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Nitro Boats Pro DeFoe Gassed up at St. Lawrence Elite

Category: Tournament

 Aug 13th, 2013 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Aug 13th, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Knoxville, Tennessee pro Ott DeFoe was sure glad he was running a Nitro Z-9 at the recent Bassmaster Elite Series event on the St. Lawrence River. Thanks to the capacities of his rig, and a little help from Berkley Gulp and his Humminbird electronics, DeFoe weighed 78 pounds 10 ounces of bass over four days, enough for third place.

“I relied heavily on my Nitro Z-9 during the St. Lawrence tournament,” said DeFoe. “Over the first three days of the event, I didn’t make the big runs out into Lake Ontario. Instead, I stayed in the river. The funny thing is that river can get real big waves too. With all of the traffic there, that Z-9 platform was so stable, control was never an issue for me.

	DeFoe with a stout pair of smallies (Joel Shangle)

“Then on the last day, since I was already in the Top 12, I decided to make the long 100-mile run out to Lake Ontario. I went and fished it blind with no practice out there. I was going for the win. The Nitro Z-9 has a 68-gallon gas tank. On the way out, I decided to fuel up, but when I returned to the dock after that huge run, I still had half a tank left. I probably didn’t even need to gas up. That huge tank is an advantage I plan on using more often now.”

DeFoe’s approach was simple: Find the structure and drop-shot the fish.

“In the river, I was fishing current breaks,” said DeFoe. “I would locate rock piles, humps, etc., with my Humminbird and then I would lower a 3-inch Berkley Gulp Fry on a drop-shot rig. In the river, I would drift with it to catch them. I would keep my bait as vertical as possible to avoid the line rubbing into zebra mussels that’ll cut right through almost any line.

“Out in Lake Ontario I cast more and fished vertically as well, using the Humminbird to locate rock piles and then dropping my Gulp Fry on them.”