MINOCQUA, Wis. (Major League Fishing) — Rain, clouds, and shifting conditions kept the field guessing Tuesday in the third and final Elimination Match of the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies on Minocqua Lake. In the end, it was Team O’Reilly Auto Parts – comprised of Jacob Wheeler and Mark Daniels Jr. – that made the right adjustments to finish the day atop SCORETRACKER®.
After a slow start attempting to utilize forward-facing sonar offshore, Wheeler and Daniels pivoted shallow midway through the first period and found the winning combination. A productive stretch of boat docks produced multiple quick bites, and the duo also mixed in a handful of quality largemouth from nearby milfoil beds to separate themselves from the field. Their final tally of 47 pounds, 3 ounces was over 24 pounds more than any other team, an emphatic statement that secured them a spot in the Knockout Round of the second Fishing Clash Team Series event of 2025.
For the third time in as many days, the real drama on Tuesday came around the Elimination Line. Zack Birge and Keith Poche of Team 7Brew Coffee held on in the closing minutes after Poche landed a 1-13 largemouth with 5 minutes to spare. That catch was the difference that pushed them past Team Smokey Mountain (Terry Scroggins and Casey Ashley), who staged a furious rally late in the third period but came up 1-12 shy to finish in third and below the elimination line.
Despite a strong start with topwater baits and vibrating jigs that briefly gave them the lead, the competition day ended with Team B&W Trailer Hitches (Jared Lintner and Todd Faircloth) bowing out. They finished with 12 scorable bass for 15-12.
Wheeler and Daniels dial in the largemouth
Reigning Fishing Clash Angler of the Year Jacob Wheeler picked up right where he left off the Bass Pro Tour season, leading all anglers with 22 scorable bass for 35 pounds as is typical in Team Series events, when anglers don’t know where they’ll be fishing until the morning of competition, it took Daniels and Wheeler some time to figure out how to attack Minocqua Lake. They sampled both the lake’s smallmouth and largemouth populations early before ultimately settling into power fishing for green bass.
Wheeler, a four-time Fishing Clash Angler of the Year on the Bass Pro Tour, described the team’s effort as “hodge-podge fishing.”
“We started the day without much of a game plan in mind, just looking at everything with fresh eyes,” Wheeler said. “Up north, the toughest thing is figuring out if it’s going to be a better smallmouth fishery or a better largemouth fishery. We just tried to draw in some fish, look around at what was available, and make the right adjustments from there.
“The number one bait for both of us today was a jig. Mark was flipping grass, I was skipping docks, and we just kept it simple. Old-school bass fishing.”
Once they established the dock-and-grass mix, momentum carried the team through the final two periods.
“That was a heck of a first day of competition, man,” Daniels said. “We couldn’t have asked for anything better. I honestly just feel like we had a really good day overall, just fishing. We didn’t figure out a super strong pattern – we just bounced around and caught a few doing this and a few doing that, and thankfully that was enough to put us in the lead and keep us there.”
Wheeler’s 22 scorable bass for 35 pounds alone outpaced the other three teams’ totals. He also landed the Berkley Big Bass of the day with a 4-2 largemouth. Meanwhile, Daniels contributed key fish, including a 3 1/2-pounder from deeper milfoil.
“The boat docks were definitely more consistent for us, but we caught some really good ones out of the grass, too,” Daniels said. “It doesn’t get any better, man. Hopefully, everybody watching us today enjoyed it. For us, the focus was just getting through today.
“We owned this round, but we definitely got our work cut out for us in the rest of the event.”
“We do, we do,” Wheeler added. “But one thing’s for sure – we aren’t driving home yet.”
Knockout Round up next
Wednesday will bring the first match of the Knockout Round, with three teams taking on a new fishery and only the top two advancing to the Championship Round. Birge and Poche will be joined by the first two Elimination Match winners – Keith Carson and Luke Clausen of Team Fishing Clash and Ott DeFoe and Andy Montgomery of Team BUBBA.
Major League Fishing: Catch it LIVE on RFD-TV.
Watch all the action through Sept. 19 live on the RFD-TV Now livestream from 10 AM - 5 PM ET each day, or at MajorLeagueFishing.com. RFD-TV will also air the final period of each competition day LIVE on TV from 3-5 PM ET.
