By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Ott DeFoe has no idea why he managed to get only a handful of bites in Lake Griffin on his first competition day at the recent Harris Chain MLF Bass Pro Tour event in Florida. He'd generated a lot of action on the practice day he spent there and other competitors, particularly Keith Poche, posted good numbers in Griffin when the derby got under way.

"I truly don't know what happened," he said. "There were a lot of fish caught right around where I was, but the ones I was fishing for didn't bite."

Fortunately, he had a Plan B. And it proved to be a doozy.

He relocated to Lake Harris and absolutely wrecked fish for three days. In the Championship Round, he went bonkers in the day's final 2 1/2-hour period, turning what had been a tight race involving five anglers into an epic blowout.

When the day was over, he'd caught 30 scorable bass that combined to weight 73-14, outdistancing runner-up Bobby Lane by more than 27 pounds.

It was his third career victory on the BPT, tying him with Jacob Wheeler for the top spot in that category. It was his second of 2021 – he also won the Sam Rayburn Reservoir event in March.

He has four opportunities ahead to try to become the first to win three times in a single BPT campaign.

"I'll see what I can do," he said. "I told Wheeler that probably the only way I was going to get to two wins this season before him was to win this one because he's going to be a good bet at Chickamauga (this week)."

Goodbye, Griffin

Abandoning Lake Griffin was a no-brainer for DeFoe after it gave him a little less than 12 pounds for six scorable fish during Group B's first day on the water. At that point, he sat in 28th place in the 40-angler group.

"That was the single biggest decision I made the whole week and it was an easy one to make," he said. "I'd also practiced one day and caught them on Lake Harris, so it wasn't like I was completely in the dark. I knew I could catch some there, but I had no idea I could catch as many as I did."

Targeting hard cover (docks, cypress trees, seawalls, etc.) with a crankbait and a swimjig, he racked up 66-04 on 29 fish in his groups second day of the Qualifying Round to climb all the way to 2nd place. After all weights were zeroed, he added another 46 pounds on 18 fish in the Knockout Round, also finishing 2nd.

He caught some fish from water as deep as 4 1/2 or 5 feet, but a good number came from depths of just 6 to 14 inches. He normally couldn't see them due to the heavily stained color of the water, but they would sometimes give away their locations while feeding.

Knowing precisely where they preferred to feed was a big key. He'd often make repeated casts to those locations, with a bite not occurring until he'd made a dozen throws or more.

"I think those fish were moving around a lot; they weren't really sitting in one place," he said. "At times they'd chase bait and school or push bait up against the seawalls. They weren't moving far, but they were moving a lot and it was important to know that this corner or that rock or whatever was where they ate. I'd keep throwing there because that's where they were when they fed.

"I'd make eight or 10 presentations with one bait, then switch and make eight or 10 more. It might take a bunch of casts before I'd catch one."

In the Championship Round, he had a lead of about 5 pounds early in the final period when he caught a 2-08 and a 5-12 on back-to-back casts. That extended his advantage to 13 pounds and the rout was on from there.

"That was a clutch moment," he said. "Up until then I'd been staying ahead, but not running away. When I caught those two was when I kind of set sail."

Winning Gear Notes

> Cranking gear: 7' medium-heavy Bass Pro Shops Cranking Stick, Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Platinum casting reel (6.8:1 ratio), 14-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon line, Rapala OG Slim 6 (bream, hot copper green shad or copper green shad).

> Swimjig gear: Same rod (7'1" medium-action), reel and line (17-pound), 3/8- or 1/2-ounce prototype Terminator swimjig (glimmer blue), 3" Bass Pro Shops Speed Shad trailer (pro blue).