Knoxville TN – It was again a Tennessean that held the lead on Day 2 of the 2019 Bassmaster Classic, but not the same one as yesterday.
Day 2, and the overall lead for the tournament, belonged to Jacob Wheeler on Saturday. Not only did he end the day 24 hours away from winning the biggest tournament in bass fishing, but he did it in a very strange way.
Jacob Wheeler weighed in all smallmouth – the only angler of the tournament so far to accomplish the feat. In fact, 8 of his 10 fish thus far have been smallies. His day 2 total was haul was good for 17 pounds, 11 ounces, which brings his two-day total to 32 pounds, 6 ounces.
Wheeler is notoriously guarded about his techniques during tournaments, so he would only comment that his success came on a “reaction bite.”
Alabama angler, and friend of MVF, Mark Daniels Jr. surged into second place by bringing 17 pounds, 6 ounces to the weigh-ins, which pushed his two-day total to 31 pounds, 14 ounces. Daniels Jr. also brought a 6 pound, 3 ounce largemouth to the party, which puts him in the lead of the Berkley Big Bass competition.
Mark did his best work using an original Bill Lewis Rat-L trap, with a modification – he switched the hooks to Owner ST-56 No. 4 short-shank trebles, which made all the difference.
“They’re just such a sharper hook,” he said. ““When that big fish came to the top, I could see it had both hooks in its mouth…I knew that fish was never coming off, so I just took my time and landed it.”
Day 1 leader Ott DeFoe fell to fourth place, behind Chris Zaldain, who now owns third. Fan favorite Mike Iaconelli rounds out the top five in the fifth spot.
Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow, we will have a new Classic champion, in what will prove to be an historic Classic.