Ott DeFoe: 2019 Bassmaster Classic Champion on Tournament Strategy

Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 582: Ott DeFoe

In this episode: a family trip to Lake Okeechobee at age nine, fishing for checks versus hunting wins, ripping up the game plan mid-tournament, and the heart surgery that came the Monday after his Bassmaster Classic win — in the exact words spoken.

00:00 · Cold Open

Ott DeFoe: It's almost like I would go to a tournament knowing I'm gonna get a check now. Now let's let's try to make that a top 20. Okay. Now let's now let's make that a top 10. Well, now we we need to start pushing to try to try to win these. And and I think with the family side of it too, it's like as I've realized just how important that time is. And if I'm gone, I kinda don't rate success of anything less than a than a win anymore. And so, you know, that's in in our sport, that's a tremendous tremendous amount of pressure to put on yourself, but that's kind of the way I I I rank a successful tournament. You know, if it's less than a win, there's something I missed out on.

04:03 · Meet Ott DeFoe: Life on the Bass Pro Tour

Ott DeFoe: Hey, everybody. I'm Ott DeFoe, and this is the Tom Rowland Podcast. I'm a professional angler on the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour in the two thousand nineteen Bassmaster Classic Champion.

Tom Rowland: Alright. Ott, how are you, man?

Ott DeFoe: I'm doing good, Tom. I'm doing good, Tom. I appreciate you having me on, and, I've been looking forward to this. And I would've been trying to make it happen for a while, and I'm glad we're finally able to.

Tom Rowland: We have. And, I thank you for for doing that because I know that, you know, as a professional bass angler and certainly with the schedule that you have, days like this are not not that, frequent, I would imagine. You're how how many days are you on the road?

Ott DeFoe: It's pre COVID. You know, it was it was like two hundred plus days a year, you know, gone gone a lot. It's still, you know, in a 150 ish range, I would say, you know, a few less days, you know, just a few less engagements of things to go to now, but definitely still going, you know, a whole bunch, half the year or so, anyway, it seems like. So

Tom Rowland: So

Ott DeFoe: yeah.

Tom Rowland: So pre COVID

Ott DeFoe: very busy schedule.

Tom Rowland: You were doing more, like, boat shows, more, you know, Bass Pro signings, stuff like that. And then that Absolutely. That's what stopped kind of

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Yeah. A lot lot of the extra appearance stuff, you know, kind of the the other, you know, couple days here, couple day there, top things, have done less of those in the past, you know, in the past year, two years or so than than what we were doing.

05:28 · The Lake Okeechobee Trip That Started It All

Tom Rowland: Right. Right. Well, I've been following your career for for a while. And, as I started to lead up to this podcast, I did a little more, research on you. And you just you just have such an inspirational, motivational, incredible story that's that's it's kinda like out of a storybook. I mean, you you started fishing with your dad and and Yeah. You I'm sure you've told this story a million times where you guys fish for, I don't know, what, a couple years and didn't cash a check. And then then you start happening. And then you make your way all the way to winning the February. I mean, that Mhmm. That's that's that's a kid getting into the you know, starting to getting cut from the basketball team and and starting to play and winning a world championship. I mean, that's that's like the path of the most humble beginnings to the biggest stage in your sport. So tell tell me about that a little bit because it I just find it really interesting, like, how you started and then and where this turned into, like, something completely different than you and your dad out there trying to scratch out a couple of fish. You know?

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It it was. We we took a took a family trip to Lake Okeechobee down in Florida, a place I'm I'm sure you've been some over the years. But, you know, that was taking that trip there, we'd always watch it on TV. I'd always watch Roland Martin shows and stuff down there, and and we just, you know, wanted to go fish there, wanted to go experience it and, and hired a guy down there and went out and just had an unbelievable day of fishing and just a truly a surreal experience. I would think I was nine years old at the time. So it was an you know, that place coming from East Tennessee, we've got mountains, we've got lakes, we've got rivers. But to go, I mean, completely out of anything I have ever seen before to, you know, great big cypress trees and Spanish smiles hanging from them and, you know, watching crocodile or alligators swim around. And people here call them crocodiles because they don't know any different. But

Tom Rowland: I know. I'm from Tennessee too. Everything's a crocodile.

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Exactly. So yeah. But watch an alligator swim around and, you know, I mean, just all all the things that are just an overwhelming experience, you know, as a as a nine year old kid when it's the first thing you saw it. That man I knew then I wanted to be a bass fisherman. I didn't I didn't necessarily tournament or guide or whatever. I just know I wanted to be on the water as much as I possibly could. But then we went to attend to the Bassmaster Classic, and I was like, now that's that's pretty cool because I wasn't a competitive I wasn't built for standard sports when I was a kid. I was the smallest kid in my class. I was only I was the youngest kid in my class. You know, so regular sports really just didn't suit me. I wasn't very coordinated. I wasn't built for them. But I wanted to be competitive as as most people do. You know? I mean, I think we all have a little bit of a competitive spirit. And once I started fishing and saw that there was, you know, and watched the classic to see that competition side of it, I was like, that's that looks like fun. That's a way to be outside. It's a way to be outdoors and God's creation and to also feed that competitive side. I knew right away that that was something I wanted to do. And it was we we came home from that trip in Florida and found a tournament, like, the next weekend or a couple weeks later or something and signed up and went fish. And I'll fish that tournament with my dad. That was the first tournament he had ever fished. I mean, he had he had never fished tournaments before either. He wasn't a bass fisherman. You know, we we would go fishing and stuff and just fish or whatever we call. But that that lit the fire. And I've got a brother that's a couple of years older than I've got a brother that's several years older. And, you know, they they enjoyed it as well and fished a lot of tournaments and stuff, too. And, my brother, it's a couple of years older, still does fish. Someone helps run some tournaments. But that was that was what got it all started. And from there, it was just progression. I mean, from, you know, that was I was nine or 10 years old at that point in time. The next calendar year, I think we fish, like, 50 tournaments. Really? No joke. I mean, dad went and counted up at the end of the year. It was 50. You know, so it was something every weekend in the summer, a couple of week, little Tuesday night, Thursday night stuff. Mhmm. Yeah. We we hit it full bore.

09:51 · Passing It Down: His Dad, and Now His Son Parker

Tom Rowland: And so he he was into it as much as as you were. Now was he into it because he was getting to spend this this great amount of time with you? And I don't know. Maybe your maybe your brother was fishing with you guys too. But did he did he kind of embrace this activity as as a a father son kinda activity, or was he also into the the fishing aspect as much?

Ott DeFoe: All all the above, but largely a father son activity. And and it was because there are two of us as brothers and just one dad to take us, you know, we would have to split up. So, like, what we'd, you know, met some other people that fished a good bit and would fish tournaments. I might fish with that guy this weekend and then fish with dad the next weekend. And, you know, my brother and I would swap back and forth. You know, he had fish with him. I would fish with dad, vice versa. We'd go back and forth. But it it was. It was largely a a a time, you know, a way for us to spend time together. And that having kids now that Abby's 14 and and Parker and Lizzie are twins or 10, I can I can see where dad was at with that because, I mean, I love to go to their games and watch them and and, you know, I mean, cheer them on when they're playing basketball and volleyball and all that kind of stuff? But when you're actually the one competing on the team with them, you know, it's a lot of fun. That's I get to captain Parker and his, and his fishing tournaments, when I'm home. And to watch him and his buddy fish together, that's a ball. And I I love it. I like it more when he and I are fishing together, you know, and we're fishing in the tournament together. So I I totally get that's, you know, that's enjoyment of that that we're it was he and I working together or, you know, me and some of our other friends that that we fished with. But, yeah, it definitely was a So

Tom Rowland: when you explain to that again. Where and your son is fishing now?

