Bassmaster Elite Series pro Ott DeFoe completed a wire-to-wire victory Saturday at the Douglas Lake Bassmaster Northern Open as he weighed a 15-09 bag that gave him a 3-day total of 50-03. His winning margin over runner-up Hunter Shryock was nearly 10 1/2 pounds.
DeFoe ran up the French Broad River again with his Tracker tunnel-hull aluminum boat that produced 17-05 limits the first two days. He struggled early Saturday and caught only five keepers all day, but it was enough to clinch the victory.
“The water has not been stable all week,” DeFoe said. “I was thinking today could be really, really good just because the French Broad had been falling. But there was some extra flow in the Pigeon River this morning, and it seemed to kind of throw the fishing off a little.”
The local favorite caught his first fish of the day on a bladed jig and his second flipping a black-and-blue 1/2-ounce Terminator Pro Jig with a Bass Pro Shops Elite Chunk. Switching to a Texas-rigged Bass Pro Shops Bull Hog, DeFoe caught his next two keepers and still had 3 hours to catch his fifth bass. He went to a bank where he had caught big fish in the past and boated a 4 1/2-pounder on the Terminator Jig that clinched the victory.
All of his fish throughout the tournament came from 1 to 3 feet of water.
Here are the final totals for the Top 12:
1. Ott DeFoe: 50-03
2. Hunter Shryock: 39-13
3. Brian Latimer: 39-11
4. David Williams: 36-01
5. Alex Wetherell: 33-04
6. Drew Benton: 32-12
7. Toshinari Namiki: 31-12
8. Wil Hardy: 31-06
9. Brad Burkhart: 29-03
10. Allen Brooks: 27-08
11. Al Farace Jr.: 27-05
12. Mike Huff: 25-11
