From left: Parker DeFoe, Jason Nichols, and John David Carroll after winning on Norris Lake.
Eighth graders Parker DeFoe and John David Carroll of the Berean Eagles fishing team had some confidence going into the Tennessee Bass Nation’s Bass Pro Shops tournament on April 12 at Norris Lake.
And it wasn’t because they got tips from DeFoe’s dad, Ott DeFoe, one of the top bass fishermen in the world.
Parker DeFoe had practiced on Norris the weekend before the event with their boat captain Jason Nichols, a longtime friend and mentor to Ott DeFoe.
Plus, DeFoe and Carroll like fishing Norris, even though it’s not their home lake.
“Me and John, surprisingly, we’ve always done well on Norris,” Parker said. “There’s only been one year when we didn’t place on Norris and we’ve won there before, but I wasn’t really expecting to have 16 and a half pounds.”
But that’s exactly what they got.
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Carroll and DeFoe had the five-bass limit weighing 16.50 pounds, giving them not only the victory in the middle school (junior) division but also the high school division.
“I was expecting to have a good limit, like 10, 11 (pounds),” DeFoe said, “because me and Jason practiced the weekend before and caught a good amount of fish, but they were all pretty small. So I wasn’t expecting to have a giant bag like we did, but I was expecting to be able to catch five good ones.”
DeFoe attends Berean Christian School and Carroll attends West Valley Middle School.
Their primary boat captain now is Nichols because Ott DeFoe is going full bore on the Major League Fishing Tour.
Ott, who lives in Blaine with wife Jennie and their three children, is a nine-time winner on the major league tour, won the 2019 Bassmaster Classic, and has won more than $3 million in career earnings.
Not bad for a dad who got let go as boat captain after Parker and John’s bad finish on the TBN Tour.
“After last season, Jason captained most of the time for the boys because I was gone for most of the (TBN) tournaments,” Ott said, “but the one I was home for was their worst tournament of the year, and I got fired after that.”
Ott was joking. Sort of. He’s still a boat captain on occasion for his oldest daughter Abbie, a high school senior at Berean Christian, and her co-angler, Landon Dyer. Abbie and Dyer finished 12th in the Norris Lake event (five bass, 8.63 pounds).
“I’m still able to get out there,” DeFoe said. “I love to see the excitement of the kids at a young age, to watch them be able to compete against other people their age. It’s just a great thing to have the youth getting into the sport the way that they are right now.”
For Carroll and Parker DeFoe – tournament co-anglers since about the fourth grade — Ott’s bass fishing know-how has been priceless in their learning the sport.
“It’s definitely a super cool experience with how much stuff you learn because Ott just knows exactly what he’s doing,” Carroll said. “It’s super cool to learn all that through him, and it’s also cool to fish with Parker because I’ve known him for a long time. We were really close in elementary school and still are, so it’s just great to fish with one of my good friends.”
Carroll and DeFoe’s winning bag on Norris consisted of all largemouth bass, including a 4.69-pounder caught by Carroll.
Hunter Owens (left) of the Karns Fishing Team
Hunter Owens of Karns High School – fishing solo – was second with five bass weighing 12.07 pounds, ahead of third-place Canyon Padgett and Levi Tomlinson of Temple Baptist Academy (11.76 pounds), fourth-place Mac Fritts and Reid Chapman of Campbell County High (five bass, 11.46 pounds), and fifth-place Noah Wright and Shane Williams of South Greene High.
Brody Bible and Sawyer Mynatt of Karns were sixth overall and second in the junior standings with four bass weighing 10.17 pounds.
“I wasn’t expecting to have the biggest bag at the beginning,” DeFoe said, “but once I realized we had 16 and a half pounds, I was pretty sure we were going to win the whole thing.
“What was funny is I told Brad Burkhart (pro angler) and Ott’s brother Sunny afterwards that they should have an overall prize.”
Carroll’s big largemouth was huge in them placing first overall.
Like the other keepers, the lunker was caught using a chatter bait.
“He didn’t really fight at first,” Carroll said. “It was almost like reeling in a big log or stick, and after his first splash, he ran for a good bit. It wasn’t a long fight, either, but it was definitely fun seeing it and catching it.”
DeFoe thought Carroll was pulling in dead weight until he saw the bass.
“It was weird, because he set the hook and I’m looking for any signs of life (by the bass),” DeFoe said, “and he gets it like halfway to the boat and it looks like he’s just pulling like nothing, and then he brings it up, and a big ole splash happens, and I think, ‘We’ve got to land this fish immediately.’”
They landed quality bass – if not quantity – for a big victory.
“We didn’t catch too many,” Carroll said. “I think we caught eight or nine. We culled once or twice. Parker had a really good cull for us. I had a less-than-a-pound spotted bass, and then Parker culled that for a 2-something, so that was a great cull for sure.
“All those fish were pretty substantial. It was a fun day for sure. We caught a couple of small ones, but overall, it was mainly those bigger ones.”