Thrift Solves Eufaula Puzzle For 4th FLW Tour Win

By BassFan Staff

Bryan Thrift went from being close at Lake Eufaula to being a closer at the famed southern reservoir. And he did it the way he loves to fish – at a high rate of speed across a high volume of spots.

After finishing 2nd in his two most recent major tournaments at Eufaula, Thrift finally broke through today, securing his fourth career FLW Tour victory with a final-day stringer of 15-05. His 69-14 total wound up being about 3 pounds better than Troy Morrow, who’d held the lead the previous 2 days.

In the 10 tour-level events he’s fished since a 106th-place finish at Lake Hartwell in March 2014, Thrift has reeled off two wins, four Top-10s and 10 straight Top-30s. The win also moved him into 2nd place in the race for Angler of the Year.

“It feels awesome,” he said. “I knew my time was limited on Eufaula. After 2 years ago when I finished 2nd doing what I was doing, everybody caught on and I knew if we came back, it would be hard to do it again."

His go-to pattern was fishing as many brush piles as he could as fast as he could throughout the course of the day. He figured the law of averages would take over and he’d coax enough quality bites the more piles he fished. As it turned out, he was right.

“I was surprised I won,” Thrift said. “I figured someone would catch a big bag with the limited number of boats on the water and more room to roam.”

Ultimately, only Randy Haynes’ 15-06 bag was heavier today and Thrift headed off to next week’s Toyota Texas Bass Classic $125,000 richer.

Morrow bagged 12-02 today, his smallest limit of the event, and closed with 66-15 to record his best career Tour finish.

Clent Davis spent the whole tournament in the Top 3 and wound up 3rd with 66-01 after bagging 13-05 today. AOY points leader Wesley Strader climbed one spot to 4th with a 13-09 catch to give him 63-01 while Jeff Gustafson rode his shallow-water pattern to a 5th-place result with 62-15.

Here's how the rest of the Top 10 lined up when the scales closed Sunday:

6. Randy Haynes: 60-01
7. Shinichi Fukae: 57-12
8. Zack Birge: 57-12
9. Adrian Avena: 56-09
10. John Cox: 55-06

What was expected to be a shallow-deep combo event turned out to be dominated by brush piles in 5 to 18 feet of water after the water receded out of the bank grass prior to and early on in practice. Only two finalists – Gustafson and John Cox – were primarily running the bank.

The fishing was noticeably tougher on the finalists today as the constant pressure on certain areas of the lake seemed to start to take its toll. The lower end of the lake was the place to be as it produced the bulk of the fish for the majority of the Top 10. Whether it was running and gunning brush piles or probing shallow cover, the clearer water seemed to harbor the better specimens this week.

With two events remaining, Strader holds an 18-point lead on Thrift in the AOY race. Here’s a look at the updated Top 5:

1. Strader: 771 points
2. Thrift: 753
3. John Cox 747
4. Zack Birge: 741
5. Tracy Adams: 738

The scene for the fifth FLW Tour event will shift to Lake Chickamauga next month as Strader looks to retain the AOY lead on his home lake June 11-14.

Better Bites Came Late for Thrift

> Day 4: 5, 15-05 (20, 69-14)

Thrift’s stringer today lacked the kicker-quality 5- to 7-pounder he’d caught over the first 3 days of the tournament, but his high-speed brush pile assault resulted in him being the only competitor to catch at least 15 pounds all 4 days. It also gave him a victory on a lake that suits his run-and-gun style better than any other not named Norman.

“I don’t know if it’s any sweeter,” he said when asked to compare this win to his other triumphs. “I feel like I wanted this one more than the others I’ve won.”

He had a tougher morning than he’d hoped, partly due to having to adjust to the different electronics that are installed on the FLW-issued boats that the finalists compete in on the final day.

“This morning, I fished slower not because I wanted to, but because I couldn’t figure out my lineups,” he said. “I had some stuff marked close to the bank around noon that I knew I could line up on and hit it quick. I ran to three or four places like that and caught a good one and I figured out what I was screwing up. It was taking me 20 casts to hit the brush and I was getting frustrated.”

