Palestine Tough On 1st Day Of Heavy Hitters

Sunday, April 10, 2022

Photo: MLF

Ott DeFoe used a mix of sight-fishing and conventional tactics to grab the early lead at Heavy Hitters.

By MLF Communications Staff

A chilly morning turned into a beautiful day on the water in East Texas Saturday, but it was still a tough day of fishing for anglers on a stingy Lake Palestine at the 3rd annual Hitters Presented. After Day 1 of competition concluded at 4 p.m., Ott DeFoe of Blaine, Tennessee held the early lead, catching 11 scorable bass that combined to weigh 35 pounds, 9 ounces.

Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, caught the heaviest bass of the day Saturday – a chunky largemouth weighing 6-09, that came on a trick worm in Period 2. If Roy’s fish remains the largest bass weighed by Group A after the conclusion of the two-day Qualifying Round on Monday, he will take home a $25,000 Big Bass Bonus.

Bonuses are awarded throughout the competition, with payouts of $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000 being awarded for the single biggest fish in the Qualifying, Knockout and Championship rounds.

DeFoe will take a 10-12 lead into Monday’s second day of competition for Group A. In second place is 2022 REDCREST champion Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Florida, who caught 11 bass totaling 24-13, while Japan’s Takahiro Omori, who now resides 60 miles northwest in Emory, Texas, sits in third place with seven bass weighing 24-05.

The 16 anglers in Group A will now enjoy a day off Sunday, while the 16 anglers in Group B will begin their initial Qualifying Round. Group A will complete its two-day Qualifying Round of competition on Monday.

“I’m pretty happy with the day – it was a good start and I really was not expecting it to go quite that well,” DeFoe said in his postgame interview. “I caught a couple of fish this morning with a swim jig targeting the shad spawn, but sight-fishing was the main deal for me today.”

Besides the swim jig, DeFoe credited two baits as being his key to success Saturday.

“When I could see them, the best thing that I could get to aggravate them was the VMC Tokyo Rig, with a 4 1/2-inch swimbait on the back of it,” DeFoe said. “Something about the way that rig keeps the bait off of the bottom, just a little bit, drives those fish crazy.

“The other one that I caught a lot of fish just pitching around – as well as fish that I’d get fired up with that swimbait – was a Texas-rigged Bass Pro Magnum Fin-Eke Worm. I used Sooner run color – kind of a dark watermelon with red fleck – and fished it on my favorite setup, a Johnny Morris Platinum rod and reel with 40-pound braided line and a 17-pound (Bass Pro Shops) XPS fluorocarbon leader.”

After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers who finish in second through eighth place from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Thursday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 14 anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weights are again zeroed and the highest one-day total wins.

Anglers depart at 7 a.m. from the Villages Marina, located at Big Eddy Road in Flint, Texas. Anglers are allowed to trailer to any boat ramp of their choosing on Lake Palestine, but competition begins with “lines in” at 8 a.m. Each day’s takeout will be held at the Marina, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW! livestream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The event features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable in the Qualifying and Knockout Rounds, but for the Championship Round a bass must weigh at least 3 pounds to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

To qualify for Heavy Hitters, the weight of an angler’s single-largest bass from each event of the seven 2021 Bass Pro Tour events was recorded. The 32 anglers with the heaviest five big-fish totals from those seven events qualified to compete in this event.

The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action each day of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. MLF NOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Group A Qualifying Round – Day 1

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the day)

1. Ott DeFoe -- 35-09 (11) -- 4-10

2. Bobby Lane -- 24-13 (8) -- 5-12

3. Takahiro Omori -- 24-05 (7) -- 5-10

4. Fletcher Shryock -- 19-15 (6) -- 4-06

5. Alton Jones Jr. -- 18-05 (6) -- 4-15

6. Wesley Strader -- 14-10 (4) -- 4-11

7. James Elam -- 12-03 (4) -- 3-12

8. Justin Lucas -- 12-01 (4) -- 3-05

9. Ish Monroe -- 10-04 (4) -- 2-14

10. Bradley Roy -- 9-11 (2) -- 6-09