Jacob Wheeler disqualification

[OCdockskipper]

As most of you know, Jacob Wheeler had a day 2 disqualification on the Elite Sabine tournament last week after getting stuck on a sandbar and utilizing his marshal to help him get unstuck.  Bryan Brasher wrote an article on Bassmaster.com about it and how Wheelers' decision to use his marshal to get unstuck was correct as was his self reporting of the violation.  In the comment section, someone referenced "issues in other formats" and some other vague accusations, inferring that Wheeler is someone who skirts the rules.

 

I have never met Jacob, but from what I have seen on TV and from reports, he is extremely competitive and works hard at knowing what the rules are of the game he is playing.  Last year he used such knowledge to limit a loss of fishing time at an event he ended up winning.  At no point in time have I seen anything that resembles a poor sport or someone who would cheat in order to win.  To me, it looks like he will do everything within the rule book to win, but at the end of the day, will shake your hand if you beat him.

 

However, as I said, I only know him from afar.  Does anyone have any firsthand knowledge of what these accusations are about, where they may have originated from and if they are grounded in truth or just jealous rumor mongering?

 

 

[burrows]

Sucks.....

Jacob wheeler is bad ass!!!

[Team9nine]

As this last event proved, national tournament directors have no problem disqualifying a competitor for breaking the rules. Anytime there is an accusation or a protest filed against a competitor, you can believe there is a phone call and conversation, and quite frequently a polygraph given even if you never hear about it as a fan and follower. Jacob has had more than his fair share of all the above (accusations, conversations, polys, etc.). The point being, if any or all of those accusations were true, and the tourney directors were made aware of them (and several of them were), you would have seen a lot more penalties or DQs assessed on him if there were any truth in regards to actually breaking a rule.

 

Walking a fine line is not breaking a rule if the tourney director doesn't deem it so. Great competitors in every sport always push the boundaries in this regard, and some people simply don't like it. That pushing is also why we have many of the rules we do - because the line was brushed and a new rule was ultimately put in place to clarify or restrict certain things. Roland Martin was probably the king in this regard as to having rules later put in place because of things he did which didn't technically break any rules when he did them. Look at how many people said the "no info" rule would kill guys like Jacob, who some thought were pushing the boundaries in this regard, yet his MLF and Bassmaster events since show that the truly good anglers will always catch them regardless.

 

I first started taking Jacob fishing when he was just 14 years old, and have acted as a mentor to him ever since. He is very competitive...wants to beat you out on the water every time, no matter what you're fishing for or who you are. They say the great ones like KVD are exactly the same (speaking of, nobody made a big deal out of KVD being reported and penalized for fishing in an off-limits area during one of the first two days of that event. You probably didn't even hear about it. I'd love to know why he wasn't disqualified like so many others before him for that same infraction). Most of the greats in any sport are like that. He's where he is in this sport at his age, and with a long list of sponsors, because he is a competitor, not a cheater. All accusations have a grain of truth at their core, but true "cheaters" are quickly eliminated from this sport. Don't expect Jacob to be going anywhere, anytime soon 

[OCdockskipper]

The thing I have noticed about Jacob is how much he seems to enjoy teaching others what he did to succeed.  Part of that may be healthy ego, the want to show how you figured out a puzzle but it also shows true confidence in his abilities as well as empathy to help others do what you were able to do.  The nature of these tournaments often means one needs to be guarded with information, but Jacob is out there with it.  I think that shows a trust in his decision making ability, that he is sure with all of the same information available, he will come to the right conclusion faster & more times than anyone else.

[Glenn]

Jacob is a stand-up guy. Well regarded and well liked by his peers and industry leaders alike.  And that boy can eat!

[1simplemann]

On 6/15/2018 at 5:43 PM, OCdockskipper said:

As most of you know, Jacob Wheeler had a day 2 disqualification on the Elite Sabine tournament last week after getting stuck on a sandbar and utilizing his marshal to help him get unstuck.  Bryan Brasher wrote an article on Bassmaster.com about it and how Wheelers' decision to use his marshal to get unstuck was correct as was his self reporting of the violation.  In the comment section, someone referenced "issues in other formats" and some other vague accusations, inferring that Wheeler is someone who skirts the rules.

