MINOCQUA, Wis. (Major League Fishing)— In what could be considered the most dramatic day in Fishing Clash Team Series history, Ott DeFoe and Andy Montgomery of Team BUBBA stormed from third place in the final minutes to win the first match of the Knockout Round at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies.
With just 17 minutes remaining, the top three teams were separated by only 5 pounds, setting up a nail-biter finish. Luke Clausen and Keith Carson of Team Fishing Clash held the lead at 109 pounds, 1 ounce, with Team 7Brew (Zack Birge and Keith Poche) close behind at 105-11 and Team BUBBA at 104-4. In the closing stretch, DeFoe and Montgomery landed six of the final seven scorable bass to surge into first, ultimately holding off Carson and Clausen for the top spot by fewer than 3 pounds with their total of 114-4 on 73 scorable bass.
Carson and Clausen, meanwhile, boated 65 scorable bass for 111 pounds, 5 ounces to edge Birge and Poche by just 2-1. The pair leaned on a one-two punch of a compact jig and a weightless wacky rig, targeting boat docks early before shifting to wood cover as the day progressed.
Clausen’s steady production was critical, and his 2-4 largemouth with 12 minutes remaining provided the final margin that sent Fishing Clash through to the Championship Round. Despite also topping the 100-pound mark, Birge and Poche were eliminated from the competition.
DeFoe, Montgomery flip their way to win
The defending Heritage Cup champions, DeFoe and Montgomery, extended their streak to five wins in as many days of competition in Wisconsin over the past two Team Series seasons. They had to work the hardest for this one.
DeFoe led the way with 48 scorable bass, including a 3-pound, 11-ounce kicker that proved pivotal. Both he and Montgomery leaned on a compact, 3/8-ounce jig paired with soft-plastic trailers, adjusting their approach when their usual wacky worm and Strike King Thunder Cricket patterns failed to produce.
“I don’t know the last time that I’ve caught more bass than that,” DeFoe said. “It was an incredible day of bass fishing. But interesting too – you couldn’t just catch them on everything. It was definitely a flipping deal, and we are lucky that we figured it out pretty quickly.”
Montgomery said that adjustment was the key difference.
“Normally Ott is behind me with a wacky worm while I go with the jig, but today those fish weren’t feeding high at all,” Montgomery said. “They wouldn’t take the wacky worm, and they’d hardly touch the Thunder Cricket. They wanted that jig down on the bottom. Once we figured that out, we just kept catching them. By far, that’s the hardest day we’ve ever had, but also one of the most fun.”
The emotional roller coaster of the day was evident in moments after Montgomery and DeFoe realized they had completed the comeback.
“Oh my gosh, I feel like we just won everything,” an exhausted Montgomery said after lines out. “That was 6 hours of all-out fishing. If you couldn’t tell, catching 100 pounds of bass is a lot of work – and everybody was doing it.”
“That was so much fun and so stressful,” DeFoe added with a laugh. “If you want to come fun-fish somewhere, this is definitely the place to do it – just don’t bring a SCORETRACKER®.”
Knockout Round continues Thursday
Three more teams will vie for the final two spots in the Championship Round during the second Knockout Match on Thursday. Of note, father and son will compete against one another with Marshall Robinson and Drew Gill of Team Star Tron facing off against Marty Robinson and Nick LeBrun of Team Ferguson, while Jacob Wheeler and Mark Daniels Jr. will look to replicate their win during Tuesday’s Elimination Match.
Major League Fishing: Catch it LIVE on RFD-TV.
Watch all the action through Sept. 19 live on the RFD-TV Now livestream from 10 AM - 5 PM ET each day, or at MajorLeagueFishing.com. RFD-TV will also air the final period of each competition day LIVE on TV from 3-5 PM ET.
