This year marked the fourth season in a row that the FLW Tour stopped at Lake Norman near Charlotte, North Carolina. Although this iteration was a month earlier than usual, the field was still sufficiently familiar with the lake to understand where the primary spawning activity occurs.
But winner Bryan Thrift was a special case, because he grew up fishing the lake. He knows every inch of the water – not only what's on top, but also what's underneath.
That didn't help him the past few years, when the Tour visited Norman during the spawn. But this time around, the pre-spawn conditions set things up perfectly.
The fish were still staging and not yet on beds, so the quest for a kicker largemouth – typically the deciding factor in Norman events – was much more difficult.
Overall the weights were up from years past. Thrift won with a 14-pound average, and it took nearly a 12-pound average to make the Top 5. Traditionally, 12 pounds a day wins.
Thrift's key was he caught back-to-back 16-pound bags, and he never weighed less than 12 1/2 pounds. It was a scorching pace that left the rest of the field in the dust and he won by a 9-pound margin.
For Thrift, that was the good part. The sad part was his father – who was his travel and practice partner for many years – passed away in January. So the father never got to see the son fulfill his lifelong dream.
Practice
Thrift's practice was pretty unremarkable. He never touched the stuff he planned to fish – he didn't want to wear out any fish, and he didn't want to be spotted.
The first day of practice he threw a jig on places he didn't plan to fish and caught about 50, he said. Then he threw a crank to see if that bite was on and it was. He caught a lot of fish, but they were nearly all small.
As he soon learned, though, "those small fish all turned into 3- and 4-pounders when I fished my stuff (in the tournament)."
Competition
> Day 1: 5, 13-01
> Day 2: 5, 16-09
> Day 3: 5, 16-00
> Day 4: 5, 12-11
> Total = 20, 58-05
Thrift followed the same strategy each of the 4 days. He'd start the morning by targeting spotted bass fairly close to the launch. After he got a solid limit, he headed up the river and slowed down to hunt out a largemouth kicker.
The first 3 days he caught spots "pretty quick," then had significant success with largemouths. He didn't always catch a limit in the morning, but he wanted some fish in the box before he committed to fishing for only two or three bites the rest of the day.
"It seemed like every hour I'd catch a 3-pounder," he noted of the largemouth fishing up the river. "It was just crazy.
"The first day I actually caught more largemouths than spots, but they weren't all big. The first day I weighed five largemouths, then the second and third days I weighed four largemouths, but I had a 3-pound spot both days. The last day, I weighed two spots and three largemouths."
He said he started on the same spot each morning with a crank. "It was one little deal real close to where we launch. In all my time here, I've caught more 4-pound spots there than anywhere else on the lake. The first morning I caught a 2 1/2-pounder there and a couple 2-pounders. The second morning I only caught one keeper there. Then the third day I didn't get any bites there. The last day I caught one little keeper there.
"The (starting) spot was just a couple stumps on a little drop," he added. "I was cranking up shallow in 3 to 4 feet. I was catching largemouths pretty much the same way – cranking a lot of stuff and throwing a jig in brushpiles, but instead of the main lake, I was fishing the backs of creeks and stuff like that."
The brush he targeted was under docks or pontoon boats – "something most people aren't going to find."
Thrift threw a crankbait and a skipped a jig – he weighed two jig fish each day.
Winning Gear Notes
> Crankbait gear: 7' medium-action Damiki Dark Angel rod, Abu Garcia Revo Winch casting reel, 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, Damiki DC-100 (real shad).
> About the Dark Angel rod, he noted: "I've been throwing with this rod for 2 years and it's hands-down the best crankbait rod I've ever touched. It has the perfect action – a little bit of a soft tip, but a lot of backbone. You can feel everything the crank's doing."
> Jig gear: 6'9" medium-heavy unnamed rod, Abu Garcia Revo STX HS casting reel (7.1:1), 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Shooter Lures jig (green-pumpkin), unnamed chunk-style trailer (green-pumpkin).
> Third-place Andy Montgomery and 4th-place Brian Travis also threw a Shooter jig. It's a local make, and it's handtied, so the skirt doesn't slip down when skipping docks.
The Bottom Line
Notable
> This was Thrift's first tour-level win. He now leads the FLW Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) race.
> He won't fish another event until next month's Ft. Loudoun–Tellico FLW Tour.
> He and his wife Allison are expecting a baby.
