Sarley: What makes Jacob Wheeler the best bass fisherman in the world
The Redcrest is the championship tournament that is staged by the Major League Fishing organization. It is a big deal, and some of the best professional fishermen in the world take part in it.
Redcrest was a three-day event, held on Missouri’s Table Rock Lake and White River. This year’s winner was Jacob Wheeler.
In my opinion the 35-year-old Wheeler is the best bass fisherman in the world. I’ll never take anything away from Kevin VanDam, who virtually owned the sport for the past 30-plus years. KVD has retired and today is today. Wheeler is the best on the water.
Wheeler was born and raised in Indiana. He had a close family, but they went through some tough times. I heard Wheeler speak at a National Professional Anglers Association meeting. When he talked about the tough times, he broke down in tears at the dais. The tears were real. I was astonished to see the sincerity. He is the real deal. It was a memorable moment for me.
Wheeler is the youngest angler to win the Forrest Wood Cup, doing so at age 21. He joined the Bassmaster tour and won the first two Bassmaster Elite Series events he entered. He moved to Major League Fishing and has been dominant. He won from the start but really showed his greatness in 2021 when he won three of seven MLF tourneys. He was awarded the Angler of the Year prize. He won the same award in 2022. He was the first back-to-back winner.
Wheeler’s winning never seems to stop. He has captured his 11th win in a major tournament on the MLF tour and owns a total of four Angler of the Year trophies. The 2026 Redcrest is his first win in seven tries.
The check that Jacob Wheeler is cashing for his Redcrest victory will push his career winnings over $5 million. That is incredible.
The thing that makes Wheeler so successful is his incredible work ethic. He works as hard as anyone in the business has ever worked.
Now a resident of Tennessee, Wheeler has a big above-ground pool on his property so he can watch and learn how baits move and react in the water. It is also the place where he invents and develops new baits. He is always trying to figure out something new about fishing and fish behavior.
Wheeler is skilled with the use of the notorious Forward Facing Sonar, but he is just as successful fishing with traditional depth finders and the like. He gets perturbed when people criticize the new breed of young fishermen who specialize in using FFS. He says that nobody takes into account how hard the young sonar specialists work to master their craft.
The world of tournament bass fishing has changed, and I don’t know how a top pro like Wheeler handles it. Sometime your catches are totaled every day and other times the totals are zeroed out and you start over. Some events are three days and others only two. The use of FFS is eliminated on occasions. Some events are smallmouth oriented and others are for largemouth. You have to be very versatile in the pro fishing world.
One reason for Wheeler’s success is the group of buddies he travels with and shares tactics and information with. Friends Mark Daniels Jr. and Dustin Connell are great guys and great fishermen as evidenced by the fact that they all finished in the top 10 at Redcrest.
Wheeler is a great fisherman and a wonderful family man. His wife, Olivia is a great partner in his business efforts, and the sun rises and sets on his beautiful children, Olivia and Hudson. Wheeler is worthy of being idolized and I am pleased to call him a friend.
• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.