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. On the they have, like, a lot of high school and junior tournaments. He's on the junior side.

Tom Rowland: So at some point, you know, you you needed to kinda you said you'd captain him or you're or at some point, you're like a I would imagine that you want to fish with your son, but you're coming with, you know, this incredible resume. Do they let you in, like, little little coffee can tournaments and stuff like that? Or is it like, oh, nah, uh-uh. No. We're not letting that guy in here.

Ott DeFoe: Right. Yeah. There there's some that let me, and there's some that don't even even with Parker, even with my son. And and I never fish any tournaments around here anymore with, you know, but just buddies that are my age or whatever. I I don't do that at all. If if I fish at local tournament, I'll I'll fish with Parker. Sure. But, but, there are there are some that are, like, more than happy to have me, would love for me to come fish every week, win, lose, or draw. They they wouldn't care at all.

Tom Rowland: Right.

Ott DeFoe: And there's some that are I mean, they have rules in place or they just you you ask the guy, and they're like, well, I would really rather you not with your son or not. That's just the way it is.

Tom Rowland: Have you ever thought about, like like, you're starting this, when you're when you're young and you had this experience when you're nine and you and your dad start fishing and you fish a whole bunch, and Mhmm. You had nothing to lose. You had you had you're learning every single week. Everything is new. You're you know, if you catch a big fish, it's gonna be a huge deal. And now your son comes into it, and he's having the the total opposite experience. Like, he's been around this his whole life. You know? He's got your last name. And it what do you think the difference is between those two experiences? And have you thought about that or talked to your son about it? Like, does he feel pressure?

Ott DeFoe: I I I haven't thought that much about it. I think Jenny probably does more than I have. But the way Parker is, there's no doubt he has thought about it, because he is he certainly favors Jenny. I mean, just and and his thought process and his personality and a lot of stuff. Abby, our oldest daughter, she and I are cut from the same cloth. Parker and Jenny are are very similar, and Lizzie's kinda just her own main mix in between. She's she is she is a very aggressive ballplayer. They're they're all very talent. I feel like they're pretty talented, but she is she's the one that's got the got the fire. But, but, yeah, I think, I do think with partner Parker's just his demeanor and stuff, I'm I'm sure he is he has thought about that. I I don't because I don't feel like I don't feel like I I certainly don't try to put that pressure on him. I never intend to. I want him to enjoy it because he enjoys it. You know what I mean? I don't want him to to feel that pressure because it's I guess if you think about it, it's completely unfair. I mean, that's not you know, whatever whatever accomplishments God has blessed me with, you know, they they came through a lot of hard work and and just his and in my opinion, I I give all that I mean, for me, I give all that glory to God, but, it's it's been his blessing and and through, you know, through divine appointment and through hard work. You know, so I I never feel like I try to put that pressure on Parker, but he made him on his on his cell. You know?

Tom Rowland: It's hard not to for a young for a young man. I mean, no matter Mhmm. No matter what they're doing, you know, they're they're they're in some way living in the shadow. It's funny. I have three kids too, and and they're all very different just like you described. Like, one does one thing, one does another, and the middle one's kinda in between, and they all and and and in some ways, like, even even with wrestling, I mean, I wasn't like a a great wrestler. I was probably a mediocre wrestler, maybe one of the best in the state when I was in in high school, but didn't continue it on any further. And even just that with my son was he he felt pressure like, wow. Yeah. Like, you you did well in wrestling. Now I'm expected to do well in wrestling. And and and for a while, he moved away from it. Like, he didn't want anything to do with it. And he, in fact, he moved to a sport that I didn't have any idea. I didn't know anything about. He he became a lacrosse player. And Okay. And he just kinda and I I I didn't even know the rules of lacrosse. Right? Yeah. And he he found that, like, okay. This is my thing. And and that was really interesting. But then later, he came back to wrestling, and he certainly has embraced fishing and hunting and and all of that as he's matured a little bit. But I think that he, you know, he certainly felt a lot of pressure early. And I just I you know, it's it's just an interesting conversation, parent to parent that, you know, how you how you deal with those kind of things and how you encourage, but don't don't pressure. And

Ott DeFoe: Yeah.

Tom Rowland: You know, it's a fine line. It's a real balance as you're as you're doing that. What have you had those conversations, or has he shown, like, a a a desire to move forward or or or kinda push it away at times? Or

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Yeah. Both. Yeah. Definitely. There's been phases of both. It seems like, you know, there there's times when when I I I don't ask him ask you much because I don't wanna put any extra pressure. But then it just be like, you know, what what do y'all I mentioned has asked them all or they'd be doing something in school of, you know, writing a paper on what they wanna be when they grow up top thing. And sometimes he'll he'll say that he wants to be a pro fisherman, you know? And and so that that's obviously neat to hear him actually say it. And then other times it's, you know, I mean, he doesn't have any desire much to go fishing, you know? So that which is funny to me because that at 10, like he is, that was the age where I was just I might eat up with it and really, you know, that it really got started for me where it like seven or eight. I mean, he was you know, he was as gung ho about it as he's ever been. So it's it's you know, it goes through phases, I think, like it does with, with kids at that age where, you know, something would get on their mind and and they really embrace it for a while, and then they might burn out for a little bit, but they might come back to it.

17:39 · A Rock of a Wife: Taking the Family on the Road

Tom Rowland: Nice. So you're you're a guy that is known for for your family and and, you know, being close with your wife and and being a being a good dad and everything like that. But you you look at at your schedule, you look at your your career wins. I mean, I'm looking at it right now. You've been in the classic eight different times. You won it once. You've been 83 times in the money. This is coming off the Internet, so maybe it's not exactly accurate, but correct me if it's not. But, I mean, everything on the Internet's right, I think.

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. That's what I was told. Depends on who you ask.

Tom Rowland: That's right. But you got six first place finishes, three second place finishes, a bunch of third place finishes, top 10. Something about you were, in the money. Where is it? It's like some some ridiculous statistic about being in the money, like, a really big percentage of the time. I don't know why I know I have it down here, but it's it's,

Ott DeFoe: I

Tom Rowland: don't know. You're in the money a lot. You're you're you're you're really, there. And and for a lot of people that maybe they're saltwater fishermen, they're they're they're aware of what goes into being a professional bass fisherman. They're aware that they're, you know, that your guys are on the road for a long time. And Mhmm. But but they don't really know what goes into it. For me, I look at it as professional bass fishermen, rodeo cowboys, and professional wrestlers. That's about the most hardcore schedule of anybody I see out there other than maybe an entertainer that's going from concert to concert. But, I mean, how how how do you how do you balance that? Like, that's a really interesting thing to me about how you have managed to balance that and not only be extremely successful in your career, in your fishing career, but also hold it together at home and and manage to to balance that and thrive with your family. Has that been Yeah. Has that been a a balancing act for you?

