On Wednesday at 10 a.m. Central Time, 10 men took to the murky-green waters of Lake Athens in northeastern Texas. They stood on the bows of 10 separate boats, wearing hats yanked down low, polarized sunglasses, and shirts bearing sponsor logos. For the ensuing eight hours, as a cameraman filmed from within the boat, they cast, and trolled, and cast again, using lures with names like “YUM Dinger.” The whole thing streamed live to computers and phones, with footage to later air on Discovery Channel.
By the late afternoon, Ott DeFoe, a 34-year-old father of three from Tennessee, had landed 69 pounds of bass to win $100,000 and capture stage three of the 2020 Bass Pro Tour of Major League Fishing or, as the organization’s media team pitches it, “The Last Sport Standing.