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The last couple of days have been all about Timmy Horton winning at Lake Okeechobee as well it should be. You will see interviews and articles about how he did it, the baits he used, rods reels and tactics he employed. We were able to sit down with Timmy just after the win and get another take on it. The emotion is genuine,the compassion toward fellow competitors is real. Find out what this win means to the Champ. Congratulations Mr. Horton.

Alabama bass pro emerges triumphant, adds a notch in his flippin’ stick with fifth career Bassmaster Elite win

Alabama bass pro emerges triumphant, adds a notch in his flippin’ stick with fifth career Bassmaster Elite win

WILSONVILLE, OR – February 27, 2016  – Raymarine pro Tim Horton fell to his knees when emcee Dave Mercer announced his five-fish weight on Sunday afternoon at the A.R.E. Truck Caps B.A.S.S. Elite event on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee.

Seconds later, his family handed him a pizza and Horton threw his hat to the crowd, an entertaining segue to Horton hoisting another big blue trophy.

“It was humbling, gratifying, and I got so excited I threw my hat! As for the pizza, that goes back to an event I won on Lake Champlain where I called in a pizza delivery from my boat driving into the weigh-in,” laughs Horton.

The accomplishment marks Horton’s fifth B.A.S.S. event win—and his second on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee.

“Okeechobee is very special to me. It’s a lake that can build confidence. But the wind can complicate everything; the water gets dirty, and you’re just not going to catch them. I made the decision to run back up north because they forecasted northeast winds, but it didn’t work out that way. Having confidence in other lake areas was huge,” says Horton.

Following two days of heavy bags – including a massive 30 pound, 4 ounce five-fish limit on Friday – Horton lost two big fish on Saturday that would have put him in a nearly untouchable double-digit lead over competitors. Horton’s no stranger to that kind of pole positioning. He’s won three BASS Elite events in his career by over 13 pounds.

“Lost fish are hard to overcome. They’re game-changers. When that 9 pounder came undone, I said goodbye to what would have been a 22 or 23 pound day. Then I lost another five pounder, which would have made a 28 pound day. But looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. Other victories have been by a large margin. This 11-pound bag was the most special limit I’ve ever weighed.”

Unbuttoned fish and strong competition turned the final day into a nail-biting, down-to-the-wire finish, with the final 12 contenders jumping in and out of the hot seat each time a bag was weighed.

“Approaching the stage, I was pretty sure Ott had over 18 pounds and he’d win. I got up there, I was happy for him, was happy with my week, so when they called out my weight, I just couldn’t believe it.”

Horton’s official weights for the tournament tallied 25-15 on Day 1; 30-4 on Day 2; 15-11 on Day 3; and 11-7 on Day 4 for a tournament total of 83-15. He edged out second-place finisher Ott DeFoe by 1 pound, 4 ounces.

This most recent win brings Horton’s career accomplishments to five B.A.S.S. Elite wins, 11 Bassmaster Classic qualifications, 2000 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year (AOY), and over $1 million in winnings.

High-Tech Fish-Finding

“You’ve gotta find bass to catch ‘em,” says the reigning champ.

To that end, Horton credits his Raymarine units as a key to his Okeechobee success. He runs two Raymarine eS 12-inch displays at the helm, one dedicated to mapping, the other for running split-screen views of CHIRP Sonar, CHIRP DownVision, and CHIRP SideVision. At the bow, Horton employs an eS 12-inch and eS 9-inch with multiple choices of maps and sonar in split-screen view

“The thing about Florida, so much of it is sight-fishing. But I was running through five and six feet waves on Sunday for an hour at a time and the units held up, no problem whatsoever. The reliability of my Raymarine mapping, from getting from point A to point B, was bullet-proof. That was critical for this event.”He continues: “I used the Navionics maps and a Standard Mapping Florida One e-card for satellite overlay imagery of specifically where I wanted to fish. I’ve never had that before. You could actually see the boat lanes, I could zoom in and out to see specific backwater ponds, even tell the difference between Kissimmee grass and reeds. Unbelievably helpful.”