 

I have never met Jacob, but from what I have seen on TV and from reports, he is extremely competitive and works hard at knowing what the rules are of the game he is playing.  Last year he used such knowledge to limit a loss of fishing time at an event he ended up winning.  At no point in time have I seen anything that resembles a poor sport or someone who would cheat in order to win.  To me, it looks like he will do everything within the rule book to win, but at the end of the day, will shake your hand if you beat him.

 

However, as I said, I only know him from afar.  Does anyone have any firsthand knowledge of what these accusations are about, where they may have originated from and if they are grounded in truth or just jealous rumor mongering?

 

 

I actually looked this up because his accuser said it was "all over the internet" and it peaked my curiousity. I didn't find much. What I did find a was in reference to a tournament on the Red River when he was fishing the FLW a few years back. He was accused of hiring a guide. JW stated he didn't hire anyone. He said he a had buddy show him into an area that he wanted to fish because it was a bad area to get into with out tearing up your boat. His buddy showed him a safe way in. Sounds legal to me but close to the line. Still legal though. From what I read, FLW questioned him and he also passed a lie detector test. To me, that's the end of the issue. I found nothing in reference to him looking at Basstrakk which was also suggested. I think the guy is clean.

[RichF]

These guys aren't as squeaky clean as everyone thinks.  Not talking about JW in particular but most of them have very large networks of friends and local anglers that they've gotten info from in the past and likely still get info from.  I remember a former Elite getting Dq'd at the first Sabine tourney for fishing in a wildlife refuge.  The other angler that outed him knew it was off limits because a local guide he went out with prior told him it was.  To be fair, the "no info" rule wasn't in place yet but that goes to show you, many anglers are likely not "finding their own fish" all the time. 

 

I do think B.A.S.S has to hold all anglers to the same standard with regards to penalties vs. DQs.  They seem pretty inconsistent:

 

1) Hackney's day 2 DQ'd at Cayuga for fishing an off limits area.

2) Wheeler's day DQ'd for having his marshal help him off a sandbar

3) KVD's penalty for fishing an off limits area that wasn't discussed

4) Lester (I think) getting a 30 min delay at Lacrosse for failing to idle thru a no-idle zone   

 

That being said, there are just too many grey areas in the world of competitive bass fishing.  No amount of rules will ever make it "perfect".

[WRB]

My question without knowing any details other then what's been written is why did the marshal accommodate Jason if it was breaking a rule? Nearly every competitor I have ever known wants to win and if the rules are vague enough to allow misinterpretation they will bend them, not intensionally break them.

Tom

[Bass Turd]

57 minutes ago, WRB said:

My question without knowing any details other then what's been written is why did the marshal accommodate Jason if it was breaking a rule? Nearly every competitor I have ever known wants to win and if the rules are vague enough to allow misinterpretation they will bend them, not intensionally break them.

Tom

 

This is from the Bassmaster website article that explains the circumstances.

 

By Bryan Brasher

 

Back when I was fishing bass tournaments on a regular basis, I couldn’t have imagined running 150 miles by boat.

Granted, I wasn’t fishing for $100,000 or representing a long list of sponsors.

But even if I had been, I don’t know if I would have had the mental fortitude to run that far, fish for a little while, then turn around and make the run back again.

I never considered it seriously enough for the dangers involved to enter my mind. 

But as Jacob Wheeler proved during last week’s Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Elite at Sabine River presented by Econo Lodge, there are plenty of dangers involved with such a run. 

Wheeler was making the 150-mile run through Galveston Bay to the Houston area when his boat became lodged on a sandbar.

He trimmed the motor up, gave it plenty of gas and tried to get himself moving again, but it didn’t work. Then he got out of the boat himself and tried to push it off the sandbar. It still wouldn’t budge.

So finally, he asked his marshal to get out of the boat as well.

That did the trick, but it also put Wheeler in violation of Rule C13 that says “Marshals are not allowed to help the pro in any way.”

