Wheeler and Connell Close Out the Year By Crushing the Team Series
Jacob Wheeler and Dustin Connell spent the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season trading blows. Wheeler claimed his fourth AOY title and Connell won the Redcrest event for the third time.
For both of them, it marked consecutive titles, which means that the two best friends have had the tour in a virtual lockdown for the better part of two years. That was extra bad news for the competition when the two champion anglers paired up for October’s Bass Pro Tour Team Series in Alabama.
Surprising exactly nobody who has followed the recent history of the sport, they emerged victorious, beating their closest competitors by nearly 45 pounds in the Championship Round to win the Patriot Cup Presented. And equally predictably, their weapon of choice was the CrushCity™ Mooch Minnow™ paired with various sizes of the VMC® Redline Series® Tungsten Swimbait Jigs.
Team Series Format Suits Them Well
While professional bass angling is a sport full of Type A personalities who like to get their way, one key to the pair’s victory was that both had no trouble suppressing their egos in order to experience collective success.
“We come at it from a place of mutual respect,” Wheeler said. “If he believes something strongly, I’ll definitely say ‘Let’s ride!’ This was a tournament where we had no practice and had to fish three different lakes, so it was all about how quickly we could make adjustments.”
Of course, they were in Connell’s backyard, but he said that he’d never been on Wedowee or Weiss, so the local advantage might’ve been muted, except for the fact that his intimate knowledge of Coosa River spots translated well.
“I think he knows this, but I look up to him a lot,” Connell said. “He’s on another level. That’s why he’s won more tournaments than anyone else I know. But we fish a lot alike – we both like finding groups of bass – and I’m probably one of the only people in the world who if I said we need to drop everything and do something else, he’d trust me. He didn’t have to do that at all, but he did.”
They built upon Connell’s knowledge of Logan Martin, agreeing to fish a particular area to find the highly-nomadic spots and then Wheeler’s instincts and knowledge took them to the drain where they did most of their damage.
“He put us right on the winning spot,” Connell said.
More on the Mooch Minnow
Both pros have been integral in the development of the CrushCity lineup, and their work has paid off handsomely. “This year was the second time I’ve won Redcrest using the Mooch Minnow,” Connell said.
Indeed, the list of tournaments the pair have won on baits using their own design since CrushCity’s inception is substantial, producing well into the seven-figure mark in winnings, but in an era when “pinging minnows” seem to be a dime a dozen, this one does a little something extra.
“It catches big largemouth, big smallmouth and big spotted bass because it has a perfect resemblance to common baitfish,” Wheeler said. “But the biggest thing that separates it to me is that it has a secondary action with the tail. If you look at threadfin shad, they’re not rocking side-to-side. Instead, they’re just barely twitch as they move. You can even modify it for more or less action by changing the tail or changing the weight of the head. This time, we cut the bottom tab off of it to make it more subtle, so instead of a kicking action that goes from 11 o’clock to 1 o’clock, it was more like 11:30-12:30.
While the Mooch Minnow comes in three sizes, the pair keyed in on the 3.5” size this time around because it’s at it’s best when fish are skittish or highly pressured.
“It’s subtle and lifelike, but it doesn’t rule out big fish,” Connell said. “I’ve caught plenty of big fish on Guntersville on that size. And that tail is a difference-maker. You can actually just reel it and get the perfect action, where you can barely tell the tail is moving.”
They used the tungsten jigheads for a compact package and because they’re more visible on forward-facing sonar, but switched up between ¼ and 3/8 ounce sizes depending on where in the water column they found the fish. While Albino Shad contributed some catches, the majority of their damage – as seems to happen everywhere – came on Gizzard Shad.
“I don’t care where you’re fishing, that’s the single best all-around color there is.”
Connell stated "I was throwing a 7’1” Medium action 13 Fishing Oath rod. That's my go-to. We have a 6’9” for when I'm throwing the 2.5-inch Mooch or lighter heads. A little bit shorter rod and a little bit lighter line is the deal for lighter heads and smaller Mooch Minnows, but the 7’1” Oath is in my hand most of the time.”
Wheeler stuck to his tried and true 10# Sufix® Revolve™ in hi-vis green and a 10# Sufix® Advance® Fluorocarbon leader. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
Onto the Next Victory
So how does a pair of anglers, both barely into the latter half of their thirties, maintain this dominance?
“Staying on top of the game doesn’t come from complacency,” Wheeler said. Indeed, while their travel schedules will calm down a bit over the next few months, they’re constantly thinking about how to get better – and how to add strategically to the CrushCity and VMC lineup. As they headed home from the victory, big trophies at their sides, they spent more than 40 minutes on the phone recapping their decisions and planning for the future.
The rivalry exists, but Connell said that “he’s my best friend. I treat him like a brother.” Indeed, when Wheeler won a team event earlier in the season with one of their road roommates Mark Daniels Jr. and Connell and Adrian Avena (the fourth member of the quartet) finished second. Connell said “it felt like I won, too.”
Even when they’re not formally a team, it seems, there’s still teamwork going on – and the expectation is that they’ll only get better.
“You’re only as good as your last tournament,” Wheeler concluded. “Which makes it especially sweet that DC and I ended on this positive note.”