MINOCQUA, Wis. (Major League Fishing) — Fans of the Fishing Clash Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops will see some familiar duos when the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies kicks off starting Sunday. Each of the four teams that won Cup trophies in last year’s Team Series will reunite in Minocqua, Wisconsin.
So far, five different duos (and 10 different individual anglers) have won Team Series events since Major League Fishing revamped the format by putting pairs of pros in the same boat. That streak will be put to the test this week; Ott DeFoe and Andy Montgomery (Team BUBBA), Matt Becker and Spencer Shuffield (Team Knighten), Jeff Sprague and Bryan Thrift (Team YETI), and Drew Gill and Marshall Robinson (Team StarTron) will all look to be the first tandem to claim two Team Series wins. However, there’s plenty of stiff competition in the field that will be eager to dethrone them. Here’s a breakdown of what to watch for at the Heritage Cup.
DeFoe, Montgomery look to continue Wisconsin winning streak
While the field may be stacked, one tandem has to be considered the pre-event favorite. DeFoe and Montgomery dominated last year’s Heritage Cup, which was also held in Wisconsin. The duo swept all three rounds of competition, winning their Elimination and Knockout matches before topping the Championship Round field.
Montgomery is optimistic that he and DeFoe will be able to implement a similar game plan. In fact, he thinks they might actually be better suited to breaking down the fisheries around Minocqua compared to the Fox River Chain and Green Lake last year.
“It may be even better,” he said. “Where we fished last year, we had been there a few times, and actually, when we tried to fish history, we didn’t catch them. We kind of got behind and had to play catch-up. So, we’ll have zero history on these lakes. It should be similar lakes.”
Montgomery and DeFoe haven’t been in the same boat since their win a year ago, but Montgomery expects them to pick up right where they left off. He said their styles complement one another well. More importantly, the two lifelong friends and traveling companions don’t care who catches the fish as long as the team succeeds.
“There were different times where it was better for Ott to be up front; there were different times where it was better for me to be up front,” Montgomery said. “We absolutely did not care. I remember this from my team days: You absolutely cannot care that the other one catches the fish. That’s just the way it is. And I’d say we do that very well.
“We communicate very well, and our styles complement one another. Ott is deadly with a spinning rod up around the bank, target fishing with a spinning rod, and I’m pretty decent with a baitcaster. … It was a one-two punch. Not many people can fish behind you with a spinning rod like Ott DeFoe can.”
Elimination Match 2 is loaded
As impressive as DeFoe and Montgomery were in Wisconsin last year, they’ll need to be on their A-game just to advance from the Elimination Round. As the luck of the draw would have it, three of the four winning teams from 2024 will take the water together in Elimination Match 2 on Monday, with Becker and Shuffield as well as Gill and Robinson in that match. Of course, only the top two teams will advance to the Knockout Round.
Neither Becker nor Robinson complained about the draw. In fact, both anglers said they’re looking forward to the challenge, noting that they’ll have to best the other top tandems eventually in order to win the event – might as well get it out of the way early.
“We’re excited about fishing against some of the successful teams from last year, and really it’s just going to come down to who can figure them out and break down the fishery we’re on the fastest,” Becker said. “That’s what I love about the Team Series.”
“I love that,” Robinson said. “You can’t expect to have it easy, so you might as well take on the stacked competition as soon as you get there. And if you go out and do your job and eliminate those teams, that’s just a couple less hammers you’ve got to beat.”
Becker and Shuffield romped to victory at last year’s Challenge Cup in Erie, Pennsylvania, then teamed up again at the Summit Cup but failed to advance past the Elimination Round. Becker said the duo is excited to be back on Northern fisheries, where both tend to excel.
“That’s something we’re both excited about heading to Wisconsin,” he said. “We both love fishing for smallmouth and Northern largemouth in general, so we’re pretty pumped.”
Robinson and Gill – the two youngest anglers on the Bass Pro Tour last year – leaned into their strengths at the Summit Cup in November, where they eschewed traditional Florida tactics and won largely with drop-shots and forward-facing sonar. While it might depend on the fishery, don’t be surprised if they take a similar approach this week.
“We’ve come up (through the ranks) together, and always talking to him at every tournament and hanging out with him, it’s kind of like a brother,” Robinson said of Gill. “Good friendship, and that translates to chemistry on the boat. Honestly, I think that’s all it is, being able to make decisions on the fly and have no conflict.”
Both Becker and Robinson said claiming bragging rights as the first team to win two Team Series trophies is absolutely on their minds this week.
“That’s the next thing on the bucket list to check off,” Becker said. “We want to be the first team to win two, for sure, and we’re going to give it everything we got here in Wisconsin.”
Sprague, Thrift ready to run it back
The other winning duo from 2024, Sprague and Thrift, will take the water together Sunday for the first time since their victory in last year’s Patriot Cup.
With Sprague hailing from Texas and Thrift from North Carolina, they rarely have the opportunity to share the boat. However, Sprague said the two longtime FLW Tour and Bass Pro Tour competitors complement one another well, and they trust each other enough to listen when one angler wants to fish his preferred way.
“Bryan is able to control me and my speed by making me slow down when we do get into areas and really pick apart those things,” Sprague said. “And I’m able to take control sometimes and move and cover a tremendous amount of water, and then we’re able to break it down faster with two guys.”
The biggest challenge for every team prior to Team Series events is preparing for unknown fisheries with limited space for tackle, and that’s exacerbated for Team YETI by the fact that both anglers are flying to this event. Sprague is hopeful that the bass will be in the heart of their fall feed, and he can stick to staple reaction baits.
“We know we’re going to Wisconsin, and we know we’re going in the fall,” he said. “Fish will be feeding up tremendously. So, they should be able to be caught on a variety of reaction baits, whether that’s topwater, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, swim jigs, or similar lures that could play into my wheelhouse.
“If we go through an area and I’m able to catch five bass on a moving bait and (Thrift) is able to clean up two or three behind me on something different, doing soak-up, that’s the difference-maker in keeping a team moving from one round to the next.”
Other Notes:
- We’ve seen some father-son success during the Team Series, most recently when Alton Jones and Alton Jones Jr. teamed up to win the recent Challenge Cup. This week, we could have a father and son fishing against one another, with Marshall Robinson and his father, Marty Robinson, on different teams. The two Robinsons fished together at a Team Series event in 2024, but with neither being captains this time around, that wasn’t possible. They aren’t competing in the same Elimination Match, but Marshall said he hopes to run into his father and partner Nick LeBrun in one of the later rounds.
- Speaking of former teammates turned adversaries, DeFoe and Gill will go from sharing the boat one week to competing against one another the next. The two stars paired up to win an individual gold medal at the Black Bass World Championships in South Africa last week while also leading Team USA to the team gold.
- Don’t discount the fourth team in Elimination Match 2, Cole Floyd and Nick Hatfieldof Team Kubota. While they’ll have their hands full against three former champs, both are coming off strong seasons on the Bass Pro Tour. Floyd finished in the Top 10 at five straight events to close the year and Hatfield won Heavy Hitters.
- Among the other notable Heritage Cup tandems are Jacob Wheeler and Mark Daniels Jr. of Team O’Reilly Auto Parts. Wheeler has won Cup events and a Team Series title before (in 2022, when teams were comprised of three anglers fishing from separate boats). Now, he’ll look to add his first two-man Team Series trophy to his extensive hardware collection.
Watch All the Action
All six days of the Heritage Cup will be streamed live on RFD-TV Now. Plus, catch the final period of every day, which will air live on RFD-TV from 1-4 p.m.
