Minocqua Area Visitors Bureau and takes place over six days in Minocqua, Wisconsin . The competition water for each day is top-secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning. Anglers are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 8:45 a.m.
The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on Championship Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps, RFD-TV Now, Game & Fish TV and Rumble. The final period of every day of competition of the 2025 Fishing Clash Team Series is broadcast live on RFD-TV, from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. CT.
The Heritage Cup featured 12 two-man teams divided into three groups as they entered the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three Elimination Round matches featured four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 & 5. In the Knockout Rounds, three teams competed each day, with the top two teams from each Knockout Round match now moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6. In Friday’s Day 6 Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the 2025 Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies.
The MLF Fishing Clash Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops will feature four Cup events in 2025 – the Challenge, Heritage, Patriot and Summit Cups – with 12 two-man teams of Bass Pro Tour anglers competing for a share of $560,000 in prize money. Teams were formed through a selection process, where 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2025 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2025.
The MLF Fishing Clash Team Series Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies will also air on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon starting Feb. 14, 2026. The complete television schedule for the Fishing Clash Team Series on Outdoor Channel will be posted at MajorLeagueFishing.com.