Bryan Thrift's Pattern, Baits & Gear
"I was trying to make long casts to get the bait as far away from the boat as I could. There was one place where I was catching them pretty shallow and they were real spooky, so I downsized my bait a little bit." About 75 percent of his weigh-in fish were enticed by a Damiki Stinger fished on a standard jighead. For his more subtle approach, he went with a Damiki Pen 2 worm on a dropshot rig. Most of the fish were holding in 16 to 18 feet of water.
Gear:
Worm gear: 6'9" medium-action Fitzgerald Stunner rod, Abu Garcia Revo Premier 30 spinning reel, 20-pound P-Line TCBX braided line (main line), 8-pound P-Line Tactical fluorocarbon leader, 1/8- or 1/4-ounce jighead, 4" Damiki Stinger (green-pumpkin or baby bass).
Dropshot gear: 6'10" medium-heavy Fitzgerald Versa rod, same reel and line, 1/0 Berkley Fusion dropshot hook, Damiki Pen 2 worm (green-pumpkin), 3/8-ounce round dropshot weight.
Main factor: "Making myself stay put instead of running all over the place."
Performance edge: "The combination of the rod, reel and line. It gave me the confidence to catch those big fish on light line without having to worry about them breaking off."
FLW Tour St. Clair Patterns 2-5 BassFan 7/6/18 (John Johnson)
