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Wheeler’s Wheelhouse

by admin | Sep 9, 2020 | Tournament News | 0 Comments

The past 20 months of Jacob Wheeler’s fishing career have been nothing less than incredible. In 2020 alone the Major League Fishing pro notched a Bass Pro Tour win on Lake Eufaula, a FLW Toyota Series victory on Pickwick Lake, and dominated the first ever FLW Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super Tournament on Lake Chickamauga.

Add those accolades to several other top 10 finishes and threatening for the Bass Pro Tour Points Champion title, and you have the framework for one of the best seasons in tournament bass fishing history. Then look back at 2019; Wheeler achieved a General Tires World Championship, another Bass Pro Tour title, and a 2^nd place finish in the Bassmaster Classic.

It’s no surprise the Team Toyota pro is ranked as the number one bass fisherman in the world right now on BassFan; something widely agreed upon by fans and competitors alike. He competes like a salty veteran but Wheeler is only 30 years old, with most of his “tournament fishing prime” still ahead of him.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Wheeler’s recent dominance is the versatility he displayed. Radically different fisheries, contrasting weather patterns, various times of the year, smallmouth versus largemouth, and even completely different formats couldn’t slow Wheeler down.

Whether he was catching Great Lakes smallmouth with a dropshot, stroking offshore muddy water largemouth with a 1-ounce spinnerbait, or rotating through baits on a summertime Tennessee River ledge didn’t matter. Wheeler caught ‘em and outperformed the competition in the process.

It begs the question, what is Wheeler’s biggest fishing strength, what is his wheelhouse? Instead of putting the Indiana native on the spot and asking him to answer that question about himself, we asked a trio of his Bass Pro Tour peers for their input. Not surprisingly, they all came back with different answers.

Jordan Lee – Understanding his electronics

Jordan Lee is another young standout coming off an amazing 2020 season. Lee and Wheeler battled it out throughout the Bass Pro Tour schedule and have a lot of respect for one another.

Like KVD and Skeet Reese raised the level of competition against one another ten years ago, we may be witnessing Wheeler and Lee forming a similar rivalry near the top of the leaderboard. We asked the Carhartt pro where he believes Wheeler excels the most.

“In my opinion I think Wheeler is one of the absolute best with his electronics right now,” Lee offered. “He runs multiple units and seems to understand what they are showing him better than just about anyone. He’s proven he can catch fish with any technique, but the difference maker is how good he is at finding groups of fish with his electronics.”

Mark Daniels Jr. – All things topwater

Few anglers know Wheeler better than Mark Daniels Jr. Wheeler and MDJ are not only good friends and competitors; they’ve actually spent the past three seasons as roommates. Traveling to and from tournaments together. MDJ struggled with the question, as he believes Wheeler excels as just about everything.

Ultimately MDJ answered with all things topwater; a skillset Wheeler showcased this year in tournaments from Lake Okeechobee, Florida to La Crosse, Wisconsin.

“His absolute strength is anything topwater,” Daniels Jr. said. “He blows my mind with how much he understands about the itty bitty nuances of topwater fishing. He’s good with frogs, buzzbaits, walking baits, or prop baits but more than that he knows when to change based on the fishes disposition. He sees subtleties with topwaters that go over most of our heads.”

Terry Scroggins – Decision making

Terry “Big Show” Scroggins has been in the bass fishing game for a long time and has witnessed the origins of several successful fishing careers. The Team Toyota pro isn’t afraid to tell you Wheeler’s talent is something special, and in his opinion it has a lot to do with the space in between his ears.

“Wheeler’s decision making, and willingness to change what he’s doing in the middle of a tournament day sets him apart,” Scroggins explained. “Having the instincts and confidence to make decisions like that only comes with experience. Something most 30-year olds don’t have enough of; Wheeler does. Add that to his skills and you’ve got a headache for the rest of the competition!”

His fellow competitors and recent tournament performances illustrate a similar picture – Wheeler’s “wheelhouse” encompasses a lot and it keeps growing year after year.

The post Wheeler’s Wheelhouse appeared first on Bass365.com.

3 Things a Southern Angler Has Learned About Northern Smallmouth

by admin | Sep 8, 2020 | Fishing Tips | 0 Comments

Caleb Sumrall lives in New Iberia, Louisiana about 30 minutes north of where Tabasco sauce was invented along the salty Gulf Coast shoreline. But his last three years as a Bassmaster Elite Series pro have given him an ample taste of northern smallmouth bass fishing.

He’s brought 305 pounds of the bronze bombers to the scales across eight smallmouth dominated events for an average finish of 43^rd place.

Truth is, it’s been a love-hate relationship between Sumrall and northern smallmouth. He brought 23 pounds to the scales for the heaviest limit caught among all anglers on Friday at the 2019 St. Lawrence River event, but on Friday of the 2020 St. Clair tournament he managed just 11 pounds for what he called the worst smallmouth tournament day of his life.

Still, only a few minutes after weighing-in those 11 disappointing pounds, the gracious Carhartt pro was kind enough to share three things he’s learned the hard way about northern smallmouth.

They are Not largemouth – “Northern smallmouth are strange animals. They behave totally different than largemouth and show totally different personalities from green fish. They have a temper. It’s like they wake up mad. And when they feel angling pressure, they become really temperamental and tough to catch,” says Sumrall.

