LUFKIN, Texas (March 30, 2014) – Chevy pro Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., brought a five-bass limit to the scale Sunday weighing 17 pounds even to overtake Walmart pro Mark Rose and win the Walmart FLW Tour at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Chevy. Thrift’s four-day total of 20 bass weighing 73 pounds, 3 ounces earned him the top cash award of $125,000 in the event that featured 176 of the world’s best bass-fishing anglers competing in the four-day competition. The tournament will be nationally televised on NBC Sports Network in June.
Rose, the tournament leader after days two and three, brought five bass to the scale weighing 11 pounds, 1 ounce. His four-day total of 70 pounds, 2 ounces earned him a 2nd-place finish, worth $30,500.
“The first morning of the tournament I decided that I needed to fish slow and steady,” said Thrift, who earned the third Walmart FLW Tour victory of his career. “I had been catching a lot of fish on moving baits – crankbaits and ChatterBaits. I got up to my area on the morning of day one and two hours in I hadn’t had a bite. I knew something had changed. I started to slow down and pick everything apart.”
Thrift said that he fished an area that was about five miles long up the Angelina River. He estimated that he covered new water for about 3 hours each day of the tournament, targeting cypress trees and grass patches.
“Today I really focused on 10 particular trees,” Thrift said. “I would put my Power-Poles down on those trees and flip very slowly, every two inches, all the way around that tree. I was spending 15 to 20 minutes on each tree.”
Thrift said that his key bait this week was a Texas-rigged Damiki Knock Out with a 5/16-ounce weight and 20-pound-test P-Line fluorocarbon line. He flipped the Knock Out in both green-pumpkin and junebug colors. Thrift also said that he caught two or three key fish Sunday morning on a Z-Man Original ChatterBait.
“I hadn’t caught any fish on a ChatterBait until today,” Thrift said. “I caught two 3-pounders on it this morning and it calmed me enough that I could pick that Knock Out up and fish slow like I needed to.
“Finishing in 107th at Lake Hartwell left a bad taste in my mouth,” Thrift went on to say. “I never figured anything out and it seemed like every decision that I made was the exact opposite of what I should have been doing. After finishing 3rd at the Rayovac Series event two weeks ago at Santee Cooper and now winning here, I hope I’ve righted my ship and can get back on a streak of good finishes.”
The top 10 pros finished the tournament in:
1st: Chevy pro Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 20 bass, 73-3, $125,000
2nd: Walmart pro Mark Rose, West Memphis, Ark., 20 bass, 70-2, $30,500
3rd: Greg Hackney, Gonzales, La., 20 bass, 67-13, $25,000
4th: Jason Meninger, Gainesville, Ga., 20 bass, 66-13, $20,000
5th: John Cox, Debary, Fla., 18 bass, 61-2, $19,000
6th: Steve Kennedy, Auburn, Ala., 18 bass, 60-11, $18,000
7th: Jayme Rampey, Liberty, S.C., 19 bass, 59-13, $17,000
8th: Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 20 bass, 57-2, $16,000
9th: Tony Davis, Williston, Fla., 16 bass, 56-15, $15,000
10th: Rick Cotten, Guntersville, Ala., 20 bass, 56-11, $14,000
A complete list of results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Overall there were 42 bass weighing 109 pounds even caught by pros Sunday. Six of the final 10 pros caught five-bass limits.
Eric Self of Lawndale, N.C., won the co-angler division and $20,000 Saturday with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 33 pounds, 11 ounces, followed by Kerry Barnett of Waldron, Ark., in second place with 11 bass weighing 33 pounds, 8 ounces worth $7,500.
Pros competed for a top award of up to $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart, the world championship of bass fishing. The top 35 anglers in the point standings from the six events on the 2014 Walmart FLW Tour will qualify. The 2014 Forrest Wood Cup will be in Columbia, S.C., Aug. 14-17 on Lake Murray and is hosted by Capital City Lake Murray Country. Anglers could win as much as $500,000 – professional bass-fishing’s richest prize.
The FLW Tour stop on Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Chevy was hosted by the Lufkin Convention and Visitors Bureau. It was the third of six events in the Walmart FLW Tour’s 2014 season. The next Walmart FLW Tour event will be held at Beaver Lake April 10-13 in Rogers, Ark., and is presented by Rayovac. The event will be hosted by the Rogers Convention and Visitors Bureau, and boats will launch from Prairie Creek Park Marina in Rogers. For a complete schedule, visit FLWOutdoors.com.
Coverage of the Sam Rayburn Reservoir tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs June 7 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2014 over the course of 229 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water.” For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.
