Alton Jones leapt into the lead Thursday after boating nearly 18 pounds, though the small 8-12 limit Saturday caused him to slide down to 16th. Tommy Biffle, a rising water virtuoso, charged up from six spot to take over the driver’s seat after weighing 19-14 – the heaviest limit of the week – on the mislaid second tournament day. 

Brad Hallman, another Oklahoma high-water authority who lost an FLW Series event here last year by an ounce amid similar settings, shot from the 28th position into third by running a pattern conducive to the situation he was greeted with Saturday. Like Hallman and Biffle, Mark Tucker hopped a jig all the way from 45th place into fourth citing similar circumstances.

After Saturday’s weigh-in the field was cut to 50, but unanswered at that time was how the tournament would proceed. Would it end Sunday with the remaining 50 anglers each fishing for the top slot, or 12 anglers advance to Monday under the threat more severe weather? To say the least, feelings about fishing through Monday were mixed.

Tournament Director Trip Weldon resolved the nagging question prior to Sunday’s launch by revealing that there would in fact be no Monday for the Dixie Duel – the afternoon weigh-in would produce a winner. So with partly cloudy skies and light winds out of the E/SE, anglers hit the water to ply their trade in an attempt to make the most of the opportunity given them.

With 50 anglers remaining to fish what had become the final day, anything was possible given that at this point, all had a guaranteed paycheck. As much as anything else, valuable TTAOY points were the focus of the final day as everyone who fished viewed Sunday as the kind of opportunity that doesn’t come along on the Elites too often.
Tommy Biffle made a strong argument for his appearance in any post-season festivities by sacking 14 pounds and 13 ounces Sunday to claim the $100,000.00 first-place top prize. Amassing 50 pounds and 13 ounces over three days, Biffle notched his second Elite Series win.

Ending the week in second place with 46 pounds and 4 ounces overall was young Casey Ashley, who brought five bass weighing 19 pounds, 11 ounces to the scales Sunday. Third place went to Takahiro Omori, with a combined weight of 45 pounds, 10 ounces, who brought in a five-bass limit weighing 12 pounds and an ounce on the final day.

Brent Chapman ended the event in fourth place thanks in large part to heaviest string of the week weighting 18 pounds , 10 ounces, which pushed his total weight to 45 pounds, 4 ounces. Michael “Ike” Iaconelli junk-fished his way fifth with a combined total weight of 45 pounds, 3 ounces after placing 15 pounds, 6 ounces on the scales Sunday.

Rounding out the Super Six was Brad Hallman with 44 pounds, 13 ounces over three days of fishing. Unable to keep Saturday’s strong mojo working, Hallman brought in a respectable five bass weighing 13 pounds, 15 ounces on the final day.

1st Place: Tommy Biffle
Tommy Biffle’s only Elite Series win came in 2006 at Oneida Lake’s Empire Chase. That week, he stood conventional wisdom on its collective ear by catching four limits of largemouth bass out of a noted smallmouth factory in water that was so shallow that you’d swear was impossible to sustain life.

At Wheeler this week, Biffle followed similar logic and fished shallow…super shallow. “That first day, everything I caught came out of six inches of water,” he said. “There was just enough water to cover their backs.”

The shallow-water pattern Biffle was running was only going to get stronger as the water continued to rise; however, his concern was that the TVA would drop the lake overnight. “I knew that I was going to catch them Friday, because the water was coming up. I just knew that they were going to suck the bottom out, but thankfully they never did.”

Biffle discovered in practice that the shallow water fish would react to the slow “hop” he presented and he picked apart buck brush like a marsupial picking through an open garbage can. “In the mornings, you’d really have to work your bait really slow and just keep hopping it,” he said. “When you’re only fishing in a foot of water there’s not a lot of hopping that you can do.”

The slow hop was required due to the water temperatures; however, as the day wore on, his bite would heat up along with the water. “The second day of the tournament it was 59 degrees in the morning,” he said. “It warmed up to 69. When the water warmed up, I really hurt them.”

Tommy explained that he caught between 40 and 50 fish a day and that he would usually have a limit by 8:45 and would cull throughout the day. Where Saturday he culled for multiple ounces, if not pounds each time, Sunday was different. “I was culling ounces at a time,” he said. “I just had to keep fishing hard all day.”

