MINOCQUA, Wis. (Major League Fishing) — With a little more than 1 hour left in the Championship Round of the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies, Jacob Wheeler and Mark Daniels Jr. trailed by nearly 11 pounds. Representing Team O’Reilly Auto Parts, the duo had been clawing all day to erase an early deficit to Drew Gill and Marshall Robinson of Team Star Tron, and while they’d pulled within 5 pounds a few times, the lead looked to be slipping away.
But over the final 70 minutes on Tomahawk Lake, Wheeler and Daniels caught fire, boating 13 scorable bass for more than 20 pounds to bring their total to 65 pounds, 8 ounces on 43 scorable bass. That proved enough to edge Gill and Robinson by 4-12 and earn Wheeler and Daniels the trophies at the second Fishing Clash Team Series event of 2025.
The third win in as many rounds of Heritage Cup competition for Team O’Reilly earned both anglers their first victory since MLF revamped the Team Series with two-angler teams fishing from the same boat. It also made for a sweet present for Wheeler the day after his 35th birthday.
“It’s not every day you get to fish side by side with your best friend,” Wheeler said. “We’ve practiced together and fished against each other plenty, but to share a boat in competition and win a Cup like this – on my birthday week, no less – that’s just special.”
Species shift keyed comeback
Across the first five days of the Heritage Cup, largemouth represented the dominant species, and boat docks were the primary cover. Thus, it didn’t come as a shock to see Wheeler and Daniels starting the Championship Round targeting shallow docks, but they quickly realized that the bite wasn’t sustainable.
So, they moved offshore and primarily targeted smallmouth in the clear waters of Tomahawk Lake.
“About an hour in, I told Mark, ‘We’ve got to get away from these largemouth and go chase smallmouth,’” Wheeler said. “Thankfully, the fish gave us a clue, and we were able to adjust, lock in on that pattern, and just keep building momentum.”
Daniels credited that strategy switch as the turning point. Still, from then on, they had to chase down Gill and Robinson, who’d spent all day fishing offshore.
“Jacob recognized early that the dock deal wasn’t going to pan out, and that was huge,” Daniels said. “We made the decision to leave at the right time, expand, and chase smallmouth. If we had stayed even 15 minutes longer, we might not be standing here as champions.”
Both anglers leaned heavily on finesse tactics, primarily wielding drop shots. Wheeler caught all smallmouth, while Daniels mixed in some largemouth from grass edges. While Wheeler led the way with 41-7 on 27 scorable bass, Daniels landed the team’s final three scorable bass of the day to ice the victory.
“Mark made some great calls in that final stretch,” Wheeler added. “He caught the last three bass of the tournament, and that was the winning margin. Teamwork really did make the dream work today.”
After the final seconds ticked off SCORETRACKER®, Wheeler and Daniels hoisted the Heritage Cup trophies together.
“This has been an absolute honor,” Wheeler said. “To win it with Mark, in comeback fashion, makes it that much sweeter.”
