EDENTON — Pro angler Jacob Wheeler jumped out to an early lead and finished at the top of the Group B leaderboard on day two of the Bass Pro Tour U.S. Air Force Stage Five at the Chowan River.
Wheeler, who is from Harrison, Tennessee, reeled in 18 scorable bass totaling 47 pounds, 5 ounces during the second day of qualifying on Wednesday. The lead gives him an advantage of more than 16 pounds in fish over Group B second-place finisher Matt Becker, of Ten Mile, Tennessee. Becker tallied 13 bass for a combined weight of 30 pounds, 14 ounces on Wednesday.
Many of the 78 anglers participating in this week’s Bass Pro Tour tournament had never fished the Chowan River before. Wheeler apparently figured out where to find bass in the Albemarle Sound tributary early, because by 9:40 a.m. Wednesday he had already landed five scorable fish with a total weight of 12 pounds, 14 ounces.
Wheeler said he did visit the Chowan River briefly before the river was made off-limits to tournament participants.
“I came down before it went off-limits for a day and a quarter and mainly just ran around,” he said in a news release. “I covered a few hundred miles and liked what I saw, but I still didn’t know what to expect this week.
“Much of what I saw then and even what I found in practice becomes irrelevant because these events are so long from when we start practice to the final day,” he said. “Having a cushion over the cut and a chance to look (around) (last) Friday is a huge deal because it’s the most up-to-date information possible.”
With plenty of distance between him and his Group B competitors, Wheeler has one plan for Friday when he returns for the final day of the group qualifying round.
“Practicing. That’s what I’ll be doing Friday,” he said. “My goal for today was to catch as much as possible and give myself a cushion, and I think I did that. The cut weight is a little more than half of what I had today, which takes some of the pressure off. I can come back out Friday, have fun, and I shouldn’t have to worry about catching too many of them. It feels good.”
Wheeler said his strategy for fishing the Chowan River is to focus on a large area rather than just one spot.
“It’s a big zone of 25 or 30 miles that I’m fishing, and I feel like I can catch a lot of fish doing what I’m doing,” he said. “This event will be all about those bigger bites and won’t be won catching big numbers of 1-8 and 1-9 bass. You’ll need some mid-grade fish between 4 and 6 pounds to win. I feel good about today because I had three over 4 pounds.”
Looking ahead to Friday, Wheeler commented on weather and how it could affect fishing conditions.
“Weather is going to be a huge factor in a place this big,” he said. “The wind will dictate where you can fish; if it’s calm, you can fish it all. That will be part of my plan for Friday as I look for new areas for the different wind directions.”
The U.S. Air Force Stage Five at the Chowan River started Tuesday and concludes Sunday, and is being hosted by the town of Edenton, the Chowan County Tourism Development Authority, and Harbor Towns Cruises. The event is presented by Wix Filters with a total purse of $659,000 up for grabs.
The 78 participants are divided equally by groups. The 39 anglers in Group B were off on Thursday, while the 39 anglers from Group A wrapped up their two-day qualifying round. Group B will finish their qualifying round on Friday.
After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers who finish first through 10th from both groups will advance to Saturday’s knockout round. In that round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the top 10, and those anglers advance to Sunday’s championship round. In the championship, weights are also zeroed and the day’s highest total wins the top prize of $100,000.
Throughout the week, the tournament format requires anglers who catch fish to have them weighed and then immediately released back to the river. Participants advance their way up the leaderboard by catching as many fish in weight as they can per day.
In addition to Wheeler, other top professional anglers participating this week include Ott DeFoe, Dustin Connell and North Carolina’s own Bryan Thrift. Connell finished Tuesday at the top of the Group A leaderboard by catching 19 scorable bass totaling 47 pounds, 8 ounces.
Follow live score updates from the U.S. Air Force Stage Five at the Chowan River by visiting majorleaguefishing.com . Click “view all” on the Scoretracker to see the standings of all 39 anglers in a group.
As of 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Connell was leading the Group A scoreboard for day 2 of qualifying with four scorable fish with a total weight of 6 pounds, 13 ounces.
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