Wheeler self-reported the violation and had his day’s catch disqualified.

I think he did the right thing — twice.

When I talked with him right after the incident, he said, “Hey, I knew the dangers of making that kind of run — 150 miles through saltwater in an area I’ve never ran before. When you do that, there’s always a chance something like that can happen.”

That’s called acceptance.

Still, I’ve heard criticism of Wheeler for asking his marshal to exit the boat when he knew it was illegal.

But what was he supposed to do?

If he had been stuck 10 miles away from the launch site, he could have easily called for help and gone right on fishing. But since he was stuck 110 miles away, he basically had two choices — make the boat lighter or live there.

 

Since he just built a new house in Tennessee, he figured he didn’t want to live on a sandbar in Galveston Bay. I’m guessing his marshal didn’t either. So they made the only decision they could make.

Then Wheeler called B.A.S.S. officials and turned himself in.

Again, he made the right decision on a day when he needed a good limit to make the cut and earn a check — even though he knew it would probably lead to the disqualification of that day’s catch. 

The griping hasn’t been reserved for Wheeler. B.A.S.S. has also been criticized for the enforcement of the rule that led to the DQ.

Before I get into things like that, I always like to remind people that those kinds of decisions are made inside rooms I’m not even allowed into. B.A.S.S. officials don’t ask for my opinion — and when the decisions are made, I usually find out a day or two before you do.

 

But for the record, I agree wholeheartedly with the rule.

I think it should be illegal for a marshal to help an angler — period. 

If you write that rule vaguely — if you say it’s illegal for a marshal to help an angler in most situations — you’d have some sort of dispute at every event. Think about all of the ways that could be interpreted. 

Plus, marshals come in all shapes and sizes. Some are 25-year-old marathon runners, while others are 70-year-old guys who limp down the ramp and need help getting in the boat. 

It’s not ethical or fair for anglers to ask those folks for help — unless you’re stuck on a sandbar and it just can’t be avoided.

 

It’s also not fair to criticize Jacob Wheeler for simply doing the right thing.

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by Bass Turd
Added authour's name.

[RichF]

After reading that, I wonder if he was one of the "new" guys running to Houston that Kriet and McClelland were salty over.  

[Choporoz]

I don't follow the tour, but it seems that a Sabine River tourny run out of Orange Texas probably should have the geography limits defined so as not to include Houston.....seems crazy to me....but then, I didn't understand allowing the St Clair competitors to fish Ohio islands in Lake Erie, either.   I just can't get beyond a fundamental mental hurdle that part of the competition, in my mind, means that competitors are fishing the 'same waters'

[RichF]

1 hour ago, Choporoz said:

I don't follow the tour, but it seems that a Sabine River tourny run out of Orange Texas probably should have the geography limits defined so as not to include Houston.....seems crazy to me....but then, I didn't understand allowing the St Clair competitors to fish Ohio islands in Lake Erie, either.   I just can't get beyond a fundamental mental hurdle that part of the competition, in my mind, means that competitors are fishing the 'same waters'

I couldn't agree more.  What got me about the Houston thing the last Sabine tournament was the fact that those two guys even knew about it in the first place.  I can't imagine they looked at a map before practice and said "that little canal outside Houston 150 miles away looks good, I think I'll practice there."  Which brings me back to my comment about pretty much every pro getting outside info..

[BassThumb]

On 7/16/2018 at 10:09 AM, RichF said:

These guys aren't as squeaky clean as everyone thinks.  Not talking about JW in particular but most of them have very large networks of friends and local anglers that they've gotten info from in the past and likely still get info from.  I remember a former Elite getting Dq'd at the first Sabine tourney for fishing in a wildlife refuge.  The other angler that outed him knew it was off limits because a local guide he went out with prior told him it was.  To be fair, the "no info" rule wasn't in place yet but that goes to show you, many anglers are likely not "finding their own fish" all the time. 