By 1 o’clock, he said the bite seemed to turn on a little bit and he started to worry that someone else was going to collide with a big one. He wound up catching eight keepers today and roughly the same number of short fish.

“I caught my three best fish today after 1 and I kept thinking I needed that one giant to get it done,” he said. “I figured someone else would get it.”

2nd: Morrow Fell Out of his Groove

> Day 4: 5, 12-02 (20, 66-15)

While Morrow was happy to post his best finish in a Tour event, he feels like he let the win slip through his fingers today.

“To be that close and not finish it out is disappointing,” he said. “Everybody in the Top 10 lost a big fish this week. I just needed to catch more today. That’s what it comes down to."

He second-guessed his call to leave the area he started on today not far from takeoff where he had several brush piles marked. He missed a bite on the first pile he fished, then picked up and headed to the south end of the lake.

“I should’ve stayed because I think I could’ve caught 15 pounds there,” he said. “I shouldn’t have gone down and beat on old piles, but there were just so many good fish down there.

“I had enough piles above the bridge and I’d fished in that creek 2 years ago and had a bunch of piles marked. Those piles just kept replenishing with released fish (from the tournament).”

He said he culled wrong today, but he thinks it only cost him an ounce or 2 at the most. He also said a lot of fish were just nipping at his baits instead of slamming them.

“I just never got in a groove,” he said. “Every other day, I’d get in a groove and catch one off several piles in a row. I never had that today. I missed a lot of fish today.”

3rd: Davis Lost a Big One Early

> Day 4: 5, 13-05 (20, 66-01)

Despite matching his career-best Tour finish, the lasting image for Davis from this week’s tournament will be the 5-pounder that jumped off within an arm’s length of the boat this morning.

“It was a great tournament,” Davis said. “I just came up a little short because of a mistake I made.”

He was on this third stop of the morning when the fish hit his swimbait. He was admittedly flustered because he was having issues getting the electronics to function properly and his net was out of reach. He played the fish around the right side of the boat, but when it jumped just a couple feet from the boat, it spit the bait and swam off.

“That one mistake cost me $100,000,” he said. “All I had to do was reach down and grab it. I don’t know what I was thinking. The hook was nowhere near the edge of his mouth. The bait was down in his mouth, but that’s what happens when you try to boat flip a 5-pounder.”

It was doubly painful when he ultimately had to weigh in a 12-inch spotted bass. He said he caught more fish today (25) than the previous 3 days combined, including more spotted bass, but the size just wasn’t there.

“It was a good tournament and I’m proud of it,” he said. “For Bryan and Troy, this is what they do – they fish brush. When I’m offshore, I don’t fish brush so this was my first time really ever doing the brush thing. I didn’t know what I was getting into in practice but knew I needed to do it if I wanted to cut a Top-10 check.”

4th: Strader Mixed Piles and Grass

> Day 4: 5, 13-09 (20, 63-01)

Like Davis, Strader endured the sting of a lost fish today that would’ve improved his final standing, but he wasn’t about to hang his head after posting his second Top-5 finish of the year.

“I really don't think I had a chance to win, but I had a chance to finish 2nd,” he said. “The only bad thing was losing that one big one. That was the only negative thing that’s happened all week.”

He started today on the place that produced the majority of his 21-pound bag on Saturday and while he hadn’t been starting on brush piles, he figured it was his best opportunity at catching the kind of fish he needed to make a big move.

“I could see the fish down there, but they wouldn’t eat the bait,” he said. “They’d nip at it or you’d stick one and it’d come off. They just weren’t in a feeding mode.”

After 2 hours, he opted to move and throw a vibrating jig across some hydrilla, a tactic that produced for him on Friday. He wound up catching three that he weighed in that way and added two others off brush piles today.

