MINOCQUA, Wis. (Sept. 17, 2025) – In what many would argue was the most dramatic day in MLF Fishing Clash Team Series history, Team BUBBA’s Ott DeFoe and Andy Montgomery stormed from third place in the final minutes to win the Knockout Round on Big Arbor Vitae Lake at the Heritage Cup. With just 17 minutes remaining, the top three teams were separated by only 5 pounds, setting up a nail-biting finish that had fans and anglers alike on edge. Team Fishing Clash (Keith Carson and Luke Clausen) sat in the lead at 109 pounds, 1 ounce, with Team 7Brew (Keith Poche and Zack Birge) close behind at 105-11 and Team BUBBA at 104-4. In the closing stretch, Team BUBBA landed six of the final seven scorable bass to surge into first, ultimately holding off Fishing Clash for the top spot by fewer than 3 pounds.
The top two teams – Team BUBBA and Team Fishing Clash – now advance to Friday’s Championship Round, while Team 7Brew Coffee was eliminated after all three teams topped the 100-pound mark.
DeFoe anchored the day with 48 scorable bass, including a 3-pound, 11-ounce kicker that proved pivotal. Both DeFoe and Montgomery leaned on a compact, 3/8-ounce jig paired with soft-plastic trailers, adjusting their approach when their usual wacky worm and Thunder Cricket patterns failed to produce.
“I don’t know the last time that I’ve caught more bass than that,” DeFoe said. “It was an incredible day of bass fishing. But interesting too – you couldn’t just catch them on everything. It was definitely a flipping deal, and we are lucky that we figured it out pretty quickly.”
Montgomery said that adjustment was the key difference.
“Normally Ott is behind me with a wacky worm while I go with the jig, but today those fish weren’t feeding high at all,” Montgomery said. “They wouldn’t take the wacky worm, and they’d hardly touch the (Strike King) Thunder Cricket. They wanted that jig down on the bottom. Once we figured that out, we just kept catching them. By far, that’s the hardest day we’ve ever had, but also one of the most fun.”
The emotional roller coaster of the day was evident in the final moments, as Montgomery and DeFoe realized they had completed the comeback.
“Oh my gosh, I feel like we just won everything,” an exhausted Montgomery said moments after lines out. “That was 6 hours of all-out fishing. If you couldn’t tell, catching 100 pounds of bass is a lot of work – and everybody was doing it.”
“That was so much fun and so stressful,” DeFoe added with a laugh. “If you want to come fun-fish somewhere, this is definitely the place to do it – just don’t bring a SCORETRACKER®.”
Team Fishing Clash also kept the pressure on all day, ultimately securing the second advancing slot by just over 2 pounds. Carson and Clausen leaned on a one-two punch of a compact jig and a weightless wacky rig, targeting boat docks early before shifting to wood cover as the day progressed.
Clausen’s steady production was critical, and his 2-pound, 4-ounce bass with 12 minutes remaining provided the final margin that sent Fishing Clash through to the Championship Round. Together, the duo boated 65 scorable bass for 111 pounds, 5 ounces, fending off a late charge from Team 7Brew Coffee to punch their ticket to Friday.
The top two teams from Knockout Round Match 1 at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies that now advance to Friday’s Championship Round are:
1st: Team BUBBA, 73 bass, 114-4
Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 48 bass, 74-7
Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 25 bass, 39-13
2nd: Team Fishing Clash, 65 bass, 111-5
Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 23 bass, 36-8
Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., 42 bass, 74-13
Eliminated from competition are:
3rd: Team 7Brew Coffee, 64 bass, 109-4
Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 22 bass, 33-8
Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 42 bass, 75-12
Overall there were 202 bass weighing 334 pounds, 13 ounces caught by the three teams in Knockout Round Match 1 Wednesday on Big Arbor Vitae Lake. Team Fishing Clash pro Luke Clausen caught a largemouth weighing 3 pounds, 15 ounces that was the Berkley Big Bass of the day.
The three teams that will compete in Knockout Round Match 2 Thursday at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Bass Boat Technologies are:
Team Ferguson:
Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La.
Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C.
Team O’Reilly Auto Parts
Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala.
Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn.
Team Star Tron:
Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill.
Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C.
The Heritage Cup takes place over six days in Minocqua, Wisconsin. 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.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/mlf-heritage-91725.html
Major League Fishing (MLF) Archive