I'm pretty certain I saw evidence of this prior to the 2016 and, less so, the 2017 AOY Championships on Mille Lacs. The Elites had never been to the lake or northern MN. There were high-end, well-equipped bass boats from all sorts of southern states out there scouting. For hours, they'd motor back and forth in a grid over the rock reefs using their side imaging to mark boulder piles and other abnormalities. Some never even appeared to fish.

In one case, a boat with Alabama tags spent at least 6 hours scouting the gigantic Browns Point flat, my favorite area of the lake. I spent the whole day there myself. When I was getting close to packing up, he came close enough that I could see there were no rods on the deck after being out there for at least 6 hours. 

This was going on all summer, including just weeks prior to the tourneys when the lakes were off-limits to the pros. I'm not sure of the exact rules, but it was the consensus among some of the locals that they were scouts for the Elites.

[RichF]

54 minutes ago, BassThumb said:

I'm pretty certain I saw evidence of this prior to the 2016 and, less so, the 2017 AOY Championships on Mille Lacs. The Elites had never been to the lake or northern MN. There were high-end, well-equipped bass boats from all sorts of southern states out there scouting. For hours, they'd motor back and forth in a grid over the rock reefs using their side imaging to mark boulder piles and other abnormalities. Some never even appeared to fish.

In one case, a boat with Alabama tags spent at least 6 hours scouting the gigantic Browns Point flat, my favorite area of the lake. I spent the whole day there myself. When I was getting close to packing up, he came close enough that I could see there were no rods on the deck after being out there for at least 6 hours. 

This was going on all summer, including just weeks prior to the tourneys when the lakes were off-limits to the pros. I'm not sure of the exact rules, but it was the consensus among some of the locals that they were scouts for the Elites.

Yeah I really think this happens more than most people think.  I'm pretty sure worse things happen also.  I listened to an Ike Live show where he was "joking" around with Chris and Trait Zaldain about another Elite guy buying waypoints.  There's just no doubt in my mind that the pros engage in this kind of stuff.  I always find it hard to believe that a field of 100+ anglers can be put on a body of water with thousands of miles of fishable water (Sabine, Winyah Bay) and just about all of them "find" the same spots.  I do kinda feel bad criticizing because I love the sport so much but this stuff really bothers me.  

[scaleface]

On 7/23/2018 at 8:54 AM, BassThumb said:

I'm pretty certain I saw evidence of this prior to the 2016 and, less so, the 2017 AOY Championships on Mille Lacs. The Elites had never been to the lake or northern MN. There were high-end, well-equipped bass boats from all sorts of southern states out there scouting. For hours, they'd motor back and forth in a grid over the rock reefs using their side imaging to mark boulder piles and other abnormalities. Some never even appeared to fish.

In one case, a boat with Alabama tags spent at least 6 hours scouting the gigantic Browns Point flat, my favorite area of the lake. I spent the whole day there myself. When I was getting close to packing up, he came close enough that I could see there were no rods on the deck after being out there for at least 6 hours. 

This was going on all summer, including just weeks prior to the tourneys when the lakes were off-limits to the pros. I'm not sure of the exact rules, but it was the consensus among some of the locals that they were scouts for the Elites.

No wonder Rick Clunn cant compete any more . Hes one man against teams .

[Team9nine]

On 7/17/2018 at 2:56 PM, RichF said:

I couldn't agree more.  What got me about the Houston thing the last Sabine tournament was the fact that those two guys even knew about it in the first place.  I can't imagine they looked at a map before practice and said "that little canal outside Houston 150 miles away looks good, I think I'll practice there."  Which brings me back to my comment about pretty much every pro getting outside info..

 

On 7/17/2018 at 12:43 PM, RichF said:

After reading that, I wonder if he was one of the "new" guys running to Houston that Kriet and McClelland were salty over.  

 

Here's the backstory on Sabine...once anybody does something once, all the other guys end up knowing it real quick, including the ones who weren't even fishing the Elites Series back then  These guys study past results and previous tournament history as much as anything else. They don't let any option/opportunity slide by, and will try and capitalize on it if it is viable.

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/news/kriet-mcclelland-took-long-wild-ride-sabine-elite