Wheeler Advances from Qualifying Round and clinches fourth BPT Angler of the Year title in five years, Evers catches 216-5 to win Qualifying Round and advance straight to Sunday’s Championship Round
BAY CITY, Mich. (Aug. 8, 2025) – After a scorching opening day on Saginaw Bay, the bite somehow got even better on Day 2 of Toyota Stage 7 Presented by Ranger Boats. Pro Edwin Evers of Talala, Oklahoma, led the way, cracking the 100-pound mark for the second day in a row and adding 105 pounds, 2 ounces on 43 scorable bass to bring his two-day total to 216-5.
Pro Nick Hatfield of Greeneville, Tennessee, put up a fight for the Qualifying Round win and the automatic Championship Round berth that comes with it, but Evers ultimately pulled away to top SCORETRACKER® by more than 17 pounds. His two-day tally is the third-highest Qualifying Round weight in BPT history, just 6-7 shy of Michael Neal’s record set in 2021 on Lake St. Clair.
Meanwhile, Harrison, Tennessee pro Jacob Wheeler was content to let others duke it out for the Qualifying Round win, but he solidified the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title. Wheeler’s fourth Bass Pro Tour points crown in the past five years earned him another $100,000 and put him in even more elite historical company.
Catching 88 bass over 2 pounds and more than 200 pounds total across two days would be any angler’s idea of fun. But the fact that Evers caught just about all those fish on a buzzbait made this Qualifying Round stand out amid his storied, 25-year touring career.
“It was a lot of fun,” Evers said. “I know I have never caught that many bass on a topwater two days in a row. It was incredible.”
Evers has wrestled in the past with deciding whether or not to push for a Qualifying Round win. While pros Bryan Thrift and Keith Carson – the anglers who bookended Evers on the leaderboard to start the day – opted not to keep the pedal to the floor, Evers thinks earning the Championship Round berth will be worth leaning on his best area again Friday.
For one thing, he noted that he hasn’t seen any competitors fishing nearby, so he thinks the area will get a chance to rest Saturday. He’s optimistic it might even reload with some fresh fish.
He also entered the season finale needing a high finish to climb from 43rd place in the points standings into the top 29, which would earn him a spot in the field for REDCREST 2026. He figured the best way to get there was to guarantee himself a place in the Top 10.
“Nobody else is in that area,” Evers said. “Those fish can rest tomorrow. And for me to make REDCREST, I have to be in the Top 10. So, to chance tomorrow and something not going right, I just thought that was the thing to do.”
The Top-10 finish will be Evers’ first in a regular-season BPT event since May of 2023 (although he finished fifth at Heavy Hitters this year). The 13-time winner said putting himself in contention to hoist another trophy feels good.
If he can sneak into the REDCREST field, it’ll feel even better. The 2019 REDCREST champ has only missed out on one championship event in his career (the 2010 Bassmaster Classic), and his top goal every season is to put himself in the championship field.
“It’s just something that through my whole career I’ve been able to hang my hat on,” Evers said. “I’ve made it with the exception of one time – and there’s a big story behind that. It’s part of my testimony. The one year I didn’t make it, I took a Catch a Dream kid fishing the exact week of the championship. And I’ve just always felt like that’s what I’m supposed to do is be at those championships. And I don’t want to not make one.”
Wheeler’s reign continues
By finishing the Qualifying Round in 11th place and earning a spot in the Knockout Round field, Wheeler ensured that he’ll finish ahead of runner-up pro Jake Lawrence of Paris, Tennessee, in the Angler of the Year standings. The triumph marks Wheeler’s fourth Bass Pro Tour AOY crown (to go along with titles in 2021, 2022 and 2024) and adds to his fast-growing case to be considered one of the best tournament anglers of all time. He’s now one of just five pros to win four or more tour-level Angler of the Year awards and the third ever to win four in a five-year span, joining Bass Fishing Hall of Famers Roland Martin and Kevin VanDam.
Wheeler has now made the Knockout Round in six of seven events on the season, and he has a chance to make it six Top 10s as well. He opened the season with a fifth-place finish at Lake Conroe, then finished sixth at the Harris Chain. He wound up second at both Stage 3 on Lake Murray and Stage 4 on Chickamauga and Nickajack before breaking through to win his ninth BPT event on Kentucky Lake.
Shortly after lines out, Wheeler reflected on his journey from an aspiring angler growing up in Indiana to the undisputed top pro in the world.
“This is what’s crazy to me: Starting where I started, with no boat and going up through the junior program, qualifying through the BFL All-American and winning the BFL All-American, I basically had a 1 in a million shot that there was a chance that I would be out here fishing professionally,” Wheeler said. “My parents didn’t have a whole lot; I didn’t have a whole lot. And so, to be in this position in this sport, I don’t take that lightly.”
The top 20 pros that now advance in competition on Saginaw Bay are:
1st: Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 88 bass, 216-5
2nd: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 83 bass, 199-1
3rd: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 61 bass, 161-5
4th: Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 61 bass, 153-13
5th: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 64 bass, 152-11
6th: Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, 62 bass, 147-7
7th: James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 60 bass, 145-8
8th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 59 bass, 144-1
9th: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 59 bass, 141-6
10th: Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, 55 bass, 134-12
11th: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 50 bass, 134-2
12th: Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 53 bass, 125-10
13th: Dylan Hays, Hot Springs, Ark., 54 bass, 124-1
14th: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 49 bass, 123-13
15th: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 48 bass, 121-11
16th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 48 bass, 119-3
17th: Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 46 bass, 118-13
18th: Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 44 bass, 117-2
19th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 46 bass, 115-13
20th: Shinichi Fukae, Osaka, Japan, 49 bass, 115-5
A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 1,309 scorable bass weighing 3,219 pounds, 4 ounces caught by the 66 pros on Friday.
Pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, California, earned Friday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, catching a 4-pound, 8-ounce largemouth on a frog in Period 2 to earn the prize. Berkley awards $1,000 each day to the angler that weighs in the heaviest bass.
Hosted by Go Great Lake Bay and the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, the four-day event features 66 of the top professional anglers in the world competing for a $150,000 top prize, a share of the $6.49 million season purse, and valuable AOY points in hopes of qualifying for the Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2026, the Bass Pro Tour championship.
The full field of anglers competed in the two-day Qualifying Round on Thursday and Friday. With the two-day Qualifying Round now complete, Evers will advance directly to Sunday’s Championship Round. The anglers that finished 2nd through 20th now advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 19 anglers compete to finish in the top nine and join Evers in Sunday’s Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $150,000.
Anglers will arrive each morning at 5:15 a.m. ET to the Golson Boat Launch, located at 1598 N. Johnson St. in Bay City, Michigan. The Bass Pro Tour trailering policy has been enacted for this event, so anglers will depart the Golson Boat Launch each morning at 6:15 a.m. to one of nine optional launch ramps located around the fishery. Anglers will return to the Golson Boat Launch each evening, following the end of competition at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all four days of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. MLFNOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and Rumble.
On Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 9-10, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF welcomes fans of all ages to visit Wenonah Park at 103 Center Ave., in Bay City for the MLF Fan Experience & Watch Party. Fans can watch the pros live on the MLFNOW!® big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways, listen to live music and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel each day. The event also includes a meet and greet with Paw Patrol's Skye and Marshall, a youth fishing derby and a casting contest.
The Toyota Stage 7 at Saginaw Bay Presented by Ranger Boats features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
The 2025 Bass Pro Tour features a field of 66 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2026 championship.
Television coverage of the Toyota Stage 7 at Saginaw Bay Presented by Ranger Boats will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Nov. 15 on Discovery. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.
