Ott DeFoe returned from the recent Black Bass World Championships in South Africa not only with a pair of gold medals, but also with an education in using forward-facing sonar to the cutting edge of its capability.

Spending nearly a week in a boat with Drew Gill will provide that.

“Oh, he’s exceptional,” said the always understated DeFoe about his fellow MLF Bass Pro Tour competitor’s FFS acumen. “It was great to get a firsthand lesson. I had to travel 17,000 miles (round trip) for it, but it was well worth it.”

The DeFoe/Gill tandem was the top finishing pair on two of the three competition days to lead Team USA to the gold medal in the 15-nation event at Arabie Dam in the province of Limpopo. They weighed a solid-if-unspectacular stringer on Day 1 (15.81 pounds), then boxed an event-best 23.88 on Day 2 and 22.07 in the final round as the American contingent overtook Italy for the team title.

In the pairs standings, DeFoe and Gill edged two Italian duos for the gold. It was DeFoe’s second experience capturing a world title, as the Bassmaster Classic trophy he earned in 2019 also proclaims him a “World Champion.”

“It’s different because this was a six-man team thing and almost everything else we do is individual, but this had much more of a ‘world’ feel to it,” he said. “We all came away with an appreciation for the other countries and their abilities and their dedication to bass fishing – just doing it is so much harder where they live, whether it’s due to expenses or lack of water or whatever. A lot of that stuff we take for granted.

“It’s hard to compare, really, but this was a really cool opportunity that I’ll remember for a long time.”

The two other Team USA duos were Jacob Wheeler/Kyle Welcher, who were 6th in the final pairs standings, and Logan Parks/Scott Martin (8th). Those pairings also had Top-10 bags on the final day as the team leap-frogged the Italians

Connecting with fish in excess of 5 pounds – and then getting them into the boat – was the key to the dominant showing by the DeFoe/Gill duo. Arabie is teeming with bass that weigh 2 1/2 pounds and under, while 3- and 4-pounders are currently almost nonexistent. The 5s, 6s and 7s are more common than the middle class, but certainly not easy to pinpoint.

That is, unless you’re Drew Gill, arguably the premier FFS practitioner in all of tournament fishing and a Top-3 finisher in the Angler of the Year points in each of his first two seasons on the BPT.

“His FFS skills, combined with being down in the part of the lake where he could use them most effectively, were a huge deal,” DeFoe said. “If he had enough time to look, we were going to run across a few big ones over the course of a day.”

They didn’t get any oversize bites on Day 1, the majority of which they spent in the upper part of the reservoir. They got three on each of the final two days, including one in each round that topped 7 pounds.

It was springtime in the Southern Hemisphere and the bass were either spawning, on the verge of doing so or in the aftermath of the reproduction ritual. Had a higher percentage of them been in deeper water, numerous competitors would’ve been able to use FFS to great effect. The fact that most were in 12 feet or less was to Gill’s advantage, as he can employ the technology at any depth and in just about any conditions.

“In a five-fish tournament when almost everybody’s going down the bank throwing a ChatterBait or a spinnerbait, I can still use it,” he said. “Most of the fish that me and Ott weighed were shallower than five feet and in that situation, it’s definitely more difficult to discern what’s around with all the cover and the trash fish (carp and other species) that are the same size as the bass you’re looking for.

“Anybody can use it, but it really doesn’t matter if you can’t make sense of what you’re seeing. My home fishery is Kentucky Lake and I’ve spent a ton of time fishing for bass that were sharing water with carp. I felt like I was well-prepared.”

A worm (fished mostly on a dropshot, but occasionally on a Neko rig in extremely shallow water) and a jerkbait were the duo’s primary offerings. Bait colors weren’t critical.

“One really big thing for me and Ott was using new water every day – there was only one stretch where we caught fish more than once,” he said. “Those bigger ones were spread out and you had to catch them (to do well in the standings), and that’s how we were able to give ourselves the maximum number of opportunities.”

It was the first trip to the other side of the equator for Gill and DeFoe. The former said that when they launched their boat for the first practice day, he wondered whether they’d be able to catch a bass of any size.

“I had to convince myself that it was actually springtime, and that was really weird,” he said. “I was 8,500 miles from home and I caught fish that are genetically identical to the ones I catch on the other side of the world.

“To me, that was shocking.”