Although Horton fished primarily to his mapping for Okeechobee’s shallow fish, he praises Raymarine CHIRP technology for giving him an edge in events where sight-fishing isn’t an option.

“I’ve never seen a cleaner image. I can actually tell which direction the bass are facing with my Raymarine DownVision. There’s no other unit that does that. When it to comes to CHIRP sonar, I can see my bait and weight when drop-shotting.”

Horton is getting ready for installation of a recently-introduced Raymarine Axiom MFD on his Nitro, units that start shipping to Raymarine dealers this March.

“I’m really excited about Raymarine’s new RealVision 3D technology. It’s pretty mind-blowing that I can see in three dimensions where bass and forage are positioned in relation to the boat. Combine that with Raymarine’s superior clarity and it’s going to be a game-changer.”

This spring, Raymarine will release a free Lighthouse 3 operating system software update for anglers running Raymarine eS MFDs that offers a faster and more intuitive user experience and networking compatibility with new Axiom units.

Winning Presentations

Horton caught the majority of his fish around emergent and submergent vegetation on a Profound Outdoors 4-inch Klone Crawsome soft plastic threaded onto a heavy-duty flipping hook with a ¾- to 1-ounce weight on 50 lb. Bass Pro Shops XPS Braid. Fishing higher-visibility waters on Sunday, Horton down to a 3/8-ounce weight, fishing the bait on 20-lb. Bass Pro Shops XPS Fluorocarbon.

“The areas I fished the first two days were set up perfectly for my presentation choice and that helped me build an early lead. Having the right flippin’ rod, reel, and line for heavy cover was the deal.”

Looking Ahead

Riding the excitement of his first major win in a decade, Horton says he’ll be fishing the remaining Elite season with the monkey off his back.

“This win is definitely a shot in the arm to keep the intensity level up. I’m going to ride the motivation and keep having fun. That was a big deal here… having fun.”

Here it is straight from Lake Okeechobbe, here are a few shots of what we saw “On Deck” last week. Notice the old school Devils Horse, its still a staple on the Big “O”.

Jordan Lee might have been resting on his haunches while tying on baits prior to Day 3 of the Bassmaster Elite on Lake Okeechobee. But that’s where the hunkerin down stops for the young Alabama pro that has remained in the Top 20 of the standings each day.

“That’s what everybody says when you come to Florida – that you gotta hunker down in one small area where you know there’s fish, and just be patient. But that’s not what I’m doing,” says the former Carhartt College Bassmaster champion.

“I had 11 Smoke HDs, and one Smoke spinning reel on this deck by the end of yesterday, and I’ve already got 10 out here to start today – so you can pretty much see I’m just scramblin’,” grinned the Lake Guntersville resident.

Lee says he’s well aware of the opportunity to catch giants from spawning beds here, but he’s never judged that pattern to be sustainable for three or four days in a row, so in turn he’s mixing-up his offerings in a big way.

“I’ve punched with a heavy Texas rig, I’ve fished in a crowd, caught one of my keepers from a spawning bed, thrown a topwater, and fished eel grass out in the middle of the lake. Daddy’s done it all,” grinned Lee in comical reference to himself.

“I don’t know if you’d call that ‘junk fishin’ or ‘scramblin’ – but I sure won’t be hunkerin down in one spot. Not this guy,” concluded Lee with his signature happy-go-lucky mile wide grin.

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — Florida’s famous big-bass factory showed off during the first day of the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee, as Tennessee native Ott DeFoe caught a huge five-bass limit that weighed 31 pounds, 3 ounces.

DeFoe’s impressive catch put him more than 4 pounds ahead of Stephen Browning of Hot Springs, Ark., who is currently in second place after weighing 26-13.

Anchoring his limit with two giant bass that weighed 8-6 each, the 31-year-old DeFoe knew he had located quality fish during practice on the lake, but he didn’t realize just how good they were.

