Ott DeFoe Wins BASS Northern Open Douglas Lake
He totaled up 62-05 over 3 days, including a whopping tournament-best 24-01 on day 3 to beat fellow Elite Series pro and Tennessee native David Mullins by nearly 10 pounds. "It's a thrill (to win at home)," DeFoe said. "Every event we've had here, I've done well in and made the Top 12. I don't take that lightly. Having led the PAA (at Douglas) after day 2 last year and not winning kind of burned me so there's no greater feeling than to win here, especially at home." DeFoe opted to limit his time on the water prior to the competition for a couple reasons. First, he has such vast knowledge of the lake and how the fish typically set up this time of year on certain areas that he didn't feel it necessary to roam around trying to set the hook a bunch of times. Second, he frankly didn't want to be seen stopping or idling on certain locales, knowing that could be a tip-off to other competitors. "I practiced about 5 hours Tuesday and 5 or 6 hours Wednesday," he added. "And very little was spent fishing. I mainly was idling and looking at stuff. Timing is such a big thing here. Even if you pull up on your best spot right now, they might not be there. Whether I caught them somewhere in practice I really didn't put any stock in it." While idling, he took note of the areas that were getting hammered or pressured in an effort to "check the senses of the community holes," which aren't very well hidden on the latest mapping chips. With that in mind, he began looking at secondary areas that he felt could be holding quality fish. "The deep fishing was kind of off a little bit from what it had been a couple weeks ago," he said. "It'd been getting like it should be, but maybe the boat traffic and fishing pressure got to them. It was still a way to catch them, but it wasn't the best or only way. "I totally expected to never make a cast shallow. I just never thought it would be a consideration.
Competition:
DeFoe couldn't have scripted a better morning on day 1 as he had 19 pounds in the boat by 9:15 a.m. Three of his weigh fish fell for a Rapala DT-16 crank, another came on a 1/2-ounce jig and the other was on a swimbait. They were all "deep fish," he added. "My game plan was to fish up the lake a bit, but the fish aren't usually as big as down lake," he said. "Typically, you're going to catch 2 1/2- to 3 1/2-pounders up there. Four-pounders are at a premium. With that in my mind I had the idea that I'd be able to catch 16 or 17 pounds and come back down lake and fish for two or three big bites (5-pounders) the rest of the day." He was fortunate to nab to 4 3/4-pounders where he least expected them, but the rest of the day was a skunk-fest. "I fished the rest of the day and never landed another bass," he said. "I was all over the lower half of the lake. I never imagined I could fish that many good places for that amount of time and not catch one. People caught them down there. It's not like they didn't bite, but it really irked me that I didn't catch 'em."
After day 1, he eliminated the lower end from his game plan going forward. "I'd caught a couple fish that were better than expected up the lake and the weights overall were a little off," he said. "I thought all along that someone was going to get to 60 (pounds) and they'd have a 23-pound day along the way and that it would likely be on the first day." A boat was already occupying his day-1 starting spot when he got there on day 2, so he opted to bounce around to the places that produced the previous day. He finished his first limit while doubling back on one area and his initial stringer was in the 11-pound neighborhood, coming off "similar stuff or places as day 1." "At that point, I was in scramble mode bouncing around to new water," he said. "I worked my way up lake and wound up flipping up three good fish - a 5-pounder, a 4-plus and a 3-pounder." Those went to the stage with him, as did two others that ate the DT-16. His 19-01 stringer gave him the day-2 lead with 38-04. "Day 1 went so easy in one respect, but the second half of the day was really frustrating," he said.
"Day 2 was more of a struggle, but it came together and it worked out. My mindset going into the final day was I needed to catch 15 pounds to have a chance, but I wasn't going to feel good until I got to 20." He tried to guard against fishing conservatively and went to a few places he hadn't been to. "I bounced around and worked my way up to hit some deep stuff I hadn't been to," he said. "I almost got to where I had flipped on day 2, then went to a shallow rock pile that had a little bit of current just below it." He threw a square-bill on that spot and left with four in the livewell, including a 4-plus pounder. He then did some deeper cranking and caught another 4-plus to get him to around 16 pounds. "Then I went back up to the shallow rocks and I got them figured out right where they were and sat there and hammered them pretty good," he added. "I got to 21 pounds there and wound up catching my biggest one on a swimbait at around 1:15. That was definitely the icing on the cake." His 24-pound final-day total caught him off guard. "It was more than I could've imagined," he added. "It was one of those special days. I caught more fish on day 3 than on the first 2 days combined. I was able to get in the right place and get the right bait and cast figured out."
Winning Pattern:
DeFoe did employ the strolling or long-lining method on day 1 to get his cranks down to their max running depth, but none of the fish he weighed in came out of water deeper than 18 feet. "Most of the fish were right on the bottom," he said. "Some areas were rock or slick bottom where there was just a contour change. There were some bars or points, but it was pretty slick. We call them river slicks. They're just the rounded tops of rocks." His crankbait retrieve was steady and fast and at times, he would stop and start to give the baits an erratic-looking motion.
Winning Gear:
Deep cranking gear: 7'8" medium-heavy Fenwick Elite Tech Bass casting rod, Pflueger Supreme casting reel (5.4:1 ratio), 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, Rapala DT-16 (Caribbean shad).
Flipping gear: 7'5" heavy-action Fenwick Elite Tech Bass casting rod, Pflueger Patriarch casting reel (7.9:1 ratio), 30-pound Berkley Trilene Braid line, 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line (leader), 1/2-oz. Terminator Pro Series Jig (Texas craw), unnamed chunk trailer (green-pumpkin).
Square-bill cranking gear: 7'2" medium-action Fenwick HMG casting rod, Pflueger Supreme XT casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, Storm Arashi Silent 3 crankbait (hot blue shad).
The Elite Tech Bass rods will be introduced at ICAST. On his square-bill retrieve: "I was burning that thing so fast," he said. "I caught them winding as fast as I've ever wound a crank."
Main factor: "My local knowledge and knowing I didn't need to fish something in practice. If I saw something I liked, I'd put it on my checklist for the tournament, so knowing the lake really well was a big key."
Performance edge: "I covered a lot of ground and my Nitro boat and Merbcury motor held up really well. I needed them to with as much running around as I did. Also, the Humminbird 360 Imaging on offshore stuff is incredible. I've used it for about a year now and I love it more every day."
Table Rock Lake Winning Pattern Bassfan 6/3/14 (Todd Ceisner)