Ott DeFoe: It it definitely has. And it and it's one of those things that, you know, kind of first, I have to say, I'm a I have a rock of a wife. I mean, she she's unbelievable. I mean, to to manage this season of our life, it has gotten to be the very busiest, in multiple ways. I mean, with the kids being the age they are, being in sports like they are, you know, that Abby never did really any any school sports until just the last couple years. So that was kind of our first taste in. The twins were still young enough that they weren't really doing much yet. But now they all three have their own schedules, their own set of friends, their own places that they have to be. So when I'm gone, she basically lives in the car. We're about twenty minutes, twenty five minutes from from where the kids go to go to school at. So there's a lot of back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, you know, multiple times a day. But number one, that's what I gotta say first, that I I've got an unbelievable, support system and and my family and my wife, especially in our in our kids. But it it grew to that. You know what I mean? So starting out, I was fishing the Everstar series where I would fish three tournaments a year, and I was gone for three weeks or four weeks if I made the championship. Well, then then it was six, and then it was eight, and then it was, you know, stayed there for a while, and then it was maybe 10 or 12. And then, you know, so the point now where tournament wise, it's I think this year, I end up fishing about 12 or 13 tournaments that you're basically gone ballpark a week for. Some a little more, some a little less. And, you know, then as the sponsorship portfolio has grown, it's a couple days here for this one, a couple days there for that one. So it it was never like just a brick wall of, you know, I'm gone twenty days this year. The next year, I'm gone two hundred. It it grew and grew and grew. So it kinda the normal just constantly was was changing to where this is where we are now. You know, what was the the season that was probably my favorite was when the the kids were all young and we camped and they went to every tournament. I mean, we we had a had a fifth wheel camper. I would pull a camper. Jenny would pull a boat. And up until Abby was in, like, second grade, we were they went to everything. I mean, there wasn't a tournament they did not go to. And, that was certainly my favorite season because just all the places we got to go, the memories we got to have, time spent in the campgrounds in the evenings, if we were gone a week or if we were gone four. It didn't matter because we were all there together.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. I think, I mean, I I it seems like I know other bass fishermen that that do that. Their family just goes with them. Joey Nania, for example. He he just takes his family everywhere. And, yeah, like like you say, it's gonna be four weeks, it's gonna be six weeks, it's gonna be two weeks, whatever. It's everybody's going. And it's just a just a traveling kind of thing. But what what point does that change? And why? Why do you make the decision to to to change

Ott DeFoe: that? Yeah. It it it got to the point to where with with school for Abby, I mean, they go to a Christian school, a small private Christian school, and they were very willing to let us take them take the kids out as much as we needed to. You know, if they did their schoolwork and especially, if you were doing it now, especially with the way that they can do virtual learning. Right. But that was before all that. But, I mean, they were more than supportive of it, of them being with us, you know, of us all going to these places as a family, probably more so than a public school would have been. And and so that was that was wonderful. But it got to the point to where Abby is that her her missing a week of school or ten days of school, and this was, again, pre virtual learning or anything, it was hard when she'd come back. But just because their curriculum, you know, it was hard for her to get caught back up. And it was it was honestly putting a lot of stress on her. And so at that point, we were like, we need to need to kind of figure something out. And there were there was a couple years in there where the twins would Jenny and the twins would still go. Abby would stay home with my mom or her mom or or whoever and, you know, still go to school and stuff. So we did that for a year or two, and then it got to the point to where the twins had kind of reached that grade. It's like, well, you know, now we've got two of them that Jenny was having to help, you know, do their work on the road. And it just it kinda got to that point. And certainly, once they got in sports and stuff, it was like they've got their own schedules and missing practices and games and everything else. And it just they they had their own lives kind of at that point and, and and hard to hard to get to do that at all. And that's I've seen it with with friends of mine, you know, that that did that, that traveled as a family completely. And maybe about the time I got started, that their kids had kinda, you know, had kinda taken the time off from going on the road with with dad, you know, like dad. And I've seen I've seen other ones go through it, and I'm, I didn't realize it at the time, but then I'm able to look back and be like, man, I'm I'm so glad we did what we did when we did it. Mhmm.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. You can't you can't replace that time. And and it there and and, you know, my kids are a little bit older than yours. I've got a 23, a 21, and an 18, and my daughter just left for college. So all of a sudden, we're we're left with with no one at home anymore, which is a strange chapter in your life. It's it's it's a time where, you know, everything in my life revolves around the kids, and then Yeah. They're gone. And in one on one hand, you're super happy that you've raised these kids that are self sufficient enough to be out there on their own, and they're doing they're doing exactly what they're supposed to do. And on the other hand, man, you just you just miss them. And then and you just sit around and you're like, man, this this house is very quiet. Everything is so quiet. It's just incredible. But, the the times that we that we spent together and, you know, just like yours, it's it's you can't replace it. And you Yeah. It's it's just something to be super thankful for. Yeah. Well, that's cool. And I was gonna ask you about the the camping and and how you travel. How do you travel now? Do you what do you do now that that you're you're kind of on your own on the road?

25:57 · Road Life With Andy Montgomery

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Andy Montgomery and I have have run together even even when so I'm in a few tournaments here and there when Jay and the kids didn't go really on from the time I started on the Elite Series, which was 2011. They went to basically everything when I was at FLW and then starting on the on the Elite Series. That was the year that the twins were born. So Ginny, they came to some, but she was far enough along she didn't need to travel too much. So that like that first year, Andy and I roomed together some. The next couple years, not quite as much because Ginny and the kids were were at most everything. And then kind of as that season started to change again, he and I room together basically all the time now. And for the most part, we rent houses. We just we've gotten to where we like that better. You know, if we can't find something decent, we just do a hotel. But we enjoy, you know, having a house and having decent amount of space and good parking. It's usually always safe. And, yeah, that that's kinda kinda the way we we go most of the time now.

Tom Rowland: That that probably helps considerably to have some sort of a traveling partner. Like, I would imagine somebody that's going through a lot of the same kind of stuff. And the Airbnbs have got a have made a big difference, I would imagine, in that lifestyle of being able to rent that house and do it do it easily and and well in advance and find what you're looking for. Where before, it's like it's probably the camper or it's a hotel on these lakes where you never know what you're gonna get. Like, some of

Ott DeFoe: these Exactly. You know? Yeah. It was a you got a buddy that lives in the area and his uncle's brother's cousin has a house that, you know, they got a lake house they ran over here on occasion when you get over there, and nobody's been in it in six months. Right. Cobweb's everywhere. So that was before Airbnb, re RBO, it was definitely a little tougher go on renting houses. But, yeah, it's it's so much easier now. And and, you know, pretty much what you're going to get before you get there. And, and and, you know, that's that's the way we we try to go most of the time. It's because, I mean, a hotel is you just it's not that peace and quiet. You know? I mean, I had to I had to stay in one for an event I was at this other day. Jenny and I did. And, you know, somebody across the hall, open the door, shut the door, open the door, shut the door. It's just yeah, where if you're in your own own space, own house, you don't have to worry about that.

28:17 · From Fishing for Checks to Hunting Wins

Tom Rowland: Yeah. I wanna shift the conversation a little bit. Mhmm. You you know, we talk about this kind of storybook career where you start from real humble beginnings and you you reach the highest stage of that that you can. And to me, there's, you know, like, the people that you're fishing against, they're all great. I mean, they're they're all great. And on any given day, probably one of those guys could make it any one of those guys could probably make it happen. And and and so in that regard, fishing, just especially bass fishing, but a lots of lot of type of fishing can be one with with your mind. Like, you can it's a mindset. It's an attitude. It's a it's a game plan. It's, you know, call it what you want. But, you know, when you first get into something and, like, you and your dad don't cash a check for a couple years and you're you're you're you're participating in these tournaments.

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. And

Tom Rowland: then then you kinda that participation might kind of, kinda develop into well, now we're kind of maybe we might even be competitive in these tournaments. But at some point, the mindset shifts from Mhmm. I'm not participating in these tournaments anymore. I am I'm going there to win. Yeah. And or or maybe even there's a there's there's kind of a development process of of you're going there and you wanna be in the top 10 or you wanna Yeah. You wanna cash a check every time. But to make it to where you have have gone, somewhere along the line, that mind shit shit that mindset shifted to, like, a predator mindset. Like, I am here to win. Like Yeah. Can you go through that process of how how that has developed for you over time?

