Jacob Wheeler's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Jacob Wheeler went to Champlain knowing that he'd focus on the north end. At a previous tournament he'd made the long run to Ticonderoga at the southern end and it resulted in a poor finish, and he vowed he'd never go again. He opted to pursue the more abundant smallmouth, as he'd watched their average size continually increase over the past several years. "I fished out deep (in practice) and I fished the in-between stuff, and I came to the conclusion that the better quality smallmouth were in 8 to 15 feet of water," he said. "I didn't feel like the majority had moved deep yet." He caught a decent bag the first day, and then a big one the following day (which would've been an even 21 pounds if not for a 4-ounce dead-fish penalty) that rocketed him from 30th place to the top of the standings. He came up a couple pounds shy of his 20-pound objective on the final day, and that ended up being his eventual deficit to Martens after all of the numbers were tallied. "I was so excited to get out there on day 3," he said. "I was leading by a pound and I thought that if I caught every fish that bit, I'd have 20 pounds again and even 22 was a possibility. "I had the bites to have 19 1/2. It was sort of a relief when Aaron busted the huge bag because I knew the two fish I lost didn't cost me a win." He said the fish he was after traveled in wolf packs most of the time and he could pick off a couple with a swimbait. Then the packs would break up and he'd resort to a Carolina rig. He also used a jerkbait to catch some fish from rocks that were deeper than 10 feet.

Swimbait gear: 7' medium-action Okuma Helios rod, Okuma Helios casting reel (6.6:1 ratio), 12-pound Sufix fluorocarbon line, 3/8-ounce VMC Neon Moon Eye jighead, 3 1/2" Storm 360 GT swimbait (herring or white).

Carolina rig gear: 7'6" heavy-action Okuma Helios rod, Okuma Helios casting reel (7/3:1 ratio), 17-pound Sufix fluorocarbon (main line), 3/4-ounce VMC egg sinker, plastic bead, 14-pound Sufix fluorocarbon (2 1/2- to 3-foot leader), 3/0 VMC offset-shank hook, Gene Larew Hammer Craw, Gene Larew Biffle Bug or Zoom Speed Craw.

Jerkbait gear: 6'6" medium-heavy Okuma EVX rod, Okuma Helios casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 12-pound Sufix fluorocarbon, Rapala Shadow Rap Deep (mossback shiner) or Megabass Vision 110+1 (gill).

Main factor: "Sticking with the smallmouth. A lot of us didn't expect them to play as much as they did."

Performance edge: I'd say it was selecting the right rods and reels for the applications. Fishing the slower reel with the swimbait was key because it was important to keep in contact with the bottom and the shorter rod on the jerkbait let me jerk it fast with hard, erratic motions."

Bass Lake Champlain Patterns 2-5rn BassFan 6/31/17 (John Johnson)

15 Colors

Zoom Super Speed Craw 4" 8pk

$5.00 - $5.99

5.0

3 Reviews

5 Colors

Storm 360 GT Swimbaits

$5.57 - $7.99

3.5

2 Reviews

18 Colors

Rapala Shadow Rap Deep Jerkbaits

$12.49 $13.49*

Video

46 Colors

Megabass Ito Vision 110+1 Jerkbaits

$24.99

3.3

3 Reviews

Video

10 Colors

VMC Neon Moon Eye Jig Head 4pk

$6.29 - $9.29

3.7

3 Reviews

Sufix Invisiline Castable Fluorocarbon Line

$19.49 $20.49*

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