The talk had centered on how Wheeler wasn’t fishing so well and how important it would be to save enough fish to last 4 days.

Lefebre had a big, productive area to himself. It included secondary points and spawning pockets. He expected lots of company but – to his disbelief – nobody else showed up. He had found the type of place where a guy could hunker down and win an Elite Series tourney.

He set a pace of 3 pounds-per-bass, thinking that would be enough to carry him the distance without culling through a bunch of fish he thought would become valuable during late rounds of the tournament. As each day rolled by, more and bigger fish kept coming to him on their way to the beds. When 20-pound sacks showed up at the scale Lefebre quickly adjusted his estimate to 4-pounds-per-fish. He led the 2^nd and 3^rd rounds.

Had he pounded-out that type of weight before resting his area the first day, he would have maintained his lead until the very end.

As it turned out Takahiro Omori hoisted the blue trophy.

Tak had post-spawn fish piling up on his spot and he just hammered them with a swimbait. He weighed the heaviest daily bag on 3, out of the 4, competition days. According to bass fishing stats guru Ken Duke, that has only happened twice before in Elite Series history – when Ish Monroe and Brandon Palaniuk did it in back-to-back events in 2012.

Takahiro never let off.

Considering the strength of competition at our sport’s highest level, pros seldom have the advantage of ‘laying-up’ or saving fish anymore. That used to be a big part of the strategy. Now I’m not sure if it is more important than ever, or if it has simply become irrelevant in an era when there’s always somebody stomping on the gas from start to finish.