Secret Playbook

By winning his 11th Bass Pro Tour title last weekend, Jacob Wheeler continues to be the premier angler in competitive bass fishing.

He’s won at all levels, through all tournament formats, with and without forward-facing sonar. Wheeler was the youngest to ever win FLW’s biggest event, the youngest to reach $1 million in earnings and, without question, the greatest competitor to ever walk the MLF stage. All that’s left to do is persevere. By his 40th birthday, it’s likely that any doubt of declaring Wheeler the best ever to play the game will be erased. 

Watching Wheeler’s performance at Lake O.H. Ivie and Lake Brownwood was a lesson in tournament perfection. He led early, held the lead, auto-qualified for the finals and sealed the victory. It was a clean sweep. As he hoisted the trophy, all eyes focused on how Wheeler finished.

His secret, though, lies in how he starts.

In a flashback to the days of Kevin VanDam's dominance, fans and competitors alike are wondering how Wheeler does it. How he seems to stay a step ahead of everyone else. How he figures things out so fast as if tapping into knowledge the rest of us mortals don’t have access to.

Maybe Wheeler gets information, or possibly it’s his grueling pre-fish regimen. He’s younger, faster and stronger. His support system is better, allowing all of his brainwaves to focus solely on fishing. 

Or maybe it’s all of the above. For sure, Wheeler will leave you scratching your head.

Yet, each time I really dive into the strategy that leads to another of his triumphs, I undoubtedly come across a few subtle gems leading the way. 

Consider the most recent event. Practice was extended for all competitors due to the vastness and diversity of this two-lake setup. Most anglers reported practicing strictly at O.H. Ivie, the site of the elimination round. 

“I put all my time into making the Knockout Round," more than one angler mentioned. Not Wheeler. He doesn’t worry about making Knockout Rounds. Wheeler focuses only on winning. 

Spending practice time at both Ivie and Brownwood may have offered Wheeler a leg up in the final round. Knowledge gained there in practice is more valuable than the competitive knowledge gained by Knockout Round players. Wheeler was on Brownwood on his own time, not under the competitive gun. 

“I knew it was a gamble,” Wheeler stated of his practice choice. How many times have we heard that? 

Moving openly and rapidly is the key to the MLF game. Patterns must be real-time. Fishing in the past or playing it safe is the best way to lose. 

As the event started, Wheeler took to the waters of O.H. Ivie with an intro-plan devised in practice. He’d received several good bites flipping shallow brush and his first fish of competition was a 7-pounder he’d shaken off earlier in the week. Wheeler was off to a good start.

In order to expand on his approach, Wheeler selected his first period as his live sonar period, a move that seems a bit strange for an angler surrounded by flooded trees. Wheeler used the technology to scan for overlooked targets and occasionally was able to see fish reacting to the brush.

"It definitely helped me pitch the thicker bushes that were mostly under the water,” Wheeler told me. “I didn’t feel a lot of guys were targeting them.”

Initially, Wheeler went to his marked hotspots; places he’d quickly contacted fish in practice. The bass were ready to bite again and Wheeler quickly jumped out to a lead with five weighing 25 pounds. 

As the day waned, however, fishing got tougher for everyone. Wheeler had caught the easy ones and found himself on a big lake with lots of brush and the bite cooling off. Rather than beat a dead horse, he began fishing faster. 

"I need to start moving around a little bit,” he stated on camera. “Get a better understanding of what’s happening.” 

Now using cast-and-retrieve methods, Wheeler stepped on the gas when the fishing got tougher. It’s the mark of a power pro, KVD style; force the fish to bite or simply beat the competition through mathematics. More water, more casts, no wasted time. 

I remember a veteran B.A.S.S. pro telling me that KVD walked around with a lucky horseshoe. Somehow, he must have given it to Wheeler. 

Late in the day, the sport’s greatest competitor found the scenario he’d been quietly looking for. The corner of his eye caught schooling bass busting in the distance. A long cast with a topwater plug connected instantly. Quickly, Wheeler went from slightly behind to definitively winning the day.

The scenario brought the best broadcast of the season. Recklessly swinging bass aboard led to a couple bass hitting the carpet. Wheeler had to wait through two agonizing penalties as schoolers surfaced all around him. The commentators were ruthless, feeling the pain for a guy unable to cast to bass busting shad. Two minutes felt like 20. 

But Wheeler got them in the end, as we all knew he would. And he won’t make that same mistake twice. 

By the closing bell, blood was in the water. Day 2 brought more of the same, Wheeler expanding, moving, dominating. The finals found him on a new body of water, but with practice already under his belt. The table had been set. 

It was another great ending to a magical performance.

But the secret lies in the beginning. 

Joe Balog is the Executive Director of Mighty River Recovery, a nonprofit organization working to restore Florida’s St. Johns River. A former national tournament angler, product designer, seminar speaker and guide, Balog has worn just about every hat available to a professional angler. Today, he enjoys rehashing his experiences and adding veteran insight through his weekly Bass Wars column.

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