Day 3 at the Classic with Jacob Wheeler

by Roger
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I didn’t know until late Saturday evening who I would be riding along with on Sunday, but I got the message it would be Jacob Wheeler. This was his 1st Classic appearance but he’s no stranger to the big shows, having won the 2012 FLW Cup, setting a record as the youngest angler to win that championship. The weather actually started off above freezing…which meant we didn’t have to wear near the clothes we did earlier in the week. We started off chasing loons…who were chasing the herring…that should have been chased by schools of largemouths and spots. We were both surprised by how noisy the loons were being, and Jacob suspected that they were scaring the bass. We ran shallow, deep, docks, brushpiles and treetops. He even ran and fished a line of docks in front of the house where his family was staying on the lake. They all came out to wave and give him some encouragement. Jacob fished hard, grinding out the last few hours on a deep water bite that just never happened. So, another day and another great guy, and just as I backed Andy Montgomery down to the water on Practice Day to start my Classic week, I ended it by pulling Jacob’s Academy Sports Ranger out of the water…

It felt almost like a summer morning , compared to all the other mornings this week, as we got ready for the launch.
Idling down the dock and turning out towards the lake...wonder what he was thinking.
Fish coming over the rails!
The loons were all around us, with a couple popping up and swimming by less than ten feet away from the boat.
This herring either ran into a loon or a largemouth...
I was amazed how close these things kept coming to my head...but Jacob assured me that he had never hooked a marshall...yet!
Fixing to get his hands wet and slimy.
Making sure he knew which fish would be the first to cull.
This chunk came off his deep bite.
Another fish he caught after seeing it on the "fishfinder"
We found some fans staked out on a bridge hoping to see a pro or two. A coupleof them were fishing the rip rap just to pass the time.
Jacob's family came out to see him as he flipped a series of docks, a skill that has left me shaking my head in disbelief.
There's the fam...
Yes, he skipped a jig between the skirt and the water...without touching either one!
Follow the trail to the space between the motor foot and the pontoon.
Trying to figure out the deep bite that just never produced the big fish he knew were down there.
We acquired as varied gallery...bass boats to tri-hulls!
My seat for the most of the day. Somehow it reminds me of a Star Wars Imperial Stormtrooper helmet!

 

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