They don’t all live in deeper water – “Fans watching Elite Series tournaments at home on ESPN2 might think every smallmouth we catch up north is on a drop shot from deeper water, but that’s not true. I’ve caught a number of big smallmouths in less than 3-feet of water in the middle of summer on the St. Lawrence River,” he explains.

They’ll disappear like ghost – “Smallmouth will leave you. They’re roamers. They get out and search for their food. So don’t fall in love with a school or location you found yesterday or last year. Get in the mindset that you need to be willing to move around and make the moves necessary to relocate them each day,” he warns.

Much like a plate full of boiled crawdads, you either crave ‘em — or wouldn’t dare put one of the hot red mudbugs in your mouth. The same can be said for the often-temperamental northern smallmouth Sumrall is doing his best to understand and gain a taste for. Even though somedays they can burn you like a tongue full of hot sauce.

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“Major League Fishing” Dominates the Competition and Stands Alone Among Bass Fishing Television Fans

by admin | Sep 8, 2020 | Industry News | 0 Comments

DENVER (September 8, 2020) – Major League Fishing (MLF) has proved to be a dominating force with bass fishing fans, towering over competitive bass fishing programming on television by most ratings and viewership measurements. With fans seeking content on Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network and others, MLF eclipses competitive bass fishing programming on television and easily stands alone as cable’s most-watched fishing competition.

With more than 1,300 combined hours of television coverage, Major League Fishing, which airs on cable partners: Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, Discovery Channel and CBS Sports, has accounted for a staggering 86% of all viewership of competitive bass fishing programs on cable television during the past four quarters (Q3 2019 to Q2 2020).*“It’s clear to us, despite competitors’ claims to the contrary, that Major League Fishing is by far the pre-eminent viewing choice of bass fishing fans wanting to watch top-caliber competition on television,” Major League Fishing President and CEO Jim Wilburn stated. “Numbers don’t lie, and the ratings and viewership numbers back up our claims.”

During the 2020 season, Major League Fishing has averaged 97,000 viewing households in just its anchor time period on Outdoor Channel, making it the top-rated show on the network for the fifth consecutive year, surpassing the average number of households that viewed its top competitor’s championship series on ESPN2 by +3%, despite its competitor benefitting from nearly triple the distribution.︎

Fans of Major League Fishing seek it out regardless of the network including World Fishing Network which is delivering +10% more households than its top competitor’s elite series on Pursuit Channel, despite having just one-seventh of the distribution.✦

For more information about Major League Fishing and Outdoor Sportsman Group Networks visit: www.MajorLeagueFishing.com and www.outdoorsg.com

About Major League Fishing: Founded in 2011, Major League Fishing (MLF) brings the high-intensity sport of competitive bass fishing into America’s living rooms on Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, Discovery, CBS, CBS Sports Network and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). The Bass Pro Tour consists of eight events and a championship streamed live on www.MajorLeagueFishing.com and MOTV. MLF uses the entertaining and conservation-friendly catch, weigh and immediate-release format where every scorable bass counts and the winner is the angler with the highest cumulative weight. In late 2019 MLF acquired FLW, which expands their portfolio to include the world’s largest grassroots fishing organization, including the strongest five-fish format professional bass fishing tour, the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit, as well as the Toyota Series, Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine, and Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI, and High School Fishing presented by Favorite Fishing. For more in-depth coverage, see Game & Fish magazine, the official publication of MLF.

About Outdoor Channel: Outdoor Channel has been taking viewers across America and around the world on unparalleled adventures since 1993. Dedicated to the outdoor lifestyle and conservation, the independent cable network is a division of Outdoor Sportsman Group and provides a complete spectrum of riveting hunting, fishing, shooting and adventure entertainment. Outdoor Channel is the largest outdoor TV footprint in the country and is available in more than 50 countries internationally. Outdoor Channel can be viewed in HD and is accessible by broadband and mobile platforms. For program times and other information, visit www.outdoorchannel.com. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. #WhatGetsYouOutdoors. #MyOutdoorTV

About Sportsman Channel: Launched in 2003, Sportsman Channel/Sportsman HD/Sportsman Channel Canada (added in 2019) are television and digital media networks fully devoted to honoring a lifestyle that is celebrated by millions of North Americans. A division of Outdoor Sportsman Group, Sportsman Channel/Sportsman Canada delivers entertaining and informative programming that showcases outdoor adventure, hunting and fishing, and illustrates it through unique and authentic storytelling. Sportsman Channel/Sportsman Channel Canada embrace the attitude of celebrating the Great Outdoors in equal measure. Stay connected to Sportsman Channel online at thesportsmanchannel.com, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. #IAmSportsman. #MyOutdoorTV

*Source: Comscore, Live+7 Average Audience, 7/1/19-6/28/20, Percent of cumulative viewing to all competitive fishing shows across all cable networks.

︎Source: Nielsen, Live+7 Average Audience, 12/30/19-6/28/20, MLF: Outdoor Channel, Saturday 2P-4P vs. Bassmaster Classic, ESPN 2. Household Universe Estimates: ESPN2-82.5MM vs OUTD-30.5MM

✦Source: Comscore, Live+7 Average Audience, 12/30/19-6/28/20, Program Average, Major League Fishing on WFN vs Bassmasters Elite Series on Pursuit.

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How to use the Lucky Craft 1.5 up North

by admin | Sep 7, 2020 | Fishing Tips | 0 Comments

Lucky Craft Pro Kelly Jordan explains how he uses the 1.5 to not only catch fish up north but how he uses it to locate them. The Lucky Craft 1.5 squarebill is the one that started it all.

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