Team Lucas Oil duo of Neal and Strader advance to Knockout Round with second-place finish

MANCHESTER, Tenn. (Oct. 20, 2026) – Team MillerTech’s Adrian Avena of Marmora, New Jersey, and Jacob Wheeler of Birchwood, Tennessee, found themselves in a league of their own Tuesday on Tims Ford Lake, combining for 40 pounds, 9 ounces of scorable bass to dominate Elimination Match 3 of the Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^® Repellents. The duo outpaced the competition by nearly 19 pounds, delivering the most decisive winning performance of the second 2026 MLF Starlink Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops event thus far and easily securing their place in the Knockout Round.

While Team MillerTech’s lead was never seriously threatened, Team Lucas Oil had to work considerably harder to secure its place above the Lucas Oil Cut Line. Michael Neal and Wesley Strader began the morning targeting shallow-water fish with buzzbaits but eventually found a productive forward-facing sonar bite during the final period to secure the remaining advancement spot and finish the day in second with a total of 13 bass for 21-11.

The late adjustment vaulted Neal and Strader past Team OFF! Deep Woods’ Ott DeFoe and Andy Montgomery, who appeared poised to advance through much of the day. The 2024 Heritage Cupchampions’ momentum stalled in the final period, however, ultimately allowing Team Lucas Oil to overtake them. They finished the day in third with 10 bass for 16-1.

Team Knighten Industries’ David Dudley and Jacob Wall also struggled to establish a sustainable bite, finishing the day with just four scorable bass for 5-5.

Link to Hi-Res Photo of Heritage Cup Elimination Round Match 3 Winner Team MillerTech
Link to HD Video Clip of Heritage Cup Elimination Round Match 3 Highlights
Link to Morning Photo Gallery: Heritage Cup Elimination Round finale underway on Tims Ford Lake

After two days of competition in which anglers primarily focused on the stained water in the backs of creeks, Avena and Wheeler took a different approach, venturing into a clearer section of Tims Ford Lake that had largely gone untouched by the previous two days’ competitors. The decision proved pivotal, as the pair discovered an aggressive shallow-water bite that allowed them to cover water quickly and capitalize on bass positioned along shaded banks.

Rather than relying on forward-facing sonar, the duo put the trolling motor on high and worked their way down the shoreline with a variety of moving baits. Avena found success with a bladed jig, while Wheeler – a two-time Team Series Cup champion and four-time Bass Pro Tour Angler of the Year – mixed in topwater presentations and a minnow-style bait. Their approach combined the shade-oriented pattern that had produced for other teams earlier in the week with a different section of the lake and more natural-colored presentations suited to the clearer water.

The pattern began taking shape early in the opening period, when Avena picked up a bladed jig and quickly connected with a bass. A few additional bites confirmed they were onto something, and the pair spent the remainder of the day running similar stretches of shoreline, steadily building a lead that the rest of the field couldn’t overcome.

“This is the time of year that you can catch some really good bass on topwater baits,” Avena said. “On the second stretch we hit, I was able to catch one. Then I had a couple bites really quick, and instantly the light bulb went off. I could tell Jacob was thinking the same thing – here we go, we’re about to catch a bunch of bass.”

The approach produced more than 20 scorable bass for Team MillerTech, with Avena leading all anglers on the water in both total weight (21-13) and number of scorable bass (13). Wheeler contributed steady production of his own, and the pair’s ability to keep moving and replicate their pattern across different stretches of shoreline allowed them to steadily separate themselves from the competition.

“It was kind of a hodgepodge, just running the bank,” Wheeler said. “Once Adrian got on that deal early this morning, we were able to run with it and establish a pattern. That was the most fun part of it. We were just covering water and catching fish.”

For Avena, the success was especially rewarding given the notoriously challenging fall fishing conditions, when scattered baitfish and changing water temperatures can make it difficult to establish a consistent pattern.

“Not too often do you get to catch more than 20 bass, especially this time of year,” Avena said. “This is one of the toughest times of the year to bass fish, and to do what we did is really a testament to the lake. Tims Ford Lake is a phenomenal fishery with a lot of bass in it. We had a great day of bass fishing just fishing the old-school, traditional way.”

The top two teams from Elimination Round Match 3 at the Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^® Repellents that now advance to the Knockout Round are:

1st:          Team MillerTech, 22 bass, 40-9
Adrian Avena, Marmora, N.J., 13 bass, 21-13
Jacob Wheeler, Birchwood, Tenn., nine bass, 18-12

2nd:        Team Lucas Oil, 13 bass, 21-11
Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., eight bass, 13-9
Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., five bass, 8-2

Eliminated from competition are:

3rd:         Team OFF! Deep Woods, 10 bass, 16-1
Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., five bass, 8-3
Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., five bass, 7-14

4th:         Team Knighten Industries, four bass, 5-5
David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., two bass, 2-13
Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., two bass, 2-8

Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 49 bass weighing 83 pounds, 10 ounces caught by the four teams in Elimination Round Match 3 on the Tims Ford Lake Tuesday. Team MillerTech pro Jacob Wheeler caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a 2-pound, 14-ounce bass.

With the Elimination Round now complete, six teams remain in contention for the Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^®  Repellents. Wednesday’s Knockout Round Match 1 will feature Team Lowrance’s Takahiro Omori and Dean Rojas, Team Star brite’s Bobby and Chris Lane and Lucas Oil’s Michael Neal and Wesley Strader. Team MillerTech’s Adrian Avena and Jacob Wheeler, Team B&W Trailer Hitches’ Todd Faircloth and Nick LeBrun and Team Ferguson’s Brent Ehrler and Justin Lucas will compete in Thursday’s Knockout Round Match 2. The top two teams from each match will advance to Friday’s Championship Round.

The Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^® Repellents is hosted by Experience Tennessee, in partnership with Manchester, TN , Winchester, TN, the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, Bill Dance Signature Lakes and Fish Tennessee, and takes place over six days in Manchester, Tennessee. The competition water for each day is top secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning. Anglers are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 9:15 a.m. CT.

The MLFNOW! ^® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!^® is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and Rumble. The final hour of each day of competition will be broadcast live from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET on RFD-TV.

The Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^®  Repellents features 12 two-man teams divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three Elimination Round matches will feature four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 & 5. In the Knockout Rounds, three teams compete each day, with the top two teams from each Knockout Round match moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6. In Friday’s Day 6 Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the 2026 Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^®  Repellents.

The MLF Starlink Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops features four Cup events in 2026 – the Patriot, Heritage, Challenge, and Summit Cups – with 12 two-man teams of Bass Pro Tour anglers competing for a share of  $560,000 in prize money. Teams were formed through a selection process, where 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2026.

The MLF Starlink Team Series Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^® Repellents will also air on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon beginning in February 2027. The complete television schedule for the Starlink Team Series on Outdoor Channel will be posted at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Proud sponsors of the MLF Starlink Team Series include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Boat Technologies, Bass Pro Shops, Bass Force, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Ferguson, Grizzly Nicotine Pouches, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, OFF! Deep Woods Repellents, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Starlink, Toyota, YETI, Yuengling and Zenni.

For complete details and updated information on the MLF Starlink Team Series, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook,  X, Instagram and  YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Outdoor Channel, VICE, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.