Using a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver in black-red for the majority of his fish, Biffle explained that late in the day he was able to take up some of the slack in his culling efforts. “Towards the end of the day, I caught one that was pretty close to four pounds,” he said. 

“A little while later, I caught another one that went a little over three-pounds and things started looking up.”

The water level dropped around six inches over night. Were it not for that, Tommy pointed out that Sunday’s weigh-in would have looked completely different. “If it would’ve stayed up where it was yesterday, there would’ve been some bigger bags caught,” he said. 

“They dropped it probably six inches last night which seemed to scatter the big fish.”

Key to the Win: “It was definitely key that I didn’t have anyone else in the are I was in. I could skip and area and come back in there later and not have to worry about someone else beating on them while I was gone.”

2nd Place: Casey Ashley
25-year old Casey Ashley fished a jerk bait along a bluff wall in First Creek as his primary “go to” spot. He grew his bag each day of the week, but on the last day, when it mattered most, he brought in the second heaviest limit of the week. 

“I’ve been fishing the same stretch of bank all week,” he said. “After the big rain we had yesterday, the water muddied up so bad that I wasn’t able to get that jerkbait working. Today, I went in there and after the first pass I have 15 pounds.”

With a 15-pound limit in the box by 8:30, Ashley dropped the jerkbait and went hunting. “I picked the jig up and was able to quickly cull one,” he said. “After that, I stuck with it through the rest of the day and worked up to a really nice limit.”

Casey explained that his bluff wall was holding both pre- and post-spawn fish. “I found them the first day of practice,” he said. “The bait was really thick in there, and I guess that I was catching them going and coming. In fact, the biggest fish that I had yesterday was post-spawn.”

Based on his practice results, Casey was sure that he’d have a nice limit of brown fish each day. However, to his surprise, the color of his fish changed once the tournament started. “Everything I caught there in practice was a smallmouth,” he said. 

“As it turned out during the tournament, most everything I caught was a largemouth. I did catch a smallmouth or two each day, and they were all big.”

Casey was the first to weigh in Sunday and held the lead for much of the procession. “I had to sit in the Hot Seat all afternoon,” he said. “There were a lot of heavy-hitters that came strolling through, but my weight held up until right there at the end.” 

In hindsight, the only thing Casey would change would be to have picked up jig from the start. “I wish that I would’ve worked shallow all day long and just left the jerkbait fish alone,” he said. 

“I had fun though, and with a second-place finish I can’t complain really. I would’ve never imagined I would finish this well here.”

3rd Place: Takahiro Omori
Takahiro Omori hung around the top all week long. Just a couple pounds out of the lead to start the day, Omori seemed poised to chase down the leader. “It wasn’t the best day,” he revealed. “I ended up losing too many fish, but that’s just how it goes.” 

Omori pointed out that he wasn’t catching the numbers that many in the field reported, but was pleased with the size he was catching in exchange for low numbers – particularly since his practice was less than he’d hoped for. 

“I was amazed I did well in this tournament because I didn’t have a very good practice,” he said. “I’ve fished here many, many times so I was able to put something together each day.”

“Putting something together” began with his first fish of the week. “The first fish I caught this week was 6-9, which was one of the the big fish of the tournament,” Tak said. “When I saw that fish, I thought that at least I have a chance to just get a check.”

Tak alternated between a variety of baits throughout the week, but ultimately narrowed his focus to a lipless crankbait, a spinnerbait, or shallow water “flipping” bait. “All week long, things kept changing,” he said. 

“The water level, the water color – everything changed each day. It really forced me to have to keep adjusting.”

For Omori, the key to his week was being flexible minute to minute. “Half the time I was junk fishing,” he explained. “I would have 12 rods on my deck, and whatever looked good I was fishing. Also, I had to change a lot because the water kept coming up.”

All things being equal, Tak pointed out that he doesn’t have an ounce of regret – particularly since this week marks his highest finish in some time. “I did everything good this week,” he said. “I’m happy to have made a Top 12. I didn’t have a single Top 12 last year, so I’m really happy with how this week went.”

