Jacob Wheeler Wins MLF Bass Pro Tour 2026 REDCREST

If Takahiro Omori is going to do well, it likely means that there's a ChatterBait bite somewhere on the lake, and that's what he found this week in the far reaches of the James River. To catch his fish, Omori relied on a white 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a 5-inch pearl-colored Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ on the back. His rod of choice was his signature series 7-foot, medium-heavy Daiwa Tatula Elite. He paired it with a 9.1:1 Daiwa Zillion and spooled it with 16-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon.

Continuing his run of excellence this season, Zack Birge posted a great showing after leading the Qualifying Round with 102-6 after two days of fishing. He had a multifaceted approach, using finesse with his electronics and old-school power-fishing the rest of the time. Almost all of his fish without sonar were on a 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evergreen JackHammer ChatterBait in clearwater shad with a 4.5-inch Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnow on the back. Zack fished his minnow on a 7-foot medium Alpha Angler Wrench spinning rod and used 10-pound Yo-Zuri SuperBraid with a leader of 8-pound Yo-Zuri T7 fluorocarbon. His ChatterBait was fished on an Alpha Angler Mag Rebound cranking rod, and he used 16-pound Yo-Zuri T7.

Making the final day after winning a tiebreaker for 10th place in the Qualifying Round, it was all up from there for Brent Ehrler, who has competed in all seven REDCREST events to date. His minnow of choice was a 3.5-inch Yamamoto Hinge Minnow in sexy shad on a 3/16-ounce Buckeye Lures G-Stroll head. When targeting spawning fish, Brent went with a green pumpkin 5-inch Yamamoto Senko on a wacky rig, Neko rig and on a shaky head.

Drew Gill jumped out to an early lead with an event-best 70-7 on the first day and spent much of the second day scouting additional areas. His most productive approach was targeting spawning smallmouth mid-lake with forward-facing sonar. His technique durring the 'Scope period was to throw a minnow at spawning smallmouth, He also caught a few on a drop-shot with a Roboworm and a few more on the Big Bite Baits Nekorama on a Neko rig. Drew also fished a Big Bite Baits Spotlight Minnow in the 4.25- and 4.8-inch sizes in a myriad of colors with a 1/8-ounce jighead - shaking it really fast targeting reaction bites. When fishing without LiveScope, a 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in sungill was his top producer, but he stayed in most of the same areas.

Alton Jones Jr. had another great REDCREST showing, and he did it with a mix of forward-facing sonar fish and going shallow with a line-through swimbait to target spawning bass along the bank. His 'Scope period was all about the minnow, Jones used two sizes of jigheads - a 1/8 and 1/4 ounce - with a 3.5-inch Yamamoto Hinge Minnow. When he wasn't using his 'Scope, Alton caught almost everything on the new Geecrack Crackdown swimbait in white - that will be out soon.

Although he turned on his forward-facing sonar for one period each day, almost all the fish Mark Daniels Jr. weighed were caught without it, using an Ozark staple - cranking a crawfish-imitating crankbait. For Daniels, was all about the Bill Lewis MR-6 and SB-57 in strawberry craw and Rayburn red. He also fished the SB-57 squarebill while fishing flatter stuff or when he came across some timber, laydowns, or bushes.

Arkansas' Spencer Shuffield had one of the better days of the event on the second day, when he caught 52Ð15 to jump from 19th to third place heading into the final day. Spencer caught them all on a 3-inch Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ in a bunch of different colors, with a 3/16-ounce VMC Redline Tungsten swimbait head. Once he shut off his 'Scope, Shuffield targeted 45-degree banks and threw at light colored areas along the bank where he suspected a spawning bass to be. His bait of choice was a 1/5-ounce Z-Man Pro ShroomZ Ned head and Z-Man TRD CrawZ in Canada craw.

Jeff Sprague mixed it up, targeting clean water down the lake the first day before running to stained water in the James River the second and final days. His primary tool in both was a Lake Fork Lures squarebill in the 1.5 size, which will be released later this year. He fished it on a signature series Lake Fork Lures 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy crankbait rod, and he used the same approach throughout the lake.

Dustin Connell wasn't able to win his fourth REDCREST title, but this marked his sixth Top 10 finish in the championship event. This week on Table Rock, it was thanks to spawning fish, as he primarily scored largemouth and spotted bass from the mid-section of the lake. He caught most of his fish with a green pumpkin CrushCity Salted Ned Roll on a 3/16-ounce VMC Tungsten Ned jighead and a CrushCity Janitor worm, also in green pumpkin, on a 3/16-ounce VMC Stand-Up Shaky Head.