“I had a lot of bites during practice, but I wasn’t catching very many fish over 2 1/2 to 3 pounds,” DeFoe said. “But, a few of those fish were in one area that seemed to have all the right ingredients to justify a return trip once the tournament began.”

DeFoe caught one of his big bass at his first stop early in the day, but decided to move after only having a few other bites.

“I stayed on that spot until after 9 a.m., and it was after 10 when I caught my next one,” said DeFoe, a six-time qualifier for the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods. “At that point, the rest of my limit was small, but I was happy to have them because I had the one big fish.”

He managed to upgrade into the early afternoon on one spot that was also consistent for him during practice. DeFoe also said his pattern developed as the day went on, and he’s confident Friday will produce similar results.

“Today was a special day,” he said. “But it’s Okeechobee, 30-pound-plus limits can happen every day on this lake, and if I play my cards right tomorrow I believe I can hang onto the lead.”

While on stage with emcee Dave Mercer, DeFoe compared his twin 8-pound, 6-ounce bass to his twin children.

“When my twins were born, they both weighed several pounds less than those two big bass today,” he said with a laugh.

Weighing five-bass limits that exceed the 25 or 30 pounds is a rarity in this sport, and Browning agrees with DeFoe that today was indeed special.

“I don’t know if the quality of fish I caught today will still be available tomorrow, but it was sure a lot of fun,” Browning said. “I didn’t have a very good practice, so today I just went fishing and learned a lot. I really want to believe that I can catch another 25 pounds of fish tomorrow, but I won’t know if the pattern will hold until things get started in the morning.”

Many anglers commented on how water temperatures had dropped several degrees in recent days, and while cold fronts typically cause Florida-strain largemouth bass to become sluggish, the cold front that brought significant rain Wednesday afternoon seemed to have invigorated Okeechobee’s bass population.

“I’m going to hunker down and give it my best shot tomorrow — that’s all you can do when you’re learning as you go,” Browning said. “I’m sharing water with several other boats, and the improving weather should improve the bite. I’m doing something a little bit different, and I bet the pattern holds for another couple of days.”

Confidence is a key component to successful tournament angling, and like Browning, Tim Horton of Muscle Shoals, Ala., who weighed 25-15 for third, was surprised by his Day 1 weight.

“At this point, I just can’t be sure tomorrow will be as productive as today,” Horton said. “I got off to a great start, but the fishing was pretty slow as the day went on. I got the right bites, but not that many of them. To have a shot in a tournament on a lake like Okeechobee, you’ve got to have at least one day in the 25-pound range.”

Like DeFoe and Browning, Horton knows what Lake Okeechobee is capable of. Horton has an impressive history on Okeechobee, including a couple of Top 10s and a win.

“If I’m not going to be catching a lot of fish and hope to have a shot at the title, it’s critical that I’m effective and execute on each opportunity,” he said.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Brett Hite (23-3), Bobby Lane (21-15), Cliff Prince (21-11), Paul Mueller (21-9), Andy Montgomery (20-13), Skylar Hamilton (20-3) and Greg Hackney (20-2).

The frontrunner for the Phoenix Boats Big Bass award is Tyler Carriere of Youngsville, La., with a 9-pound, 5-ounce largemouth.

Competition will resume Friday with takeoff at 6:45 a.m. at C. Scott Driver Park, and weigh-in will begin at 3:15 p.m. in the same location.

The event is hosted by the Okeechobee County Tourism.

2017 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota

2017 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Nitro Boats, Skeeter Boats, Triton Boats, Power-Pole, Yamaha, Berkley, Huk, Shell Rotella, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota

2017 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: Carhartt, Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels, Livingston Lures, T-H Marine, Lowrance, Phoenix Boats, Shimano, Academy Sports + Outdoors

About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 500,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2), social media programs and events. For more than 45 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series, Academy Sports + Outdoors B.A.S.S. Nation presented by Magellan, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Costa Bassmaster High School Series presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.