4th Place: Brent Chapman
Like Omori, Brent Chapman remained open to change throughout the event. “Every day I would kind of change up my pattern a little bit,” he said. “Most of the fish I caught came from water that I’d never fished before – just like Saturday. If it looked good, I’d pull in and fish it.”

With two mirror-image days to start the week, Chapman saved the best for last. “I had one little crankbait spot that I would start each day on,” he said. “I caught a four-pounder the first day there, but yesterday I didn’t catch anything that would help. 

“Today I caught a four-and-a-half pound smallmouth in there.” 

Keeping with the “if it looks good fish it” theme, Chapman spotted another similar spot a short ride away. “There was another spot just around the corner that was similar to my cranking hole,” he said. “I pulled in there and caught a smallmouth that went almost six-and-a-half pounds.”

Brent primarily focused on main river ledges with current where he would fish a Storm Wiggle Wart or a Terminator spinnerbait – something he put together late in practice. “All of these fish are still pre-spawn and looking for staging areas,” he said. 

“I finally figured that out about the last hour of practice and was able to keep running it all week.”

In review of his week, Chapman explained that he wouldn’t change a thing – particularly his execution. “This week, I’m real happy with my fishing,” he said. “I never lost any fish this week that hurt me, and when you can put everything in the boat that really helps your confidence. 

“I’m just wanting to keep the momentum going through the last-half of the season.”

5th Place: Mike Iaconelli
Since the first day of the tournament, Ike has been working a classic junk fishing pattern, and he wasn’t looking to rock the boat on the final day. “My day was pretty much a mirror of the first couple of days,” he said. 

“I covered a lot of water just running and gunning.”

While Ike was junking all week, he did point out that he refined his approach dramatically over the three-day event. “The first day of the tournament I had 15 rods on the deck of my boat,” he said.

“By today I’d narrowed it down to three different baits that I was keying in on.”

“Also, a lot of times I’d try to hit the little pockets between the bluff points where the water was a little dingier. They seemed to really group up in there.”

6th Place: Brad Hallman
Oklahoma pro, Brad Hallman, looked as though he might have enough steam to threaten Biffle’s lead after posting a strong second day stringer. However, he admitted that Sunday was not what he’d hoped for. “I struggled quite a bit today,” he said. “I didn’t get a lot of bites, and when I did it was really bad timing. 

“I had a two- or three-pound fish that bit as my cameraman was getting back in the boat and I wasn’t able to even get a hook in it.

Staying in the backs of protected main lake pockets all week, Hallman explained that the biggest challenge he faced this week was to get his timing right. “These fish are just up and down the bank all the time,” he said. “You might run a stretch of water and not get a bite, then turn right back around and pick up two four-pounders. 

“It’s because they’re living under the cover, and they’re swimming out to search for food.”

Aside from the “made for TV” moments Brad relayed, he pointed out that the biggest damper on his final day was from the boat traffic that plagued his best water. “I had one stretch of bank where all of my big fish came from,” he said. 

“I really got hurt today with all of the boats running around. I went back to it around 11:00, and there was another competitor that didn’t know I’d been fishing it there. I just screwed up on my timing because he caught them there.”

7th Place: Mark Tucker
Final-Day Thoughts: “It was a good day. The wind switched directions, and a couple of the places I was fishing sort of got buggered up as a result. Fishing down on the south end of the lake like I was, when the wind changes directions the current slows down, the shad never get out there making you really have to grind it out.”

Bait of Choice: Picasso 5/16-ounce finesse spider jig tipped with a Zoom chunk; Bomber Fat Free Shad

Biggest Challenge: “From practice until the last day of the tournament, something was changing the bite because early in the week everything was just choking the bait. As the week wore on, they became less aggressive so I missed a lot of fish or had a bunch that came off.”

Key to the Week: “All of my big fish this week came out of main lake pockets. I really focused on the main lake deals all week.”

Week in Review: “It was a great tournament. I stuck to my guns and kept myself in a place where I thought I could get a big bite. I could have run back into the creeks and caught tons of fish, but I wanted to put myself in a position where I could win.”

8th Place: Mark Menendez
Final-Day Thoughts: “It was unbelievable how many fish I caught today – probably 35 to 40 keepers. I culled through so many two-and-a-half pound fish, it was just unreal. I fished really, really good today. With that many bites, I only lost one fish.”

