Ott DeFoe

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Harris Chains Elite Series

by Ott Defoe

fishing weigh inI had never fished a tournament here before. I did spend a day of pre-practice here in January looking at the lakes. I had heard it was a lower weight  place compared to other FL lakes.

Practice: The first day I stayed pretty close to the take-off. I fished some main lake stuff and some canals. The canals were the most productive for sure, I caught about 7 keepers and had some other bites.  Only one of these were on the main lake. I saw a few bedding fish as well. The second day of practice was not as good.  I moved around a lot and fished some of the other lakes. I only had 3 bites this day, so I eliminated a lot of water! On the last day I fished until about noon. I decided to see if I could get a lake bite going to have a backup plan. I had 10 bites flipping, so I was happy.

Day 1: It was a down at take-off, a wet way to start the day! I started in the lake and caught a keeper right a way. Since it was still raining a little I picked up a topwater. I caught one about 3lbs real quick.  I finished my limit sight fishing. I culled once with another fish about 2.5lbs.  With about an hour and half left, I needed to change so I left this area and went to the lakes.  I fished my 3 best stretches and caught 4 or 5 good keepers and culled up to 14lbs.  I started my first elite in 18th place!

Day 2: I started in the lake again but didn’t do any good.  At almost 9:00 I didn’t have a fish.  It was a lot tougher in the canals as well.  I did catch a decent fish flipping some pads and a few more keepers.  I also caught a few sight fishing as well.  I did finish my limit and went looking for a bigger fish. I was going down a stretch I had fished several times and saw a big one.  I put my power-poles down and she bit on the first pitch! I swung  her in the boat and culled a 13 incher with a 6.5 pounder! This fish gave me 14.2 and I made the top 50 cut in 14th place!

Day 3: Well I was very happy to be in the top 50 in my first elite ever! I went straight to the canals to start my day. It was a slow morning again. I was able to catch a few small keepers flipping. I saw a few small one that were on the bed as well. They were tough to catch but I finally did. I also caught some keepers swimming a jig.  I saw a giant fish in the afternoon but was not able to catch it.  I did go to an area at the end of the day and culled with the largest fish of the day, a 2.5 pounder.  I had 7-15 and ended up 20th.

Added Edge: The new Berkley Havoc  Pit Boss! It was my number 1 bait all around. It was best for bed fishing bass. I used the Okeechobee Craw color. This is a bait that will be very good all year.

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