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. That that really is. And it's something I I don't truly think about that much, but it it most definitely has a quick little piece on that. What the bass club that I started off in when I was I would have been 12 or 13, and so I had to fish with dad because you had it was a draw club. So, you know, we were all members of the club and and you would put your name in a hat and you would get drawn out with whoever and fish with different people every week. Actually, I guess I was 14 because I had to fish with dad. I wasn't 16. At 16, you could go on the draw and my brother was. So, and we fished in that for a couple years and we were exactly what you said to start with. We were participating. We never never got the money ever. And this is like a twenty, thirty boat or twenty, thirty guy deal, you know, I mean, not not very big. Didn't didn't take a ton of weight to do well in this. And then it shifted to the point of what you were saying were, like, okay. You're getting some money here or there. And then it got to the point to where that's all we were doing was was winning, you know, about all the time. And, and one of the guys in that club actually made the comments that it was a lot better when y'all were just here donating, you know.

Tom Rowland: And everybody likes you better. Yeah.

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. So we liked y'all better. But but it it really has. And it and it's changed that that you call it a predator mindset. And I kinda like that in the last in the last two or three years, really, around the time of the classic, you know, kind of around that season, I guess. And maybe maybe the classic was kind of the catalyst for it. You know, I mean, that event being at home, personally, I would have felt like if I didn't win, I didn't accomplish my goal. And that, you know, I've I've felt that way for a long time. I want to win every tournament that I fish in. But then once we that was the year we also started Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour and stuff was 2019. And in those events, just I don't know if it's something with the way the format is, if it's the way the structure of the van where you have those cuts and resets and that type of stuff. I I feel like if I don't go there truthfully and make a top 10, I didn't have a very good the like, my my standard of what is good anymore is pretty high. And I just I have put that on myself completely. Starting off, it definitely was. I have always and that but I don't know what the percentage is on on the check cashing deal that you were trying to look at earlier, but I have always prided myself on getting a check. Like, that was and they come from the fact I I don't I don't need to know it, Tom. I was just that that that

Tom Rowland: I'm just wondering where it went. I know. I copied it down here.

Ott DeFoe: You were you were looking forward earlier. But it you know, when I started off, I didn't have any sponsors. And so if I didn't get a check, I lost money Right. By going to that event. And so it was extremely important for me to get a check. At least that way, I'd put a little bit of something back in the bank. It didn't didn't cost me the time off of work, the entry fee, the travels, all all that stuff. It was very important for me to get a check at every single event. And it it I got good at that. I got I got really good at that to to the point where I rarely missed one. And then no one it's almost like I would go to a tournament knowing I'm gonna get a check now. Now let's let's try to make that a top 20. Okay. Now let's now let's make that a top 10. Well, now we need to start pushing to try to try to win these. And and I think with the family side of it too, it's like as I've realized just how important that time is. And if I'm gone, I kinda don't rate success of anything less than a than a win anymore. And so, you know, that's in in our sport, that's a tremendous, tremendous amount of pressure to put on yourself. But that's kind of the way I rank a successful tournament. You know, if it's less than a win, there's something I missed out on.

Tom Rowland: Do you think that, as you look back on your career at this point and you see where those where where where those mindset shifts took place, like, if you're going there and your goal is to get a check, how many times are you gonna win with that mindset versus Correct. The other, you know, going going for it? Because, you know, you can you can I mean, I don't know that much about bass fishing, but I do know about tournament fishing in saltwater? And there are plenty of opportunities where you can play it safe, And you could definitely make it into the top 10 by playing playing it safe. You know where the fish are. You're gonna go there. But you also know that you're gonna catch what everybody else is catching. And then so to win, you're gonna have to do something different, or you're gonna have to take a risk, and you're gonna have to swing for the fence. And and and do you think that if your mindset is get a check I mean, occasionally, it's fishing. You're gonna get a you're gonna have a great day every now and then and maybe you win something. But to win consistently, can you do it with that mindset, or do you have to do you have to have a different mindset?

Ott DeFoe: You definitely have to have a different mindset because the problem is if you if you're fishing for a check and you miss, now you finish sixtieth. Yeah. Where, you know, I mean, that that truly is

Tom Rowland: the deal. I finished sixtieth. I know what that means.

Ott DeFoe: So if you're fishing for a twentieth or, you know, maybe maybe on the verge of making a top 10 and you miss well, you finished fifteenth or twentieth. It was still a really good event. If you're fishing for the if you're like man this is my chance to win but you miss you might miss and still finish sixtieth. You may also miss and finish third. You know so that's kind of that kind of is is to me the difference of it. And and there's really for me the way I look at that in our practice and one term of this year in particular, a couple honestly, were really good examples of it, our event on the Harris Chain down in Florida. And and I and I and I'll then I'll I'll preface this by saying our, you know, our events now with Major League Fishing are pretty unique. You know, with what we fish with bass on the elite series of classic, that type of stuff is accumulative white, every day mattered equally. You know, what you call today, add it to tomorrow, add it to the next day. The the total at the end wins. Where ours, we we fish two days, then it cuts, and then it zeroes. Those two days are irrelevant at that point. All I had to do was get through it. You get to the next day, same deal. You just have to get through that day. You make the final day that last day goes, but it doesn't matter. It all resets at zero. So we're unique in the fact that each day kind of stands alone. You gotta survive. You gotta survive. And then you gotta win. Day one, Harris chain, I did pretty bad. I mean, I had, like, 11 pounds or something. The cut was maybe 18 or 20. So I was, like, eight or 10 pounds out of the cut. Not that bad, but I wasn't in it. If I go back and catch what I'll do again, I'm not even gonna be close. So I know. I mean, and and that's kind of where it's like a double edged sword. I'm so I'm so bad off that I don't have to think about it. I'm like, I can totally scrap that. I'm going to do something totally different because I'm not going to fish that way and try to finish sixtieth or fiftieth, you know, or if it if it was really good, maybe I make the cut barely. I'm gonna totally scrap it. I'm gonna do something different. I think I'll catch some, but I may not. But if I do find them, I might actually make the next round, you know, or I can still find enough to win the tournament. And that was actually what I did. I went out and I had an unbelievable day, found the best area on the lake then and made the made the next round, won that or made it through that cut easily, make the championship and go out and win the tournament on the final day. So, you know, that's that's the way that that works. I'm just sometimes, Chickamauga event. I didn't have a very good practice at all. At Harris chain, I had a decent practice, but Chickamauga, I had a terrible practice. And the in the first couple hours, I had fished everything that I knew where I could possibly catch one from practice from my two days. I had caught nothing. So at that point in time, I pulled the trailer motor up. I just start graphing. It's a summertime tournament looking for fish out on ledges. And it was like about an hour into the second period. We're about three and a half hours into the day at this point in time. I still haven't caught any, but I was across the place, mark a good school fish. And primarily off that school fish, I end up with, like, a twentieth place finish out of that event. So, you know, I had totally written off my practice at that point and just started practice over in the tournament and ended up coming out with a twentieth place finish.

38:36 · Bass Pro Tour vs. Bassmaster: Which Format Fits

Tom Rowland: Which which, format do you think favors you better? The the cumulative over the course of the days or or this the the new style?

