Racine, WI – At just thirty years old, Ott DeFoe had a long list of pro fishing accomplishments. Bassmaster Rookie of the Year. FLW Series winner. Bassmaster Open champion. Yet, despite amassing over a million-dollars in prize earnings, DeFoe had yet to take down a Bassmaster Elite title – something he’d dreamed about since childhood.
That all changed last week, as DeFoe beat the nation’s best, claiming the champion’s trophy at the Plano Bassmaster Elite Series event on the Mississippi River. With the win, DeFoe placed himself solidly within the Angler of the Year Championship event, and high in the Bassmaster Classic hunt.
Many considered DeFoe long overdue for the win, but he didn’t discount the difficulty in accomplishing such a feat. “To beat 106 of the world’s best bass fishermen is something I don’t take lightly,” DeFoe emphasized.
As in most Elite Series’ events, numerous competitors brought stellar catches to the weigh-in stage. But it was a few special spots, combined with intricate attention to lure choice that gave DeFoe the upper hand.
For the win, DeFoe concentrated his efforts in two locations, utilizing two very different fishing patterns. The majority of his fish were caught in swift current below the Lake Onalaska Dam, where DeFoe employed a unique method of fishing a swimbait.
“I didn’t want the bait to swim,” he ironically mentioned. “The bait had to tumble in the current.” DeFoe theorized that, by allowing the bait to sweep and fall in the roiling waters, it closely matched a disoriented baitfish, and triggered the area’s largemouth population.
“In practice, I was fishing around, and noticed a small depression on my LakeMaster map.” DeFoe investigated the contour change and the rest, as they say, is history.
Likely due to the slight depth change, the area featured coontail as well as a “long, stringy grass”, rather than eelgrass, as in surrounding waters. This vegetative combo exhibited more caverns and holes within the mats, attracting big bass, which DeFoe quickly exploited with an ounce-and-a-half tungsten weight and creature bait. It’s not the first time LakeMaster mapping has paid off for DeFoe, and adds to a growing list of titles credited to Humminbird’s break-through cartography.
With final-day competitors consisting of the Bassmaster Angler of the Year leader, a local ace and a half-dozen Bassmaster Classic champs, the Mississippi win proved that DeFoe is a truly a force to be reckoned with. Of course, his fans and fellow competitors knew that all along.
