By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Maybe Ott DeFoe will make it his New Year’s resolution: To fish all of the events on the 2016 Elite Series schedule like he fished the last one on the ’15 docket.
It might be easier said than done, but DeFoe’s experience at the Sturgeon Bay Angler of the Year Championship event was something that he hadn’t felt in a long time, dating back to before his pro career got going, and it resulted in him making a dramatic charge up the points standings and into the field for the 2016 Bassmaster Classic.
The Tennessee native finished the 2015 regular season in 43rd place in points, which would’ve put him outside the Classic cut for the first time since he moved to the Elite Series in 2011. A 7th-place finish at Sturgeon Bay saw DeFoe shoot up 13 spots on the points ledger to easily secure a berth at the Classic slated for Grand Lake next March.
“I hope I can fish a whole year like I felt at Sturgeon Bay,” he said. “What I mean is I was a little concerned in practice, but once the tournament started I was as care free as I’ve ever been while fishing since I don’t know when. It was the most awesome feeling. It was a little scary, but it worked. It was a lot more enjoyable if nothing else.”
No Highlights – Again
Over his first couple seasons as an Elite Series competitors, DeFoe gained a reputation for being ultra consistent. He cashed checks in 15 of his first 16 Elite Series events, won a season-ending All-Star event and had four Top-12 finishes over that span. In the last 24 full-field Elite Series tournaments, he has just one Top-12 to his credit and his check-cashing frequency has hovered around 50 percent.
“I was a little disappointed,” he said, assessing his 2015 campaign. “That’s two years in a row not fishing on a Sunday. That’s what you have to do to have a chance to win and I haven’t been close these last two years.”
He began the season with a 56th at the Sabine River, which would be seen as somewhat of a disappointing start for some, but for DeFoe it was a marked improvement over his 2013 result there when he placed 79th, which was his worst Elite Series finish up until that point.
He followed that with a 69th at Lake Guntersville, another disappointing result considering his knowledge of the Tennessee River and his 4th-place showing at the 2014 Classic there. The back-to-back missed checks to start the season put him in a bit of hole points wise.
“I’m not going to say I know Guntersville as well as anybody, but I understand it and I figured I get out of there with a 30th place and that would get the year going,” he said. “It turned out to be a terrible tournament. The wheels really fell off on the second day.”
He regained his traction during the West Coast swing – the first of his career – with a 37th at the Sacramento River and a 17th at Lake Havasu before posting another 17th-place finish at BASSFest at Kentucky Lake. His 43rd at the Chesapeake Bay was sandwiched between two more lackluster finishes at the St. Lawrence River (78th) and Lake St. Clair (92nd) before the scene shifted to Sturgeon Bay.
Stress-Free at Sturgeon
DeFoe knew his chances of fishing his way into the Classic at the AOY Championship were slim, but he didn’t go into the event with a glass half-empty outlook.
“Going into the last day, I knew I needed to catch some fish,” he said. “That whole event I didn’t look at points or know where I needed to finish or what I needed to catch. I didn’t go looking at the numbers. I just knew I needed to catch as much as I could catch and it is what it is.”
He went into the 3rd day in 18th place, which gave him enough points to move inside the Top 35 in points and tentatively inside the Classic cut.
“I knew I wasn’t locked in yet, but knew I needed to catch some,” he said. “I felt like if I had 10 or 11 pounds that that would do it.”
He closed the day with two good fish in the last hour to boost his weight to 18-09 to move him into 7th. He said he never felt the strain of competing for a Classic berth.
“I could’ve got totally stressed out and spun out and not caught anything,” he said. “Being a man of faith, I have to give God credit. There’s no way I should’ve felt that way. My practice wasn’t very good. I only had three or four areas where I’d gotten bit and it was only a couple here and there.
“Didn’t have a lot to go on, but I had an area with some potential and that’s where I caught the majority of my weigh-in fish. It was just a couple-acre size spot.”
Geared up for Grand
In his four previous Classics, DeFoe has yet to finish lower than 11th, but he feels as though his lone chance at winning came at Guntersville in 2014. At Grand Lake in 2013, he caught plenty of keeper-sized fish, but never got around bass in the 3 1/2-pound class or better. He thinks that was a product of bad luck, but he also thinks his somewhat conservative approach was a factor as well.
“It seemed like the guys who caught big ones and big bags caught them on a jerkbait,” he said. “I knew it would be a jerkbait deal and I still don’t see it being that much different (this time), but to catch those really big ones, you have to fish for them. I was fishing a way with a Shad Rap that caught ton of keepers and I felt like I’d run into the big ones eventually. You typically don’t catch that many cranking and not catch a big one.”
It never happened and he settled for 11th. He doesn’t plan on taking a trip to Oklahoma prior to Grand going off limits at the end of the year, but when he does get there for practice in March, he’ll make sure to focus on how to trigger bites from bigger fish.
“On a slow day, I was catching a dozen keepers and on a good day I’d catch 25,” he added. “It blew my mind that I wasn’t catching anything over 3 1/2 pounds. I still feel like it was bad luck. I need to make sure I have something else mixed in there that can pick up some big ones when I need to.”
