Banks Shaw Wins MLF TW Pro Circuit Stop 3 - Wheeler Lake

Mixing stumps on flats and manmade current, Brody Luckey put together a great Day 1 and a stupendous Day 3, when he rallied up the leaderboard from 11th to second with the second-biggest bag of the tournament. He went with the one-two punch of a 6-inch Megabass Magdraft and a shaky head with a Big Bite Baits Nekorama. He used a 7-3, heavy Kistler Helium stick for the Magdraft and a 7-foot, medium Kistler Helium spinning rod for the shaky head. A spillway and stumps on the Decatur Flats provided a lot of the weight for Luckey.

Sticking with his strengths, Drew Boggs flipped up big bags every day. For Boggs, a squarebill put some fish in the boat, but he mostly flipped and pitched. When doing so, he went with a 1/2-ounce Greenfish Tackle Little Rubber Jig with a Zoom Super Chunk Jr. as well as a Big Bite Baits Swimming Craw Tube with either a 1/2- or 5/8-ounce Jenko Creature Weight, which he helped design. Fishing riprap some, Boggs also targeted stumps on the Decatur Flats and wood in the Elk River.

Every day, Matt Becker got things rolling with good 'Scope sessions for smallmouth, and the first two days, he added key largemouth in the afternoon. For smallmouth, Becker mostly fished a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait. Later, he threw a Bill Lewis Hammer Flat as well as an Epic Baits Wesley Strader Flippin' Jig with a Yamamoto Shinobi Grub. He fished the jerkbait on a 6-10, medium, fast rod with 12-pound Seaguar InvisX. He used a Phenix X10 cranking rod for the Hammer Flat and a 7-3, heavy Phenix K2 Torzite with 17-pound Seaguar Tatsu for the jig.

Carter Nutt put together a great tournament on the Tennessee River, which is right in his wheelhouse. His best bait was a 6.5-inch Berkley Lab Series Minnow on a 3/16-ounce head, and he also used a 3/4-ounce Carolina rig with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Stank Bug in green pumpkin with orange-dyed claws. For the minnow, he used a 6-10, medium-light Fenwick World Class stick with a 3000 Abu Garcia Zenon X, 8-pound Berkley X5 Braid and a 15-pound Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon leader.

Never fishing far from takeoff, Kyle Austin tallied up good limits each of the first two days but struggled on the last day when the current slacked off significantly. His best baits were an umbrella rig with 3.25-inch Strike King Rage Swimmers and a Strike King 4.0 squarebill. For the umbrella rig, he used a 7-6, heavy Fitzgerald Stunner HD V2, and he used a 7-4, heavy Fitzgerald Bryan Thrift Series cranking rod for the squarebill. For both techniques, he used Lew's BB1 Pro Speed Spool reels.

Marshall Hughes did all his damage on the Decatur Flats, fishing visible stumps with a unique presentation. For Hughes, a skirtless Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer with a Yamamoto Zako trailer worked best.

Moving into the top five in points with another Top 10, Connor Jacob put fish in the boat a variety of ways. His best bait on the week was a Megabass Vision 110+1, which he mostly used to target stumps, wood or spawning fish. On Day 2, he caught a 6-pounder on a 6-inch Megabass Magdraft. For the Magdraft, he used a 7-3, heavy Phenix Feather rod, and he used a G. Loomis IMX Pro 782C MBR for the jerkbait.

Making his first Top 10 on the Pro Circuit, Jackson Ryley fished super shallow for groups of bass. His best bait was an 8-inch Zoom Lizard on a 3/4-ounce Carolina rig, and he also used a 6th Sense Snatch 70X.

As usual, Clint Knight was in the mix on the Tennessee River. Fishing a minnow for smallmouth in the mornings and then a jig the rest of the day, Knight did very well each of the first two days. His jig of choice was a 1/2-ounce Greenfish Tackle Little Rubber Jig with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Creature Hawg for a trailer. He used 21-pound Seaguar PEX8 for his main line on his minnow rod with a 17-pound Seaguar Tatsu leader. He flipped with 22-pound Tatsu.