Ott DeFoe: I I mean, just in our three years of this, I've I've had three wins on on the Bass Pro Tour two this season, one last. And strictly looking at that success, I I would say I would say this format because with the with bass, I'd I'd won the classic. I'd won the late series. But my wins other than that were were in opens or special events or or whatever. And, you know, I don't know that it would have been any different in a five fish format, to be honest. But I'll I'll enjoy this format better because like one of my late series wins or my one late series win up in Wisconsin, that that's a place where a four pound fish is a big fish. I mean, that's a big one for their account of six pounder one day. Wow. That fish essentially won the tournament for me. But I mean, I I got the advantage of that. You know, that worked in my favor. But is that was I truly the best judge for the whole week on that body of water? I don't know. I but I caught that one really big fish that made a really big difference in the outcome. Where in ours, having to you gotta survive. You gotta survive. And then that final day is really when you have to have to show out. I think over the course of the event, you see the guys who are on a on a more consistent buy. Are they catching the biggest fish in the lake? Not necessarily, but they're able to get more decent fish to buy than anybody else. Now, when it was the one pound minimum, like what we had, you know, like the first year, I was successful in that. You know, I had some good events, but you could fish different on certain fisheries only fishing for one pound fish. Once we upped it to a two pound minimum, it's a pretty decent fish to be your smallest fish. I mean, I cashed a lot of checks and five fish tournaments weighing in sub two pound fish. Now I might have a couple four or five pounders, but I got a couple in there that are, you know, just keepers to go with them. So, our two pound minimum, you get to fish the way you like to fish, but then you get to count them all.

Tom Rowland: That's interesting. It's it's really interesting because it it it really is two completely different skill sets, two completely different tournaments, two completely different television experiences, two completely different events, but the same kind of people are competing in both of them. And one one format will favor a certain angler, and and the and and they may not really do very well in the other format consistently. You know? And that's what it's all about, and the fishing is the consistency for for the most part.

Ott DeFoe: And and one one thing I'll say on that, and and I and I may not, on for myself, but I I do feel like with the format, you know, there there are some that seem to favor one more than the other angler wise. But if you look at the if you look at the top 10 on our Bass Pro tour the last three years and compare to when when we were, you know, when all of the same guys were fishing on the elite series. The names might shift around a little bit here and there. But generally speaking, it's a lot of the same guy. I mean, Jacob Wheeler, Brynn Aylor, Justin Lucas. I mean, a lot of those same guys who are in our top 10 were in the top 10 when we were all fishing there as you know what I mean? So it does there are some guys that may excel a little bit more here or there, but but all in all, it's a lot of the same bunch, I feel like, that are consistently in the top 10 at the end of the year at the points.

Tom Rowland: It's really interesting about that because, you know, what you do and what I do are very different, but that is a very, very, very similar thing where you can go to any tournament, any format, any specie, and the same 10 guys are at the top. Now Yeah. Things will change and and and a few of those guys will decide that they don't wanna fish tournaments anymore or or they're they'll they'll have kids or whatever, and they'll drop out and somebody else will fill their place. But but it's really a lot of the same names. And Mhmm. I wonder if you have any perspective on that since you have been on both sides of that. You were you were a guy on the outside looking in saying, I wonder what those guys are doing. I wonder how that happens. And now you are one of those guys. What's the difference? What do those 10 guys do that other people don't?

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. A a big part of it is that mental aspect you're talking about earlier, that that decision making, and the decision to go for the win or go for the top 10 win as versus playing it safe. But it's also just just thinking ahead of the rest of the field, whether that's looking at the forecast and being like, man, it's I I know on my next day of fishing, we're gonna have a heavy east wind, and I need to find a place. I mean, the way the fish are set up now, I've got to find a place that's going to be protected from that. It's going to trash while I'm fishing. So I might, you know, three days ahead, I might be over there where it's terrible conditions practicing for the conditions that I'm gonna have in the tournament. You know? So it's just that it's kind of that looking ahead type stuff, trying to stay a step or two ahead of your competition, whether that's cold front coming or that's a wind change direction or, you know, a lot of those different factors. But it's it's really that trying to outthink them more than anything because we're all pretty physically able to do the same things. We've all got, you know, four or five grass on our boat. We're we're all pretty equally paired as far as our our abilities and our equipment. You know, so that's it really does a lot of it end up coming down to the mental side of it of just just trying to outsmart the other guys or or at work. I mean, you know, I mean, and that's well, it's usually in the resources that were available to, you know, I mean, from online mapping and Google Earth and and that type of stuff and just, you know, trying to do better research or, once you get to that point, that that week of mentally thinking and looking at the forecast and trying to trying to expect what what the fish are gonna do given the conditions that are coming on, you know, on your competition day is a big part of it.

44:56 · Practice Days: Covering Water and Building a Plan

Tom Rowland: That was one of the questions that I was kind of thinking about asking you was, like, what what are you thinking about, in practice? And then what are you thinking about the morning of that tournament? And and how do those things maybe how do they they stay similar? How do they change? Or or, like, what what are you thinking about? What's what what are you thinking about on the morning of of one of these big tournaments?

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Yeah. For for practice for me, I try to I try my best to cover a lot of water, you know, because that's getting generating bots is it is what we've got to do, you know? So trying to find areas that's got this got a lot of life in them, period. You know, and and hopefully I get a few bots out of that. But I'm going to make note of a place that just looks right. You know, that's got all the right ingredients, whether I catch any fish there or not, because I might go to a place that's got all the right ingredients and just not have the fish figured out yet where I might it might be 10 miles up the lake, but I'll make a bite change or I'll do something else that's like, okay, here's what these fish are doing. This will work back where I was earlier. I don't even need to go back and check it out. But this will work, you know, where I was at then once I actually figured the bot out at that point in time. So that's kind of my mindset and practice is just trying to get an idea as to what the fish are doing. If there's a and pattern fishing is my preferred method where I can find something I can duplicate, you know, that I can I can work across a broad spectrum of the lake and not have to count on one spot or two spots top deal? But in the tournament, it's my I I wanna catch them quick. I mean, if I if I've got a place I can start, if I've got a place where I think will be good first thing in the morning, I don't wanna dillydally around and and kinda, you know, well, I'll get there in an hour or so if I've got a good place. And there's a lot of mental part to our game now too to where, you know, with score tracker and with the other guys you're competing against knowing what you're catching. I'll be honest to say, and I want to bury them as quick as I can. I mean, that's that's the goal, you know? I mean, that's, you know, that's kind of what you're trying to do. So if you can get if you can kinda rattle them a little bit, you know, on occasion, that'll that'll work in your favor. Sometimes it does, and sometimes you just make them mad and then they go to practice it and they end up finding something. So, but my my goal is always on tournament morning. I'm gonna go where I think has the most potential, you know, especially for that time of day wherever it's got the most potential to try to put a lot of fish in the boat quick.

Tom Rowland: How often when you have, you know, a successful practice or you found these techniques that you think are gonna work in a lot of different areas and you're looking at the weather and stuff like that, and let's just say without a weather change, and you come up with a game plan for your for your day, how often are you gonna change that game plan? Are you are you the kind of guy that's like, this is the game plan from from my research and from what I did in practice, this is gonna work and I'm gonna stay with this. Or do you see something over there and you're like, because I, you know, I'm more of the guy that stays with the plan. And then my partner that I fish with a lot, dude, he'll see a bird and he's like, no. We gotta go over there.

Ott DeFoe: And I'm

Tom Rowland: like, what? We just worked on this plan for a week, and you're just you're just going off off. And you know what? I gotta say though, it it works for him sometimes, a lot of times. But my plan works a lot of times. And it and there's two different ways of doing it. And and some people are just like, no, man. It's nature, dude. You gotta go where nature is showing you. You know, you see birds diving and stuff like that. Something's going on over there.

48:32 · Changing the Game Plan on the Fly

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Yeah. But you

Tom Rowland: don't know that it's not going on 30 miles down the lake where you were headed. Like, what which do you favor? Do you stick to the plan or you change?

