SENECA, S.C. (Feb. 21, 2026) – Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs, Arkansas , has been knocking on the door of his first Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour win for a while, having amassed eight Top-10 finishes during his first three years on the circuit. He said Lake Hartwell is one of the last places he expected the breakthrough to happen. But after Shuffield stacked up 46 pounds, 14 ounces on 18 scorable bass to pace the field through Saturday’s Knockout Round at Stage 2 tournament at Lake Hartwell, he’ll have as good a chance as anyone to hoist his first BPT trophy on the shores of Hartwell Sunday afternoon.
Shuffield rocketed to the lead with 33-15 in Period 1 and cruised from there. It took 29-3 on the day to earn a place in Sunday’s Championship Round, with New Hope, Alabama, pro Jacob Wall claiming the ninth and final spot in dramatic fashion.
Shuffield attributed his blistering first period to a discovery he made a day prior. Like just about everyone in the field, Shuffield has opted to use his one period with forward-facing sonar during Period 1 each day of the event. With a few minutes left in the opening frame Friday, he pulled into a pocket he hadn’t fished before, and his screen lit up.
So, after his starting spot Saturday didn’t pan out, Shuffield returned to that pocket. In about 40 minutes, he caught nine scorable bass for 25-9. After an hour-long drought, he reconnected with the school and added three more in 3 minutes. His Period 1 marked the best forward-facing sonar period by any angler so far during the event.
“When I rolled in there this morning, the birds were in there diving,” Shuffield said. “I remember looking at my official, and I said, ‘Dude, it’s about to go down in here. They’re in there.’ And I pulled in there and dropped the trolling motor, and there were just hundreds of them everywhere.”
Later in the morning, Shuffield spotted bird activity in a couple other nearby pockets. That has him excited for the Championship Round. The Arkansas pro has long been one of the best on tour at using forward-facing sonar to target suspended bass, and he’s counting on a strong Period 1 again tomorrow – although he also understands how fickle Hartwell’s blueback herring-chasing bass can be, saying “they could all be gone in the morning.”
“After the ‘Scope period was over, I stayed kind of in that area the first 45 minutes of the second period,” Shuffield explained. “I pulled in two more drains that birds were diving in; they were blowing up all in [there]. So, there’s no telling the potential in those places as well.”
Shuffield’s strong first period freed him up to use the rest of the day to sample other areas and techniques. He added a couple scorable bass on a lipless crankbait, then mixed in others on a plug and a jig.
That mainly served to eliminate water, which Shuffield said is important on a lake as vast as Hartwell. He won’t have quite as many ideas floating through his mind during the Championship Round. He also gained some confidence in the lipless crankbait, which he thinks could get better if the high winds forecast for Sunday materialize.
“It kind of gave me some confidence in my lipless bite, because I did throw that a little bit in the second period, and I caught two scorable bass on it the second period with no wind,” he said. “That’s a very wind-dependent bite, and I still managed to catch two decent ones on it. Tomorrow, with the wind blowing like it is, I'm probably just going to throw my lipless all day.”
Shuffield predicted the winning weight will be 52 pounds. A few days after arriving at Hartwell with “little to no expectations,” he thinks he has a realistic shot to get there and earn his long-awaited first BPT victory.
“I want to win so bad,” he said. “It’d be a dream come true, for sure, to win one. I’ve been so close. I would love to get the job done tomorrow.”
Wheeler’s strategic mastery has been a big reason why he’s won 10 Bass Pro Tour events and four of the past five Fishing Clash Angler of the Year titles. This event will mark his 40th Top-10 finish in 61 career BPT events, which is miles ahead of everyone else ( Micheal Neal is second with 23).
His ability to think multiple steps ahead was on full display Saturday.
Wheeler, too, had a strong opening period, when he totaled 24-4 using forward-facing sonar. Within the first 90 minutes of Period 2, he’d added another 15 pounds, putting plenty of distance between himself and the Lucas Oil cut line.
At that point, he switched back into information-gathering mode. He actually caught the last scorable bass he weighed despite trying to cover his hook point. Before making another cast, he cut off the hook entirely. Later, while throwing a different bait with a hook, he caught a couple bass that looked like they might score (and give him the top spot on SCORETRACKER®), but Wheeler opted not to weigh them because a competitor was fishing nearby, and Wheeler didn’t want him to know the spot had potential.
“It’s just so nice to be able to run around,” he said. “Of course, these guys find everything. But it’s definitely really important to be able to do that.”
Finishing the day in second with 16 bass for 42-4, Jacob Wheeler has been able to use large portions of each of the past two days to explore new water. He’s fished in a different section of the lake all three days and developed three distinct patterns that he has confidence in – a forward-facing sonar bite, throwing a vibrating jig in stained water (his primary approach Saturday afternoon) and cranking in cleaner water.
Having options could be important Sunday, especially with the conditions expected to shift.
“You just have to take what this lake gives you,” Wheeler said. “I might go run and throw a vibrating jig for an hour, and it might not go down. Then, I might transition to the clean water because the conditions are right. You never can lock yourself into a game plan, especially with the conditions changing like they are.”
The challenge between now and Sunday morning will be figuring out which bite might be best at what time of day and which area of Hartwell to prioritize. Given Wheeler’s track record, it’s a safe bet he’ll take the water with a well-thought-out game plan.
“I have to figure out how I want to go about it,” he said. “But I’ll be running around, for sure, trying to figure it out.”
Saturday saw an especially chaotic fight to finish above the Lucas Oil cut line. Three anglers moved into the top nine in the final period, all on the strength of 4-plus pounders: Ott DeFoe , Jesse Wiggins and Justin Cooper . Then, needing a 2-15 to climb above the cut, Wall landed a 3-5 spotted bass in the final minute before lines out to jump into ninth and bump Mitchell Robinson to 10th.
A pair of rookies, Banks Shaw and Jacob Walker , have now made the Championship Round in each of their first two BPT events. Wheeler and Cooper have also opened the season with consecutive Top 10s.
The pros that now advance to Championship Sunday on Lake Hartwell are:
1st: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 18 bass, 46-14
2nd: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 16 bass, 42-4
3rd: Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 14 bass, 36-1
4th: Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 13 bass, 34-15
5th: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 12 bass, 34-13
6th: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 12 bass, 33-9
7th: Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 11 bass, 31-3
8th: Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 10 bass, 29-10
9th: Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 11 bass, 29-3
*QR Winner: Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan
Eliminated from competition are:
11th: Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 10 bass, 28-12, $15,900
12th: Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., 11 bass, 27-12, $15,800
13th: Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., nine bass, 25-12, $15,700
14th: Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., seven bass, 24-7, $15,600
15th: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., eight bass, 24-4, $15,500
16th: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., nine bass, 23-2, $15,400
17th: Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., nine bass, 22-14, $15,300
18th: Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, six bass, 17-12, $15,200
19th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., six bass, 17-3, $15,100
20th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., four bass, 13-5, $15,000
21st: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., four bass, 10-6, $15,000
22nd: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., four bass, 9-6, $15,000
23rd: Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., three bass, 7-7, $15,000
24th: Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, three bass, 6-12, $15,000
25th: Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., two bass, 5-9, $15,000
A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 212 bass caught weighing 583 pounds, 3 ounces, caught by the 24 Bass Pro Tour anglers on Saturday.
Saturday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award was earned by Mitchell Robinson of Landrum, South Carolina, who caught a 5-pound, 15-ounce largemouth in the second period on a Neko rig. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.
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Major League Fishing (MLF)