As easy as it would've been to spend the last year fantasizing about winning the Bassmaster Classic in his hometown, Ott DeFoe refused to give in to the temptation. "I'm one of those people who tries not to think about the kind of stuff you can't control," DeFoe said. "I try to take each day at a time and I get in trouble for that a lot because [my wife] Jennie says I don't prepare very well and I don't think very far into the future. I just worry about the here and now and take the rest as it comes." Rather than tie himself up in knots about it, he focused first on qualifying for the event and once that hurdle was cleared, the thoughts shifted to how to be productive and effective during the tournament. Winning was never an expectation, only a product of well-executed strategy combined with some good fortune.
"Once it was announced I wanted to fish well all year on the Elite Series and make sure I made it," he said. "Once that was done, I kind of let it enter my mind, but it was just about the tournament, not about winning. It was just about how I was going to catch them and how the weather would affect it and what would the water levels be doing. I kept constant tabs on that stuff from November until now. I thought about it, but it was not about the winning moment. It was always about how am I going to catch the fish once the time comes." When the time came, he committed to a shallow-water game plan focusing exclusively on hard-bottom stretches or submerged hard targets (wood, stumps) in water no deeper than seven feet. Reaction baits dominated the event and DeFoe's stringers were made up largely of bass caught on a lipless crankbait and a vibrating jig. The plan went swimmingly on day 1 as he registered the lone 20-pound bag (20-00) among the 52 competitors to take the early lead. He stumbled a bit on day 2 with a little more than 10 pounds before storming back on Sunday with 18-14 to capture the win, earning a victory lap around the inside of a packed Thompson-Boling Arena.
Practice:
DeFoe typically bypasses visiting the Classic venue before it goes off limits after Dec. 31, but having not spent any significant time on Lou-Tel in many years, he spent a couple days there in December and idled while studying what he was seeing on his Humminbird Side Imaging. "I already knew what I was looking for - shallow stuff off shore like hard spots, wood, brush, stumps, whatever, from 2 to 7 feet deep," he said. "That's what I was going to fish win, lose or draw." When the three-day practice session arrived the weekend before the tournament, he had to be cautious about what spots he was seen fishing. As the "local favorite," he didn't want to tip his hand regarding what or where he planned to fish. "Of the half dozen or so primo spots on the lake, I fished one and I got three bites on it and caught a 2-pounder," he said. "I knew I'd fish those places regardless if I got bit on them in practice or not. That's why I didn't want to spend any time on them or draw any attention to them."
Competition:
The opening day of the 49th Classic will be remembered for the stiff wind that blew against the natural current of the river. It didn't slow DeFoe down, though. He caught two smallmouth (both 18-plus inches) from the area he fished in practice and wound up weighing in four bass on a lipless crankbait and one caught on a shallow-diving Rapala crankbait. While his 20-00 total, which included a 6-pound kicker, topped the field and reinforced his pre-tournament favorite status, he knew the rest of the tournament wouldn't be a cakewalk. "I knew it wouldn't be easy because I knew how special that day was," he said. "The last fish I culled was not a 2-pounder. It wasn't like I went through a bunch of 2 1/2s. It looked really good on paper. I got five good bites and landed every one of them." He relinquished the lead on day 2 - he caught three on a vibrating jig and two on a lipless crank - and opted to channel his disappointment in an effort to get refocused for Sunday. "I was upset after (Saturday) because of having such a big bag the first day," he said. "I feel like slipping that bad, not even catching 12 or 13 pounds, which would've kept me in the lead, I majorly shot myself in the foot. Having that really bad, off day allowed me to fish a lot freer (Sunday) and not have anything to lose."
Among the spots he fished was the one that produced the two smallmouth on Friday. On day 2, however, the fish seemed to bit differently. "I had four or five bites there and they'd stick for a second, then pull off. They just bit weird," he said. Still, he had confidence things would come together for him, but they never did. "I thought that it would happen well enough because the worst day of practice I had was probably 14 pounds," he added. "I knew if I had equal to my worst day of practice at that point, I'd probably be just fine." He left the dock Sunday two pounds behind leader Jacob Wheeler and landed two keepers on a jerkbait to break the ice early on. "Those were, by far, the deepest fish I caught all week," he said, guessing they were 6 or 7 feet down. "I never caught fish as deep as I thought I would. From the time practice started, they were all as shallow as I expected them to be."