Ott DeFoe: No. I'll I'll change. I mean, I'm, yeah, I'll change in in a moment's notice. I mean, I really will. Now if I've got if I've got something that's just like, I mean, absolutely lots out, I know where I need to be. I'm probably I'm not gonna let much deter you know, deter me from that. But if I'm if it's just okay and I'm just gonna be fishing, man, I'm looking for any other kind of clue, any other godsign that I can that I can find that I'm gonna take and try to run with. I absolutely am. But the the the Harris chain tournament, I'll go back to that one because that one was a pretty unique one as far as that goes. That the so the first day I had that bad day, well, my next day of fishing, I was running around in Lake Harris and I'm running down through there and I'll see some birds sitting on this dock and it was a shad spawn going on and I had knew that from practice. And those birds are a great indication as to where that, you know, that bait fish is. I said four or five birds, like, on this one dock. I mean, there's a lot of birds in this one place. But I ride on by and I I kinda do a lap and I'm looking around whatever. I'm like, it gets close to time for lines in and we have, like, a thirty minute ride around. I mean, I rode pretty good lap around. I'm like, I wanna go where those birds were. I mean, that was the best indication that I had. That doff they were standing on, I think I caught 40 pounds off of. I mean, so it was, you know, I mean, those those clues like that, it's like, I'm and and our our kind of fishing has kinda molded me into that that type of angler. Again, with our format, you you have you'll fish a day on, a day off, day on, day off. So it might have been, you know, thirty six, forty eight hours since you were on the water. You know how much stuff changes in in that amount of time. And then in our cup events, we don't get any practice whatsoever. You pull up to the lake that you've never been to before, they hand you a map and say, go bring me a bass. You know? So that's it it kinda makes you fish that way, makes you a more instinctive angler. And, and that's something that I've I feel like I've embraced and and really enjoy doing.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. It's interesting just to the the the the difference in the game plan. And both of them both of them can work.

Ott DeFoe: Oh, yeah.

50:59 · The Monday After the Classic: A Heart Problem at 33

Tom Rowland: So back in 2019, you you have it arguably your best year, but my research shows that you also had a health issue in 2019 right after that. So, how did how did you, start to realize that something was not quite right, and what did you do about it?

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Yeah. It it was actually immediately following the classic that the symptoms show showed up. I mean, like, the Monday after. Not like that Sunday night, I didn't sleep very good. And that Monday, I was just, like, shortness of breath and, you know, I I would get out of breath going up and downstairs or but especially early on, like then, the shortness of breath came a little bit later on, but it I I had a little bit. But I would lay down at night, and I mean, it just felt like, I mean, I just couldn't couldn't catch my breath. I almost had to sit up to breathe decent. You know, it was like once I laid down, it just it, here I say it felt like my lungs filled up with anything, you know, but I could sit up and I could get some relief and I could I could breathe decent. And so so much so that the Wednesday following the classic, I went to, like, a just a walk in clinic deal, and they said I probably had bronchitis and gave me some medicine for it. But didn't fix it. I could ten days later, I went back and and got some more minor improvements, but not much, and dealt with it for two and a half, three months. And, actually, I think we were at the same Mercury event. Do you remember a Mercury event up in Wisconsin? Yeah. Well, no. This was up in Wisconsin, and it was it would have been in, like, June 2019. Okay. I I think that you were at that, at that deal. Yeah. But, but that I had that event up there, and I connected through Chicago to fly to that. And, you know, in Chicago, you have to it does have any of the transit thing. You have to walk all of it. And I'm a pretty fast walker, fairly long legged, and people were just going by me. I mean, I'm like, something's not right here. Got home from from that, and Jenny got me an appointment just with our primary care, which I had a physic just a yearly physical schedule for, like, a couple weeks later. I'm like, something's gotta give. This just ain't right, because I dealt with it honestly for, like, three months, and it had steadily gotten worse. It never got better. Never, you know, seemed to level out. It just constantly got a little worse and a little worse. Went to that appointment and, everything checked out okay. But they did the x-ray of my chest and called me a couple hours later and were like, hey, your heart is misshaped. It's, woah, you know, should be like fish shape, but it's more round. And I'm like, okay. I don't know. You know, I wasn't overly concerned. I didn't really know that that was a very serious thing at that point. They said we've got an echocardiogram scheduled for tomorrow. You need to be at this office this time, blah blah blah. And so I go to that, and it's basically doing ultrasound of your heart. And, the tech this is this is a line I'll I'll never forget from from that. The tech is, you know, moving that wand around and, you know, doing pictures of my heart and checking stuff. And, he says, anybody ever mentioned anything about you having a murmur? And I said, no. He goes, I said, what's mean?

Tom Rowland: That's not that's not what you wanna hear from your pilot or your doctor.

Ott DeFoe: Right. Right. Said, well, no. There's definitely reason for you to feel what you're feeling. I'm like, okay. You know, I'm not crazy anyway. And, and he's like, I can't really say any more than that. You know, your your doctor who reads this will actually have to be the one to tell you, you know, what's going on. So, and that call came the next day. And and, yeah, they told me then that I had a torn mitral valve. I didn't know I had a mitral valve, but I had a had a torn one and it was letting more blood go the wrong way than it was the right way, which was causing it to go back into my lungs, which is what was causing the the shortness of breath and stuff. So, yeah, that was

Tom Rowland: What was the what was the fix?

Ott DeFoe: The fix was a it was it was heart surgery. It was an open heart surgery, so they didn't have to go through my chest, but they actually went through my side, went between, like, my eighth and ninth ribs, and then went into my heart from there and actually repaired that valve. They didn't have to replace it or do a mechanical or anything like that. They were actually able to replace my own valve or repair my own valve, and then put a band around that artery to make it fit what size the valve was now. So, you know, a mechanical or artificial valve or anything like that would have has a ten, twenty, thirty year lifespan. You know, then it would have to be fixed again. With this repair, it actually should it should last me my whole life. So that's why they were they were hopeful to be able to repair it instead of having to

Tom Rowland: How long did it take until you started feeling better?

Ott DeFoe: It was you know, I mean, I was just them but it said my ribs were spread apart about where you should it was either a baseball or softball. You could've got between my eighth and ninth ribs. That's how far apart those were because I had to go in there with a tube to then work inside my heart with.

Tom Rowland: Right.

Ott DeFoe: So that soreness was really bad for ten days or so. You know, I mean, like, the first day to do that with my arm was just excruciating. The next day I could do that, you know, about four or five days, I could touch the top of my head, but that was the soreness. But being on the heart bypass and all that stuff, that just that wipes you out, I mean, energy level and stuff for a week to and I I spent, like, two nights in ICU one night in a regular room, and then I was able to come home. But, for that first week at home to get up, go, you know, to the to the kitchen, eat a little bit of breakfast, I was ready for a nap. I mean, that was that was it. You know, and by the time the second week had ended, I could I could walk around. I could walk outside and, you know, I could I could move around a little bit before having to have some rest. But about the, you know, twentieth day, 15, eighteen, twentieth day, something like that, me and a buddy of mine went fishing for about three or four hours, and then I come home and slept. But, but, like, week five, I fished a cup event, which was that that was pretty rough, but, but I got through it. Week eight, I fished Redcress, and that was rough, but I got through it. By week 12, I was I was pretty close to normal. Yeah. I remember at Redcrest that we we had the first day of practice was on Sunday, and we always have our our fish in church on Sundays, but we have it early. And I got up early. I'd went to that, then I'd practice till, like, 06:00 or something. So I mean, I had been it had been a fourteen hour day or something for me. I didn't get out of bed the next morning till, like, 09:00. Wow. I I really overdid it on on that day. But, and and I was able to recover from that, you know, I mean, after wrestling a little bit more that day. But, yeah, it was it was definitely a lot

Tom Rowland: of fun. Expected from the doctors? Like, they were gonna repair this and it was gonna probably take eight to twelve weeks before you really feel the difference? Or

Ott DeFoe: Just to get all my energy back. I mean, I could feel the difference in breathing and that kind of stuff. I mean, right away. Yeah. Yeah. That as far as that goes, that that difference was but to actually get my my to get my energy back, yeah, that and that wasn't really anything from my heart. That was just from, from my understanding, from being on that bypass machine, just what it does kind of to your body. It's really a major shock, I guess, to your body.

