Team BuildersFirstSource – made up of pros Ott DeFoe of Blaine, Tennessee, and Alton Jones Jr. of Waco, Texas – were considered a favorite by many industry pundits coming into the third event of the General Tire Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops in Texas. Jones is a Texas native with extensive experience in the region, and of DeFoe’s four career victories on the Bass Pro Tour, three have come on Texas fisheries.
After a second consecutive tough day on O.H. Ivie, the famed west-central Texas reservoir, DeFoe and Jones demonstrated why they are a team to be reckoned with. The Team Builders FirstSource duo caught 14 bass weighing 22 pounds, 12 ounces, to claim the top spot in the second match of the Elimination Round at the Folds of Honor Patriot Cup Presented by recteq.
The victory advances the team to the Knockout Round, where they will be joined by the Team Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff & Pouches duo of Luke Clausen and Martin Villa, who finished the day in second. Clausen and Villa combined to catch 11 bass weighing 17 pounds, 11 ounces – just 6 ounces ahead of Team Ferguson. Team Ferguson (Randy Howell and Nick LeBrun) and Team Kubota (Justin Cooper and Edwin Evers) were eliminated from the competition.
Link to Hi-Res Photo of Patriot Cup Elimination Round Match 2 Winner Team Builders FirstSource (DeFoe/Jones Jr.)
Link to HD Video Clip of Patriot Cup Elimination Round Match 2 Highlights
Link to Photo Gallery of Patriot Cup Elimination Round Match 2 Highlights
“Fishing was tough, but man, what a day it was,” Jones said in his post-game interview. “Most likely people are going to look at the weights on SCORETRACKER® and think, ‘Man, that doesn’t really look any fun at all.’ But Ott and I had a blast today.
“We fished dirt shallow in some of the fresh, flooded green bushes and grass, and it was a really unique bite. The fish were feeding on dragonflies. I know it sounds crazy, but I witnessed it dozens of times today.”
Like the first elimination match on Thursday, anglers found the bass extremely shallow and way back in the thickest grass that they could fish.
“It was so hard to fish,” DeFoe said. “Alton and I were talking earlier – if you land 80% of them, you’re happy. Just because of how much stuff we’re fishing in. And a lot of those fish showed themselves to us, coming up and feeding in the back of the little pockets. But they were tough to get to.”
DeFoe and Jones mainly used a 1-2 punch of a buzzbait and a frog, but they also added a couple fish on a wacky rig.
“We threw the buzzbait in the thinner, more open stuff. Then when it would get really thick and dense, we caught some key fish on the frog,” Jones said. “I was throwing a white one all day – I broke two off. We really lived and died by the topwater today, and luckily, we lived.”
DeFoe and Jones now advance to Match 1 of the Knockout Round on Sunday, while Clausen and Villa will compete in Match 2 of the Knockout Round on Monday.
“It was a good start to Texas for us. We didn’t catch a lot of big ones like O.H. (Ivie) is known for, but we got enough to keep us in it,” DeFoe went on to say. “I feel like we really kind of figured them out at the end, and hopefully we’ve got a little pattern that we can carry into the future rounds.”
“Yeah, if they send us back here, I feel like we have a really good idea of what to go look for,” Jones Jr. added. “I’d feel really confident. But, if not, a lot of the terrain and brush around here looks the same. And they’ve all had rain, so I would expect a similar opportunity even at other lakes. But you never know.”
The top two teams from the second match of the Elimination Round at the Folds of Honor Patriot Cup Presented by recteq that advance to the Knockout Round are:
1st: Team Builders FirstSource, 14 bass, 22-12
Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., five bass, 7-4
Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, nine bass, 15-8
2nd: Team Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff & Pouches, 11 bass, 17-11
Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., five bass, 8-12
Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., six bass, 8-15
Eliminated from competition are:
3rd: Team Ferguson, 11 bass, 17-5
Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., eight bass, 12-12
Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., three bass, 4-9
4th: Team Kubota, five bass, 11-6
Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., zero bass, 0-0
Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., five bass, 11-6
Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 41 bass weighing 69 pounds, 2 ounces caught by the four teams in the second Elimination Round match on O.H. Ivie Lake. Team Kubota pro Edwin Evers caught a 4-pound, 7-ounce largemouth that was the Berkley Big Bass of the day.
The Folds of Honor Patriot Cup Presented by recteq is hosted by Visit Early and takes place over six days in west-central Texas. The competition water for each day is top-secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning. Anglers are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 8:45 a.m.
As a part of the event, on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. MLF welcomes fans of all ages to join MLF pros, Visit Early and the Texas Forest Service (TFS) for Fishing with the Pros at the TFS inaugural Arbor Day event. The event will be held at Town Center Lake, located at 109 Kelcy Way in Early, and will provide local youth and community members an opportunity to fish up close and personal alongside MLF pros. Tackle and bait will be provided and the event is free and open to the public.
The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
The Patriot Cup features 12 two-man teams divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three Elimination Round matches will feature four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 & 5. In the Knockout Rounds, three teams compete each day, with the top two teams from each Knockout Round match moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6. In Tuesday’s Day 6 Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the 2024 Folds of Honor Patriot Cup Presented by recteq.
The 2024 General Tire Team Series is comprised of four events – Challenge Cup, Heritage Cup, Patriot Cup and Summit Cup – featuring two-man teams of MLF Bass Pro Tour pros competing from the same boat. Each event features a roster of 24 anglers, teamed up and working together to claim part of a season purse of more than $720,000. Teams were formed through a selection process, where 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2024 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2024.
Television coverage of the Folds of Honor Patriot Cup Presented by recteq will premiere on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour episodes in March 2025. New MLF General Tire Team Series episodes will premiere each Saturday morning on Outdoor Channel and posted to MOTV.
Proud sponsors of the MLF General Tire Team Series include: 7 Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Barbasol, Bass Boat Technologies, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Builders FirstSource, C-MAP, Coign, Epic Baits, Ferguson, Fishing Clash, General Tire, Knighten Industries, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Nitro Boats, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala Baits, REDCON1, Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff, Star brite, Toyota, USAA, WIX Filters and YETI.
For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the General Tire Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 17 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.