The first person Jacob Wheeler thought about when the REDCREST 2026 countdown clock hit zero was not on the dock. It was his father — the man who told anyone who would listen, when Wheeler was 13 or 14, that his son was going to be a world champion.
"My dad was probably my biggest fan," Wheeler said in a long interview five days after his $300,000 win at Table Rock Lake. "There were times I'd had to pull my dad back. I'd say 'Dad, you got to stop telling these people this, please.' He was always proud."
The Indiana pro has talked about his late father before, but rarely at this length. On Saturday night, with the trophy locked up, Wheeler said the significance hit him all at once.
"I knew he wanted to see me win more than anybody," he said. "To be able to get another championship under the belt and knowing that he's up there in heaven — that was a moment I felt like was heavy."
The championship ends a 13- to 14-year wait since Wheeler's first national title, the Forrest Wood Cup he won in his rookie season. He has finished second multiple times on the sport's biggest stages without closing the deal.
"It was a tournament that was on — it was a monkey on my back, it was a thorn in my side," he said. "It was just nice to check that box."
Wheeler leaned on family throughout the week. Between competition periods he FaceTimed his wife — his "partner" in what is otherwise a solitary sport — and checked in with his daughter Olivia, who is already a committed if creatively-accurate publicist.
"She told someone the other day, 'Dad, my dad won Red Crest and won $3,000,'" Wheeler laughed. "Maybe not 3,000. But she sees the hoisting trophies."
The strategic fulcrum of the tournament came on day two. Sitting in fourth with around 76 pounds, Wheeler made the unusual decision to cut the hooks off his baits to stop himself accidentally catching fish from spots he wanted to protect for the championship round.
"I was literally saving fish," he said. "I could have caught a heck of a lot more on day one, but I was saving places that I knew I could catch them on. If I had to use a lot of the fish that I had located on day one or day two to qualify, it's not going to be as good when you go back on the championship day."
He slipped as far as ninth before clawing back inside the cut. An official repeatedly told him he was four pounds from elimination.
"It looks like it was super sketchy and close, and it was, but it was controlled chaos," Wheeler said. "The odds of someone catching a four-pounder in the last 10 minutes and a four-and-a-half and then eight, and passing me, were probably not real high."
Wheeler's pattern ran counter to the field. Rather than work the obvious spawning pockets, he fished main-creek arms where the fish were coming, going and spawning in less pressured water.
"A lot of times bass will spawn on bluff-end style places — they'll spawn on 45-degree banks on a main creek arm," he said. "Not as many people are going to be there. But when you find them, they typically replenish."
He said he sensed the title was on from the middle of day two.
"I looked back at my camera guy Nick and Sam and I told them, 'this just got interesting', because I knew I had a rotation that now I could envision winning on."
Despite the REDCREST weight, Wheeler is adamant about what he rates above it.
"Angler of the Year is still the number one achievement any angler can make because you're the best angler for the season," he said. "One tournament defining you is cool, but a season makes bigger impacts."
Beaver Lake is next — another Ozark reservoir, another week of competition.
"I'm going to enjoy this one before I worry about the next one," he said. "I have a week before we go to Beaver, but I'm going to enjoy it."