“Some piles, I’d fish for 10 to 15 minutes, others longer,” he added. “It all depended on what I could see down there. Sometimes, you’d catch four or five smaller fish and then you’d catch a good one.”

With four 20-cuts to his credit this season, he said the run he’s been on feels like a similar stretch he put together back in 2002-03 when he won at Lake Ouachita and had a good string of finishes in the B.A.S.S. Southern Opens.

“That was a pretty good run,” he said. “I’m not fishing any different that what I normally do. It’s just that those bites you miss or that fish that gets off, that’s all going my way this year. When that great big one came off today, I said to my marshal, ‘Well, I guess I’m back to my old self.’”

5th: Mixed Feelings for Gustafson

> Day 4: 4, 13-04 (19, 62-15)

After a couple missed checks in the first half of the season, Gustafson was pleased to register his career-best Tour finish this week, but he knows he missed a couple chances to finish among the Top 3.

“I got myself a Top 5 and I’m super happy about that,” he said. “I made some money and this makes the whole season for me. Not that I don’t want to do well the rest of the way, but this turned things around for me.

“At the same time, it was disappointing because I had some big fish that I didn’t end up putting in the boat.”

He had a 4- or 5-pounder jump off at the boat today that would’ve improved his standing by at least one spot.

“I had one that jumped off at the boat and another 4-pounder come up and hover under my bait and barely nip it,” he said. “I had him for a second and he pulled off. There’s nothing you can do there, but if I catch those two fish today, I’d be right there.”

He fished all new stretches of bank and docks today and has no regrets about not going all-in on the brush-pile pattern like others did.

“I never caught fish off old stuff today,” he added. “I just wish I’d have had more good water. I feel like I wasted time burning the bank up. I went through everything that looked good in the areas I fished over the last 2 days. I don’t have any regrets, except for a couple lost fish.”

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 9 limits, 1 four.

Final Standings

1. Bryan Thrift -- Shelby, NC -- 15-15 (5) -- 18-12 (5) -- 34-11 (10) -- 19-14 (5) -- 15-05 (5) -- 69-14 (20) -- $125,500

2. Troy Morrow -- Eastanollee, Ga -- 21-8 (5) -- 18-1 (5) -- 39-9 (10) -- 15-04 (5) -- 12-02 (5) -- 66-15 (20) -- $29,789

3. Clent Davis -- Montevallo, Al -- 22-9 (5) -- 15-12 (5) -- 38-5 (10) -- 14-07 (5) -- 13-05 (5) -- 66-01 (20) -- $24,822

4. Wesley Strader -- Spring City, Tn -- 13-5 (5) -- 15-2 (5) -- 28-7 (10) -- 21-01 (5) -- 13-09 (5) -- 63-01 (20) -- $19,855

5. Jeff Gustafson -- Keewatin, Ont -- 18-12 (5) -- 16-15 (5) -- 35-11 (10) -- 14-00 (5) -- 13-04 (4) -- 62-15 (19) -- $18,862

6. Randy Haynes -- Counce, Tn -- 18-13 (5) -- 17-10 (5) -- 36-7 (10) -- 8-04 (5) -- 15-06 (5) -- 60-01 (20) -- $17,869

7. Shinichi Fukae -- Palestine, Tx -- 13-13 (5) -- 18-2 (5) -- 31-15 (10) -- 15-13 (5) -- 10-00 (5) -- 57-12 (20) -- $16,875

8. Zack Birge -- Blanchard, Ok -- 19-13 (5) -- 15-9 (5) -- 35-6 (10) -- 9-05 (5) -- 13-01 (5) -- 57-12 (20) -- $15,882

9. Adrian Avena -- Vineland, NJ -- 20-10 (5) -- 14-3 (5) -- 34-13 (10) -- 11-01 (5) -- 10-11 (5) -- 56-09 (20) -- $14,889

10. John Cox -- Debary, Fl -- 15-10 (5) -- 15-12 (5) -- 31-6 (10) -- 16-04 (5) -- 7-12 (5) -- 55-06 (20) -- $13,895