Skip to footer

Bryan Thrift Wins FLW Lake Norman Tour Invitational

Bryan Thrift is convinced that any given time there's a bass under or around each and every boat dock at Lake Norman. During the FLW Tour Invitational held last week at his home lake, Thrift tried to catch them all. Okay, not really, but Thrift certainly had a plethora of options to choose from during the 3-day event. That's the product of Norman being his classroom for years before he became a household name on the FLW Tour. "I've spent a lot of time on that lake over the years," he said. Known for fishing at a breakneck pace, Thrift wound up falling back on places that have been historically good for him. That strategy resulted in three consistent stringers that helped him secure a come-from-behind victory and a spot in next year's Forrest Wood Cup. His winning weight of 34-12 was surprisingly low for how good a fishery Norman can be and considering the size of fish he caught in practice, but he'll take the victory. "I'm definitely glad I won," he said. "It ranks right up there because I had all kinds of friends and family there. It's awesome to win any time." This was Thrift's second FLW win of 2016 and gives him four straight top-11 finishes in FLW Tour events heading into next month's second Invitational at Norris Lake in Tennessee.

Thrift said he didn't feel any additional pressure being considered one of the local favorites entering the event. He was one of 21 competitors from North Carolina. "I practiced and fished pretty relaxed," he said. "I was surprised because I usually do put extra stress on myself being close to home. I was calm and collected." The field was limited to three days of practice - the Invitationals follow FLW Tour rules - and Thrift went in wanting to learn something new about the lake. "My mindset was I wasn't going to fish stuff I already knew," he said. "I tried to find new places and that helped a lot." He found that fish were still generally locked in their late summer pattern, schooling in the mornings and holding on shallow and deep brush piles and, of course, docks. "The biggest thing was looking for schooling fish," he added. "I ran around a lot looking for that and never found it." By the end of practice, he'd caught a 5 1/2-pounder and a few 3-pounders, enough to get him thinking that a daily average in the low teens would be competitive. "The way practice went I thought the weights would be better," he said. "I figured it'd take 13 1/2 per day to win."

Competition:

Thrift didn't hold back on any of his areas during the tournament. "I ran around the whole lake all 3 days," he said. "That's the fun thing about Norman. There's no telling where you're going to catch one." He weighed in all spotted bass on day 1, employing a three-tiered attack that allowed him to cover the entire water column. He threw a buzzbait around shallow docks, worked a jig around brush piles and used a swimbait off shore in 10 to 15 feet of water. Still, he thought he could've done better on day 1. "I was disappointed," he said. "Coming in, I told people I had 11, but I still wound up in the top 15. Norman is notorious for weights falling off day after day and that's what happened. "It changed up. You could tell day 1. The 2 1/4s to 2 1/2s weren't there. I can't point to anything that changed. It was just a weird deal." Friday wound up being his best day weight wise as he stuck with the same three baits in many of the same areas. "You can recycle a lot of stuff at Norman," he said. "I feel like you can never catch everything that's there. I'm convinced there's a fish that lives on every dock on that lake. It's just a matter of fishing that dock when it decides to eat."

He was able to add one topwater area to his rounds for the final day after catching a good fish there in the middle of day 2. His 11-12 stringer moved him up to 5th, just 15 ounces behind leader Scott Canterbury. "I knew it was anybody's game, but I figured someone would catch 14 to 15 to win it," he added. Within the first 10 minutes on the final day, he caught a 3 1/2-pounder and a 2 1/4 to take the edge off. "That calmed me down knowing I had two decent fish I'd be comfortable weighing in," he said. "I had the rest of the day to find three more." He went back to a spot from day 2 and cleaned up with a buzzbait to finish his limit. "It was just average fish the rest of the day," he said. He caught a 2 1/2-pounder on the swimbait with 30 minutes left in the day that gave him a half-pound upgrade to give him the winning margin. "Usually, my first five fish were between 7 1/2 and 9 1/2 pounds," he said. "I just culled up ounces through the day after that."

Winning Pattern:

Thrift said history was the common thread between the docks he chose to fish. He estimated 80 percent of the fish he weighed in were caught off places he'd caught fish before. "Some were isolated, some had brush or some were deeper than others," he said. He was not picky about where he threw his jig. "I threw it everywhere, from 2 to 20 feet," he added. He could on catching a limit on the 4-inch swimbait, but he stuck with the buzzbait and jig "90 percent of the time."

Winning Gear:

Topwater gear: 7' heavy-action Fitzgerald Rods Stunner casting rod, unnamed casting reel, 20-pound P-Line original co-polymer line, unnamed 3/8-oz. buzzbait (white), unnamed plastic trailer (white).

Jig gear: 6'9" heavy-action Fitzgerald Rods Bryan Thrift Series casting rod, unnamed reel, 20-pound P-Line Ultimate fluorocarbon line, 1/2-oz. Damiki Mamaba 2 jig (brown/black), unnamed chunk trailer (matching color).

Swimbait gear: 7' medium-heavy Fitzgerald Rods Stunner casting rod, unnamed reel, 8-pound P-Line Ultimate fluorocarbon line, unnamed 3/16-oz. round head jig, 4" Damiki Anchovy Shad (pro blue). He started his days in shallow water, casting his buzzbait and pitching the jig around docks and brush. Later on, he'd move out deeper and throw the 4-inch swimbait over brush and points. He'd count it down and try to keep it in the 10- to 15-foot range. "That was an all-day sort of thing later in the day," he said.

Main factor: "Just having confidence in everything I was fishing - knowing the lake and feeling like I can catch one anywhere. Rarely do I get that feeling anywhere we go on tour."

Performance edge: "My Evinrude never let me down. I was constantly cranking it up, probably 70 to 80 times a day. It worked flawlessly."

Lake Norman Winning Pattern BassFan 9/21/16 (Todd Ceisner)

Back to Top