Bait of Choice: Strike King Space Monkey

Biggest Challenge: “I had a lot of boat pressure in one of the areas I was in Saturday. It really hurt the bite, so I had to leave around noon and go hunting.”

Key to the Week: “This week, the pattern was really similar to Dardanelle. They were just getting up there to spawn and all you had to do was just swim it past the bush and they’d jump on it.”

Week in Review: “I only practiced two days for this deal, so with two Top 12s in a row, I’m ready to get that Classic monkey off my back. It’s all ‘getty up go’ for the next event as far as I’m concerned.”

9th Place: Todd Faircloth
Final-Day Thoughts: “I started off doing the same thing I did yesterday. I caught a bunch of fish again today, but apparently I wasn’t around the right group of fish.”

Bait of Choice: Sebile Crankster (1st day); 3/4-ounce All Terrain Tackle jig; Chatterbait-styled unnamed “blade bait”

Biggest Challenge: “The river deal from the first day really just died on me with all the water coming in. It forced me to really drop everything and just go fishing.”

Key to the Week: “I’m real proud of myself for changing up and not sticking with what I was doing the first day of the tournament. This river system changes every day.”

Week in Review: “I maximized what I had, I think, and averaged around 14 pounds a day in the process. If I had it all to do over again, I would probably run some new water today. The thing is, we’re trying to accumulate Angler of the Year points, and if you stub your toe and don’t get a limit one day, you can really put yourself in a bind. That’s kind of what I was thinking.”

10th Place: Stephen Browning
Final-Day Thoughts: “The day started off pretty slow for me today. It looked like the water had dropped six or seven inches, which repositioned the fish. I wound up having to run some new water and just go fishing.”

Bait of Choice: ½-ounce War Eagle double-willow spinnerbait in chartreuse & white.

Biggest Challenge: “The water levels from Saturday until today really hurt my fishing, I think. It scattered the bait and made the bass reposition, which really forced me to almost have to start over.”

Key to the Week: “I had been throwing a football jig, but I felt like with the water coming up that the spinnerbait would be the right deal.” 

Week in Review: “I wish that I had 30 minutes of today back. I fished ‘chicken’ for about 30 minutes, and when it hit me what I was doing, I picked the spinnerbait back up and went to work. Other than that 30 minutes, I had a great week.”

11th Place: Gary Klein
Final-Day Thoughts: “It held up for again today. I’m pleased with how consistent this week was. I really think that running a lot of water helped me, but more than anything it was just a really good pattern, but today the bite was a little off because I lost more fish than I have all week.”

Bait of Choice: Peanut butter & jelly ¾-ounce jig with a watermelon trailer

Biggest Challenge: “I never went to the tail end of anything. The hardest part was trying to find enough areas that had the type of water that I was running.”

Key to the Week: “The key was 12 feet of water, staying around lead-ins that the fish would use to migrate back to spawn. Also, I was fishing the jig pretty fast, so I think that the heavier jig really allowed it to get down faster and cause a reaction strike.”

Week in Review: “It was a really fun tournament for me. Literally, I think every fish I’ve weighed in I caught on a jig. 

12th Place: Rick Morris
Final-Day Thoughts: “Today was a great day other than I lost a couple of four-pounders. They were just coming in real hot, and once you caught up to them you couldn’t keep them down. I was able to get a few of the good ones in, but out of 26 bites, I was able to get 10 of them in.”

Bait of Choice: ½-ounce War Eagle jig

Key to the Week: “I was hopping a jig around the bluff ledges down the really deep banks. If you could find current in around 22-feet of water that had boulders and rocks mixed in, you were going to catch them.”

Week in Review: “I fished a really good tournament. I lost a few, but when you’re catching that many fish you’re going to lose a couple here and there. I had a great week.”

26th Place: Edwin Evers – “I caught a bazillion fish, but I made a really bad mistake out there today. I accidentally turned my live wells off, I guess, and caught a big one and went to cull and all of my fish were dead. 

“With BASS rules, you can’t cull a dead fish, so I threw the big fish back and put all my rods up. It’s a shame, because I had a decent stringer of fish, and had my best bank that I’d been saving. That’s where I was headed when I realized what I’d done.”