Tom Rowland: And so how are you feeling these days?

Ott DeFoe: Oh, yeah. It's everything's all good. Yeah. 100%. Even better? Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I just better watch out. Good. Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Tom Rowland: That's awesome, man. Well Yeah. I mean, when you look back on that, do you do you think that you you should have gone earlier? Or or

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely should have. You know? And but, I mean, I was 33 years old, you know, at that point in time. I'm like, yeah. But I'm sure this is nothing major, you know, was what was going through my mind. And, and they were I mean, the the doctors and stuff were were quite surprised. They were like, this this does happen, but it is very rare. And and what I had wasn't heart disease. It wasn't a heart problem. It it literally what they said they called it an event. It it no different really than breaking your arm. It just broke. Wow. You know? It it wasn't something that a lot of people have a murmur and it may progressively get worse over time or something. Might happen, and it happened all at once.

Tom Rowland: Wow. And then did they say that's like a genetic thing or or or it's just like breaking an arm? Like, it could happen to anybody. It could happen anytime. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. Oh, well, glad you're good and ready to go again, man. That's that's great.

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Thanks.

1:00:00 · Thankful for Every Day: What the Scare Changed

Tom Rowland: That's, that's a pretty serious pretty serious kinda deal. Did that did that change your perspective on anything?

Ott DeFoe: It definitely did. You know? I mean, it it made me, it made this made me thankful for every day. It it definitely did. And, and and to know that every day is a blessing. But, but, yeah, it it is one of those things that looking back on, it's it's never something you'd want to happen. But looking back on it, I'm really glad that, it did that it did and and that, you know, that everything thankfully did come out the way that it did. But, but, yeah, I'm definitely glad that it happened as odd as that may sound.

Tom Rowland: Well, it does you know, you hear that with with other people that have had what what whatever it is, a cancer survivors or this is kind of the same way of, like, this was the worst thing that ever happened, but it it gave me a perspective that I would never have had otherwise. And I'm really glad that it did. And, you you see it happen with, you know, failure with with with colossal failures that take take years to get over. And then once you do, it's kinda like, yeah, I would have never learned the lessons that I that I know today if it hadn't been for that. But health scares can be can be like that too. So Yeah. It's no surprise that you're, I mean, you seem like a super grateful person anyway, but do you, do you, do you think that you're more grateful after that or has, has that kind of gratitude about kind of every day, always been there for you?

Ott DeFoe: It it I feel like I was always, you know, always pretty thankful, but it definitely made it even more so. Yeah. You know, just because you'd, one day you're winning the Bassmaster Classic, and the next day, you don't really know what's going on. But to find out that whatever happened then, you know, it may even been on stage. I mean, I I never felt anything. But, but it was definitely somewhere around that time that, you know, that caused me to absolutely need heart surgery. And that was when I had the heart had a heart cath done, which was on a Monday. I ended up having surgery on Wednesday. I mean, they told me after that heart cath, they're like, listen. The reason your heart's misshaped is because the pressures inside of it are so high.

Tom Rowland: Wow.

Ott DeFoe: Eventually or had I been an older person and my heart not been young and and been as strong as it was, it probably, truthfully, would have already exploded because my the pressures inside my heart were just that great. You know, so they're like you're you're a very blessed individual to have not come in here in a much different condition.

Tom Rowland: Wow. Well Yeah. Good thing, man. Good thing that you're you're back on your feet and and got that that that taken care of. And I guess Yeah. That if other people have issues kinda like that, it's definitely something you wanna get checked out.

Ott DeFoe: Absolutely. Yeah. And that and that's that's the, you know, that's what if there's anything to tell people. If there's anything odd going on, don't put it all. You know? Go go get it looked at by somebody that knows you that, you know, that is a is a physician you trust and and get it, you know, get it figured out.

1:02:55 · Sun Protection and the Buff Partnership

Tom Rowland: Yeah. Yeah. For sure. As far as health goes, we have another, sponsor in common, with Buff. And, you know, the the sun is is such an incredibly dangerous thing. It's also a wonderful thing. Right? Like Yeah. You get out there in the sun, you get vitamin d, it's super healthy. And

Ott DeFoe: Yeah.

Tom Rowland: If you don't have enough of it, it's super unhealthy. But

Ott DeFoe: Yeah.

Tom Rowland: Doing what you do and doing what I do, you gotta like, that sun is is serious. And so what what how did you get, started with Buff, and what what does that mean to you as far as the sun protection and how important that is?

Ott DeFoe: Absolutely. Yeah. It is a big deal because we do spend way more time out in the sun than the average human being. I mean, I think you and I, you know, I mean, our our our the percentage of our life that we're out there, you know, is is more than most. And I I think we'd both say we're thankful for that. For sure. Absolutely. You know, Any other way for I know for me to make a living, if it was indoors, I would probably go crazy. So very, very thankful for that time out there. But it is, you know, for anybody who spends any amount of time outside, you know, protecting your skin from, it's a big deal. The the thing that really got me started with Buff or really seeking finding that I had a need, for that, holding holding a reel, especially a baitcasting reel, where I grip it in my right hand, that top of that index finger, I could not keep enough sunscreen on it. Yeah. I mean, your hands are always getting wet and it's washing off. And in the summertime, especially, I've noticed some spring and fall, but especially in the summertime, the top of that hand would get some poison on it. It would itch. I mean, every time I would go to after a couple days of practice, there was nothing I could do to protect it good enough. And my my face would get burnt and stuff some, but I, you know, I I'd keep sunscreen on it pretty good and, you know, just kind of deal with that. But my hands were something I just I could not find a way to protect them. And so that got me looking for, you know, for gloves to fish in. And the buff gloves were the were some of the first ones that I went to. And, and they did, you know, did a fantastic job. And I was able actually to help them design some of the, of those newer style gloves they've got now, you know, some of the thinner and different white materials and stuff. But, but and then, you know, once I found those gloves and I certainly realized that my face was just as important because, it's face. I'm not the I wasn't the world's best at remembering to put sunscreen on the first time or maybe the second time or the third time that you needed to do it with the with the amount of hours that were out there on the water and sweating and everything else. That buff is something I could do once I could put it on, protect myself, and I'm good to go for the day, you know, for my ears, my neck, my face, my nose, everything. I could just cover it up with that one time. And that being a tournament angler, if I can save a few minutes a day of not having to reapply sunscreen multiple times, that's more minutes than I'm fishing. So, you know, it was a necessary thing for health reasons and also, to be honest, a more convenient thing for me, doing what I do.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. Did you notice when you first started using that feeling better? Because that was the that was the that's the reason why. I mean, on the first day, I checked it out, and I found the Buff really super, super early because, one of my customers found it in a motorcycle shop. And I was trying to wear bandanas and all this kind of stuff, and it leave big areas open on the side of my neck. And but I just noticed that every time that I covered up more, whether that was a big floppy hat or whether it was long sleeves or pants or whatever, every little thing that I did to cover up, I had a little bit more energy at the end of the day Yeah. And and a little bit more energy through the day. And when I started covering up my face and not you know, some days you'd be fine and it wouldn't be that bad. But other days, you know, the fishing's real good and and you're throwing the cast net and you're doing all this other stuff and you you know, your hands are all wet and you you just don't put sunscreen on and you get worked. And then for the rest of that week, you feel you feel kinda rough and tired and burnt and just, crispy. And when I put that buff on the first time, I was like, wow. I feel a lot better at the end of the day. And that's, you know, for me, anything that I that I try and then I stick with, it usually comes down to, did it make a big difference in the way that I I felt? Like, did I notice that? Like, Right.

