Ott DeFoe's Pattern, Baits & Gear
Ott Defoe cruised into the Classic on a hot streak, riding consecutive top-10 finishes and the Angler of the Year (AOY) points lead in the young Elite Series season. He knew he wanted to fish the upper portion of the lake and said he didn't waste much time anywhere else during the practice period. Practice wasn't particularly eventful for him. It wasn't until the final Wednesday scouting session that his bite started to materialize. "You could tell a good wave of fish had moved up and were getting ready to spawn," he said. "I started getting some good bites Ð definitely more action than what I saw (earlier). I felt okay about the quality I'd found, but I still wasn't getting a lot of bites. I really wasn't sure if I could put together a good limit with what I had or not." His method for each day of the tournament was pretty straightforward: work the shad spawn bite until it fizzled, then head to nearby spawning coves and target fish cruising the bank and hanging around beds. Both approaches yielded valuable fish throughout the event.
A new topwater bait from Storm, the Cover Pop, was his most productive lure and he used it to catch fish on the riprap banks and in the shallow coves. He also used a wacky-rigged worm for the spawners and occasionally tossed a swimbait, but noted the swimbait wasn't a vital part of his arsenal. The shad spawn was happening "up and down the entire lake," so he looked for areas that were conducive to drawing in shad, but also had cover close by that bass could relate to. "My best spot (for the shad-spawn bite) was a riprap bank that had some old willow sprigs around it," he said. "That shad bite would last until about 9 a.m., which is longer than it usually goes in a lot of other lakes. I think that has a lot to do with the color of the water Ð we only had about a foot of visibility in most places." About his spawn pattern, he said: "The fish I was targeting were pretty shallow Ð maybe 8 to 18 inches of water. All you could see of the beds was a light-colored ring. It wasn't true sight-fishing. You couldn't make out the fish at all, just a little bit of the bed. I threw that wacky rig in there and just let it sit, then my line would start swimming off."
Topwater gear: 6'6" medium-action CarbonLite rod, casting reel (6.8:1 ratio), 17-pound monofilament line, Storm Cover Pop (ghost pearl shad)
Wacky worm gear: 7'2" medium-action CarbonLite spinning rod, CarbonLite spinning reel (size 30), 20-pound Braid line, 14-pound fluorocarbon leader, VMC Neko weedless hook (#1), Worm (green-pumpkin)
The Storm Cover Pop and the weedless version of the VMC Neko hook are both set to be released at ICAST this summer.
More on the Cover Pop: "It looks like a popping bait, but we designed it to walk in place. Basically the idea is you get a lot of action Ð walking, spitting, popping Ð without moving the bait very far. It worked out really well targeting those beds."
Main factor: "Without a doubt it was committing to the north end of the lake. In my entire practice I maybe spent only 4 hours in the south half of the lake. I knew I wanted to be on the north end and that's where I spent all my time."
Performance edge: "Definitely my (Minn Kota) Talons."
