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Jacob Wheeler Wins 2012 Forrest Wood Cup

Category: article

 Aug 12th, 2012 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Aug 12th, 2012 at 12:00 AM

Jacob Wheeler made FLW history Sunday afternoon as he became the youngest ever to claim the Forrest Wood Cup.  He weighed in 11 pounds, 15 ounces for a four day total of 60 pounds, 1 ounce, earning him a $500,000 payday.

Jacob Wheeler (Photo BassFIRST)

The 21-year old Wheeler beat out Scott Canterbury of Springville, AL by 7 pounds, 5 ounces.  Canterbury finished with 52-12.

“This was just an awesome event,” said Wheeler.  “God just really blessed me this whole event. It was just unbelievable, and this is the best day of my life.”

Even though Wheeler led wire-to-wire throughout the four days of competition, today was definitely his hardest test.  Wheeler didn’t seal up his five fish limit till late in the day. 

“It was a struggle today,” Wheeler said.  “I had six keepers bites all day.”

Wheeler said he used a variety of baits throughout the week, using as many as eight different baits one day to complete his limit.  Today, his main baits included a Rapala X-Rap Prop, a Trigger X Flippi’ Tube and a Chatterbait-style bait to coerce his fish into biting on the Chattahoochee River.

“A lot of people fish better when they have five fish in the livewell,”  Wheeler said.  “They just fish better and make better decisions, and you don’t have that pressure of worrying about that other fish on your back.”

The rest of the Top 10 rounded out like this.

1. Jacob Wheeler: 60-01
2. Scott Canterbury: 52-12
3. Bryan Thrift: 52-04
4. Scott Martin: 51-12
5. David Dudley: 49-13
6. Jay Yelas: 48-04
7. Andy Morgan: 47-07
8. Troy Morrow: 46-11
9. Dion Hibdon: 46-06
10. Luke Clausen: 43-11


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