Ott DeFoe: You

Tom Rowland: know, it's kinda like stepping into the air conditioning and you're like, oh, yeah. It's way better in here.

Ott DeFoe: That's right.

Tom Rowland: You know what I mean? Like, it's not like I I kinda think it might be a little bit better. It's like all

Ott DeFoe: of a

Tom Rowland: sudden you're like, woah, this is different. You know? Yeah. Does it make you feel different like that?

Ott DeFoe: It it definitely does. Yeah. I mean, and it's what you kinda what you said there. You know, one day you might you might notice it or not. But so many multiple days in a row on the water. You know, if you get go out and you get burned, well, then you then you go back to work the next day. That's what you you think it looks cool because you can show off to your buddies. You spent the weekend and, you know, spent Saturday afternoon in the sun. But for I mean, being out there all day long, day after day after day, you can't do that on top of itself and on top of itself because then that's all you're gonna feel, and you're not gonna be able to concentrate on what you need to be concentrating on. So, and it and it is. I mean, even at the end of the day, just that one day, I feel like you've got so much more energy. And that's I I pretty much always summertime, I'll fish in long sleeve shirts. I do use a fish in shorts, but from my knees up, it's covered, basically. You know, so that's that's kind of the way that I I pretty much go. And and it is I mean, you you just have less of that sun beating on your body, and it definitely does take a little less out of you by covering yourself up that way.

Tom Rowland: That's awesome. Yeah. For sure. For me too. So you have a you have a foundation. Right?

Ott DeFoe: Not well, not a foundation, but through Buff that we're we're doing, doing a a deal, kind of a special thing with some custom Buffs, that, that a a deal that Casey there had had, you know, kinda started up for us. But, you know, doing a deal with a custom buff there of a buy one, give one. So the give one is going back to student anglers, you know, high school fishing, bass fishing, especially tournaments and stuff has grown to be a really big thing. And this is a deal where for every buff purchased, we're gonna give one away to one of those high school anglers. Oh, that's cool. You know, just to be able to to pass those on to them. Yeah. So, yeah, that's a that's a really, really neat program that, that we kinda got structured with them, and it's it's going really well

1:09:34 · Scripture, Legacy, and a Vision for the Sport

Tom Rowland: so far. Oh, that's cool. That's really cool. So now I just wanna ask you a couple of questions right at the at the end of of this, and I appreciate your time so far. But, you know, everybody's got, like, well, not everybody. Some people have none of this, but I'm assuming that you probably do. You got nonnegotiables, things that you're gonna have to do or not do in the course of a day. I'm wondering if you thought about, you know, a couple of your nonnegotiables. When you wake up in the morning, these are things that are gonna get accomplished or that you're never gonna do. It could be, you know, I'm I'm not doing that. What what are what are some of your nonnegotiables on a daily basis?

Ott DeFoe: That's, that's interesting. Well, the thing I always try to start my morning with is when I open up my phone is to read a a verse of scripture. I mean, that's that's my first. I try to make that my first move every single day. I don't always succeed in that, but that's that's kind of my my go to thing is to look at that. And as far as any kind of non negotiable, that's that's a pretty tough question. I'm I'm trying to is this in fishing or is this in life

Tom Rowland: or is this in Anything. Could be both.

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Man, that's a can't really even think of anything else to go to kinda go on. You you hit me with a pretty deep one right there out of the blue. You know, I mean, just to to be, you know, to be a good person, to be a good be a good husband, be a good father, as best I can. That's yeah. I mean, that those are those are what I strive to do every single day. Yeah.

Tom Rowland: Nice. Like it. And, if you were to, think about like, let's just say, things didn't go quite the way that they they did with your with your heart. What would what are some things that it when when when it's when it's your time

Ott DeFoe: Mhmm. What

Tom Rowland: are some things that you wanna be known for in this life?

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Kinda, well, I was, you know, saying there a little bit. Number one, to be a a that that I was a Christian, that I love the lord, and, you know, that I tried to try to bring others to him, that I was a good husband, a good father. And then as professional wise, just that I played the game the right way, you know, that I was that I I did everything the way that you were supposed to. You know, I respected others the way I'd want to be respected on on and off the water. You know, I think that that's that's as much as what you could ask for, you know, that that, you know, that you treated other people the way you'd want to be treated. And, you know, there was really nobody that I ever intentionally wrong. You know, if it if something happened that I tried to ask for forgiveness and and move on from it. But, yeah, that just that I always try to play play the game the right way. I think that that's more important than how many trophies you end up with. Just having the respect of your peers is a really big thing.

Tom Rowland: Nice. I like that. And, do you have a what what's your vision for the future?

Ott DeFoe: Man, I I would love to see for our sport, I would love to see it grow to be as as popular. It it is popular. I mean, it it truly is. There's more people that fish than do anything else, you know, as far as any other kind of sports. I mean, that participation wise, more people participate in fishing than all the other sports individually, a lot of them combined. But for it to to see it go as mainstream as something like golf, you know, to to see that, what would be would be something I'd love to see in in my time because it is, to me, the greatest, you know, the greatest sport that I've ever been a part of. And, I I think that it just has a lot of need aspects. You know? We're not we're not chasing any top of the ball. Our our target's always moving, literally. Yeah. You know, most time, unless it's on a bed. But, but, yeah, it's it's always moving. It's always somewhere else, and you can't even see it most of the time. I mean, we're we're fishing for something that, up until some of the sonar and stuff, you'd you're just expecting the fish to be over there. You know what I mean? So, so that that's that's the neat thing with it. I just think that it it has so many variables. It's outside, and it's, you know, getting to enjoy god's creation.

Tom Rowland: Right on, man. Right on. Well, I love getting to get to know you a little bit better is that's what I love about this podcast is you get to just sit down with people that you, you know I mean, like, maybe at that Mercury event, I did get a chance to talk to Brent Ehler there for the longest time I've ever had a chance to talk to him. Usually, you know, I see him around. It's like, hey, Brent. What's going on? Hey, Tom. What's gonna nice to see you. Yeah. But you never have a chance to, like, really sit down and

Ott DeFoe: Yeah.

Tom Rowland: And talk, you know, because you got so many other things going on and and Oh, yeah. There's just not a lot of opportunity for it anymore. And, it's nice to it's nice to, to get to know you a little bit better. And, I hope that we'll cross paths again, but, man, I wish you all the best of luck and and, in what you're doing and and what you're what you're going to do, because I got a feeling that, that you're you're just getting started.

Ott DeFoe: Yeah. Well, thank you, Tom. I really yeah. It's been been enjoyable to get to be on here and, yeah, glad we glad we were able to make it happen and glad to come back anytime. So thank you very much.

Tom Rowland: Right on. Alright. If, if people wanna follow you, if they wanna, do whatever whatever, how do they how do they connect with you? How do they see what you're doing?

Ott DeFoe: Yep. Absolutely. On on, you know, all the all the major social media with, Facebook, Instagram, You can just there's not a lot of other odds. But, yeah, if you look at Odd Depot, it should be it should be about telling me when it pops up. O t t o t t d e f o e. And then, same on YouTube as well. We've got a YouTube channel that we're, you know, trying to get get to grow a little bit there. But, but, yeah, that's our that's our main stuff. And Major League Fishing, the Bass Pro Tour, that's where where we compete at. And, a lot of that stuff's either on Outdoor Channel or Discovery Channel, just depending on what the van is. But but, yeah, that that's where they can follow along. So

Tom Rowland: Alright. Well, there's your new favorite angler, Ott DeFoe. Alright, man. Thanks so much, Ott. We'll we'll be back in touch with you soon and have you back on.

Ott DeFoe: Okay.

Tom Rowland: Alright, man. Sounds

Ott DeFoe: good. Thanks, Tom.