From there, it was a grind until he heeded a tip he'd received from Keith Poche prior to the day-2 weigh. Poche had mentioned to DeFoe losing several quality fish along the outside of a floating dock at the Fort Loudoun Marina near Fort Loudoun Dam. DeFoe headed that way and turned his day around with a vibrating jig. Later on, he upgraded with a 4-pounder to seal the win. While DeFoe enjoyed a stellar day Sunday - his 18-14 bag was one of just five 18-pound bags caught in the tournament - others struggled as a result of the conditions. "It was primarily to do - at least 75 percent of being a tough day - with it being the second day after a front," DeFoe explained. "We were almost a half day off anyway because that front system that come through, Thursday would've really been the day for it to be a catch-fest. It was warm and windy. Most of our fronts are pretty well on time with morning and evening, but that front was kind of halfway through the day so when we went out on Friday, clouds were already starting to break up, but we still had a south wind. It was post-frontal skies, but with the south wind. That was, to me, what made Friday good. "Saturday, you had the real bluebird skies, but already had the north wind. That's typically the day-after sort of thing and Sunday was the second full day after the front where you have the coldest night. It doesn't warm up throughout the day so that throws them a big curveball. We had high, bright skies and no wind. As far as the current in the system, there really wasn't any less. It was exactly the same today as it was Saturday. There wasn't any wind to help position those fish any."
Winning Pattern:
Lipless crankbait gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Crankin' Stick casting rod, casting reel (6.8:1 ratio), 17-pound fluorocarbon line, Storm Arashi Vibe (rusty craw).
DeFoe added additional coloring to the bait with orange, red and black permanent markers).
Vibrating jig gear: Same rod as lipless, Carbonlite casting reel (7.5:1 ratio), same line, 3/8-oz. unnamed vibrating jig (chartreuse/white), unnamed fluke-style trailer (pearl white).
Crankbait gear: 7' medium-heavy Crankin' Stick casting rod, same reel as lipless, same line (14-pound), Rapala DT-4 (dark brown craw).
On the crankbaits, he swapped the stock hooks for #2 VMC hybrid short-shank trebles (lipless) and a #4 on the DT-4.
Bassmaster Classic Winning Pattern BassFan 3/19/19 (Todd Ceisner)
Jacob Wheeler came within one place of joining George Cochran, Davy Hite, David Fritts, Dion Hibdon and Luke Clausen as winners of both the Classic and Forrest Wood Cup. He held the lead after day 2, but his final-round stringer was his smallest of the event and left him almost 4 pounds behind winner Ott DeFoe. He spent the tournament in the mid to lower portion of Lake Loudon, which was where the vast majority of the contenders concentrated their efforts. The water there wasn't as high or dirty as it was in a lot of places and the main-river current was moderate. He had three patterns going on - gradually sloping banks on the main river and flats in the creeks that he fished with a rattlebait, relatively steep banks that he worked with a square-bill crankbait and more vertical bluffs where fish were receptive to a deeper-diving plug. His rotation consisted of eight to 10 places where fish were holding in 1 to 6 feet of water.
He weighed in 10 smallmouths, which was more than anyone else in the top 5 (a member of that species had to be at least 18 inches long to be eligible for the scale). His entire day-2 bag was composed of brown fish - the only such haul of the tournament. "I was catching about 20 fish every day," he said. "I had to throw back quite a few smallmouths that were just a little bit short. "When I'd get into an area, I'd make several casts into what I thought were the most productive zones. Angles were everything - (on day 3) I made 10 straight casts to a subtle current seam around a dock and got no bites, but then I moved closer to the bank and changed the angle and caught a good one on my first cast."
Gear:
Rattlebait gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Duckett Fishing Jacob Wheeler Signature Series rod, Duckett Fishing 360 RB casting reel, 17-pound Sufix Advance fluorocarbon line, Storm Arashi Vibe (red craw).
Cranking gear: 7'2" medium-action Duckett Fishing Jacob Wheeler Signature Series rod, same reel, 14-pound Sufix Advance fluorocarbon, Rapala DT 6 (demon) or unnamed square-bill crankbait (red).
Bassmaster 2-5 Patterns BassFan 3/20/19 (Todd Ceisner)
Jesse Wiggins' weights trended in a positive direction for three consecutive days. That wouldn't have been the case if he'd landed his two biggest bites on day 2. "Those were the only two fish I lost all week," he said. "I still wouldn't have had enough to win, but that cost me 4 pounds. He started out throwing a Jackall Bling 55 square-bill in practice. He hooked a broken line that had custom-pained flat-sided plug attached to it and, figuring the angler who lost it probably knew what he was doing on the venue, he began fishing it.
He eventually surrendered that bait to the lake, just as the previous owner had, but was able to find two just like it at a local tackle shop and managed to keep those throughout the event. He also employed a Strike King KVD 1.5 for its propensity to come through laydowns. He focused on laydowns on flatter banks and little rough spots on points. The vast majority of his fish came from the 5- to 7-foot depth range. "I had two whole creeks that weren't getting much pressure Ð I only saw one or two other boats the whole time. I'd go through the both twice every day. I hit some other places too, but those two were where I caught them all."
Cranking gear: 6'10" medium-heavy St. Croix Legend glass composite rod, unnamed casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 12-pound Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon line, custom-painted square-bill crankbait (reddish with some green mixed in) or Strike King KVD 1.5 (red craw).
Mike Iaconelli recovered from a lackluster day 1 to post his 11th top-10 finish in 20 appearances in the Classic. He did most of his damage on days 2 and 3 in the first couple hours from a culvert surrounded by natural rock backed up by rip-rap. There were periods on both days when he was getting bit on nearly every cast. "It was special because they're normally not ganged up like that in the pre-spawn Ð that's usually a post-spawn/summer thing," he said. "The conditions made it a double-whammy because you had flat, natural rock and the culvert that was drawing current. Fish were going in to spawn and coming out because the current was dropping.
"In practice, I though the (maximum weight) for that place was 10 pounds because I never caught one over two. I'd catch one and look down and there'd be eight or 10 other fish behind it, but they were all the same size. It got a lot better on the second and third day Ð there were some bigger ones there." Twelve of the 15 fish he took to the scale bit a Rapala DT 6 crankbait. He used the Caribbean shad color on the first two days and switched to smash (also a shad imitation but with a green back and some orange on the throat) when the water cleaned up a bit on day 3. He changed casting angles frequently and said it was critical for the bait to contact the bottom. "It was a total deflection bite," he said.
Cranking gear: 7'3" medium-action Abu Garcia Ike Signature Delay rod, Abu Garcia Revo Ike casting reel (6.6:1 ratio), 10- or 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon line, Rapala DT 6 (Caribbean shad or smash).
His other three fish came on either a half-ounce black Missile Ike's Mini Flip Jig with a Berkley Mini Chunk trailer (black/blue) or a Molix Water Slash spinnerbait (chartreuse/white with double Colorado blades) with a Berkley Power Grup (chartreuse) threaded onto the hook.
Mark Daniels Jr. was just a half-pound out of the lead after day 2, but his final-day haul was easily his smallest of the event and he finished more than 7 pounds off of DeFoe's winning number. He worked four main-river places that were all within 3 miles of each other. He pulled fish from depths that ranged from 2 to 7 feet. "I was fishing transitions, but not real obvious ones," he said. "I was catching fish that were making their way into the pockets (to spawn, but weren't quite there yet. A lot of them were on golf ball-size rock and there weren't too many other guys fishing that."
He didn't get a lot of bites - averaging only seven or eight per day. He got just five on day 2, when he weighed his biggest stringer of the tournament. "I had one spot on Tellico that I never did get around to checking," he said. "It's water under the bridge now, but I would've liked to have gotten over there and thrown a couple of times." Two Bill Lewis baits - a half-ounce Rat-L-Trap in red crawfish and his new signature series Mr-6 crankbait - were his primary offerings. He caught all five of his day-3 fish on a square-bill given to him by fellow competitor Cliff Pace. "He makes it personally and I'm not sure what he calls it. I know he calls the color spring craw."
Cranking gear: 7'2" medium-heavy cranking rod, Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Signature Series Platinum casting reel (6.8:1 ratio), 15-pound Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap (red crawfish), Bill Lewis MR-6 (strawberry craw or chartreuse blaze) or handmade square-bill (spring craw).
He completed his limit on day 2 with a 4-pounder that bit a spinnerbait that was given to him by Wheeler.
Bassmaster Classic 2-5 Patterns BassFan 3/20/19 (Todd Ceisner)