Bryan Thrift leads day one of the Walmart FLW Tour on Beaver Lake with 16 pounds, 2 ounces. (Photo by Kyle Wood)
10.Apr.2014 by Curtis Niedermier
ROGERS, Ark. – Confidence is effective medicine in professional bass fishing, and right now Chevy pro Bryan Thrift is benefitting from a heavy dose. The FLW millionaire took the early lead at the Beaver Lake Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Rayovac and hosted by Visit Rogers with a 16-pound, 2-ounce limit. Thrift’s success today comes on the heels of his final-day come-from-behind victory at the Sam Rayburn Tour event just two weeks ago, where Thrift broke out of an early season slump that began with finishes of 59th and 107th place at the first two events.
It wasn’t a pattern or a place that boosted Thrift into the lead today on a blustery Beaver Lake. It wasn’t even anything in the lake. It was all between the ears.
“After winning at Rayburn, that kind of lifted a weight off me,” said Thrift, who rotated through 40 or 50 spots today. “I can relax. I don’t have to worry about paying the bills. I can just have fun and take what the good Lord gives me.
“I think confidence definitely plays a key role in tournament finishes,” he continued. “I just went fishing with an open mind. Today was a great day. I don’t think I’ve ever caught this many fish on Beaver.”
I was so young the first time my parents took me fishing that I can’t remember it. I don’t remember the fish, the river, or the photo that followed. I remember the Zebco 202 that was my first fishing pole. I can still see it, green and white, dirty, leaning against the old plank wooden walls of the garage, and the bobber half attached. I can still hear my mom’s voice reminding me as I would set it in the crotch of the stick that I had shoved in the ground that “don’t walk from that or you’ll lose it like I did that day”, referencing the memory of having her fishing pole dragged into the water while not paying attention to the bite she had. There were many trips, and many fish, and many more that would come without my parents and with children of my own. Fishing became my joy, my celebration, and my way to cope.
It’s nice out, let’s go fishing!
I’m getting married, let’s go fishing!
I don’t want to talk about it, let’s just go fishing.
It’s the thing that has always been there for me and my brother through those very moments. My bachelor party was a fishing trip to Lake Steere, a private lake in NY that had served as a second home to my brother and I growing up. It was just like it was when we were kids: fishing, Terry’s amazing french toast for breakfast, playing cards, laughing so hard our sides hurt. My “friends” made me row a jon boat with a kayak paddle while the rest of them fished out of boats with motors of some kind. I caught nothing. Our dad wasn’t able to join us because he had been recovering from lung cancer, but he said we should go and have a good time. We did, but it wasn’t quite the same without him.
Pictured left to right: Jim Root, Clayton Kappauff, Seth Knapp, Mike Root
Shortly after that my Dad bought a used canoe. It was red and had a very shady patch in the side. My Dad was really excited about this hot new item of his. “We’re gonna get that thing out this summer and do some fishing!” he would say while rocking on his heels and lifting his head in the air. It became the thing my brother and I would do together. It was our thing. I’m pretty sure that my Dad never had any intention of actually using it himself. I think seeing his two boys load it up in the truck and take off for a day or even just a couple hours was ultimately the reason behind buying it. It provided us an opportunity to catch smallies like the one I’m holding below, or to just get away and talk with each other.
Years later when my brother was getting married we again settled on a weekend of fishing for his bachelor party at Black Lake in Hammond NY. Known as “Nature’s Fish Hatchery”, the weekend would come to be packed with cards, steaks, beverages, beautiful Northern Pike, Walleye, Smallmouth, and the Largemouth Bass my brother is holding below. Again our Dad was unable to go. This time, he was dying, but he insisted that my brother and I take a break from alternating nights caring for him, to go as we had planned. “I want you to go, Jim. It’s important to me that you and your brother go.” So go we did, and as it should be my brother caught the biggest fish of the weekend, and I in turn caught the picture of the biggest smile anyone would see on his face for weeks before or to come. In that brief moment of time holding that fish, everything was right in the world. We weren’t heavy-hearted and struggling to keep our emotions in control. The wedding was a month later, but our father wouldn’t be there. He would pass away less than two weeks after our trip North.
Fishing can be those things. That’s what makes it so special, so unique. It can be your family tradition, your lunch break, your honeymoon, your solace, your heartache, your bonding with your son or daughter, or a reason to buy a patched up red canoe for your sons because you’ll know there will soon come a time when they’ll need it.
Every time that tractor trailer arrives with our new colors on it, it always gets our blood pumpin’ like little kids on Christmas morning! Party time!
Gonna keep this newsletter short and sweet to fill you in on what’s new. Actually, we’ll just let the pictures do the talking for us! And if any of these new colors gets you all giddy inside just thinking about all of the fish you’re going to slay with them, use coupon code NEWSTUFF during checkout and save 15% off your entire order.
Wait a minute! Almost forgot to tell you…these are now back in stock too!!!
That’s all for now! Fish on, rock on, and send us pics of the pigs you catch when you’re rippin’ lips with PTL!
The A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Table Rock Lake ended Sunday with Mike McClelland holding off Mark Davis by a mere 13 ounces. Mike was fishing on a lake he knows well, yet with all his vast knowledge of the water, he still only managed to average 15.5 pounds a day. That is a little over 3 pounds per bass. His pattern that worked so well was “fishing by the seat of my pants.” What made this event so different and why couldn’t others find those 3 pound bass? I know if I’m out fishing on a nice windy day, I’m going to fish what is handed to me. I’m not going to fish deep off shore structure, I’m going to go work windy banks and points. The wind is my friend as it pushes bait fish up close and gives me current. Now I’m no Elite angler, never claimed to be, but what seperates us from them? No matter what body of water I am on, I know that fish are there. I know that on any given cast, a sweet 8 pound bass could just thump my bait and make me think I’m hung on a log. Is it that the Elites in their search for the trophy bass they forget the basics? Is it they over analyise the area and the bass? Is it that they try to pick an area apart so much? Is it that they truly overfish during practice? Or is it that they depend on their electronics too much? I don’t know. Or is it that they just get caught up in it all and panic when what they believe should work, doesn’t? I have listened to enough of them talk with seminars and YouTube videos to know that they know what they are doing. I know that they know how to read an area and tell me what I should be doing. And I have learned a lot of great little tips that have improved my fishing. I can tell you that a pro I have listened to a lot has told me exactly what Mike did all 4 days is the way to fish exactly what conditions they were facing. He did terrible, finishing in the lower 25% of the field. What was so different that he didn’t find the fish? Knowing what to do is one thing, but knowing and putting into practice what you know works is another. Patience is a must no matter where you fish. Mike worked his pattern on areas he had not practiced on and found bass. He knew a little ripple on the water was magic. He put his knowledge to work, and listened to what nature was telling him. Maybe we need to forget about thinking so much and just fish by the seat of our pants more often, or at least just go have fun. Maybe that is why so many Elite anglers didn’t do so good, they stopped having fun.
Bass fishing crankbaits are legitimate producers throughout much of the year. Although productive, there’s more to crankbait fishing than casting and reeling. Learning to modify these lures to better suite each situation will result in remarkable increases in both the quantity and quality of your catch.
The possibilities of crankbait modifications are endless. This article focuses on the 6 simplest adjustments you can make on the fly in the most time-sensitive situations.
Fishing the New Curado I & IMX Rods w/ Jared Part 2
In this installment of the Tackle Warehouse VLOG, Bassmasters Elite Series pro, Jared Litner, continues to fish around Clear Lake while testing out the latest products from G. Loomis, Shimano, & Jackall. Trying out some of the lighter G. Loomis rods, Jared employs the Jackall Flick Shake and the Shimano Stella to put some healthy Clear Lake bass in the boat. Keep it tuned in to see the NEW G. Loomis, Shimano, and Jackall products getting put to the test by TW’s own Jared Lintner. Enter Jared’s Gear Giveaway Here – Ends 4/11/14
Fishing the New Curado I & IMX Rods w/ Jared Part 2
In this installment of the Tackle Warehouse VLOG, Bassmasters Elite Series pro, Jared Litner, continues to fish around Clear Lake while testing out the latest products from G. Loomis, Shimano, & Jackall. Trying out some of the lighter G. