PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA |
|||||
|
Lake Travis in Texas and the St . Lawrence River in New York — Wheeler one-upped himself in early August by claiming the red-and-silver BPT trophy at Stage Six on Lake Champlain as well .
In doing so , Wheeler became the first back-to-back champion in the league ’ s brief history and the only angler to win three events in a season en route to his first Angler of the Year title .
Wheeler did it in the kind of cagey style he ’ s perfected in 2021 , quietly working his way through the early rounds of the event and then putting the pedal to the metal on the final day to win by just over 30 pounds . He did it just as you ’ d suspect , locating fish on forward-facing sonar , working a drop-shot and expanding his area throughout the day to stay on schools of fish as they roamed around the flats .
|
4 . TACKLE WAREHOUSE TITLE PRESENTED BY MERCURY Mississippi River Aug . 17 – 22
Pro Circuit sophomore Jimmy Washam ’ s bass fishing career has been nothing short of a meteoric rise to this point . He fished his first MLF tournament as a boater in 2016 ( Phoenix Bass Fishing League Mississippi Division ), jumped to the Toyota Series level in 2017 , qualified for the Pro Circuit via the Series and made the jump to the Pro Circuit in 2020 ( nearly winning Rookie of the Year ), all while holding down a fulltime job as a deputy in the Tipton County sheriff ’ s office — a career he ’ s now chosen to walk away from in favor of becoming a full-time guide on Pickwick Lake , thanks in no small part to his TITLE win in August .
|
Washam has fished the Mississippi River his whole life , but almost always well south of Pools 7 , 8 and 9 ( which played host to the TITLE ) down near Memphis — a fishery that may as well be a different body of water entirely . To get comfortable and find his way on the Upper Mississippi , Washam had to rely on his experience and a little bit of good fortune .
Washam plied the waters of the Black River well into the Knockout Round , at which point , with the area drying up , he moved to a backwater with a “ rock ridge ” at the mouth where his trolling motor spooked some shad that he watched a bass come up and eat . He threw a bait in after the bass , caught a 5-pounder and a 4 1 / 2 and the rest is history . It ’ s at that spot that Washam sacked up 17-15 for the largest bag of the tournament , a $ 200,000 payday and a TITLE belt he ’ ll cherish forever .
|
5 . ABU GARCIA COLLEGE FISHING PRESENTED BY YETI WILEY X COLLEGE FACEOFF Detroit River
Aug . 21
Western Michigan dominated the fourth and final Wiley X College Faceoff event of the 2021 season by boating 44 bass for 109-8 to outpace Adrian College by 14 pounds , 11 ounces .
The duo of Mason Vernia and Kurt Antonowitsch relied on 3 / 8- ounce drop-shots tipped with Strike King Baby Z-Toos while Jack Simpson and Drake Van Dike did the same with Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worms . Both teams went to their high-percentage spots early in the event , plying deep rocks and grass with their drop-shot offerings and keeping a close eye on their electronics to locate and relocate schools of winning fish .
|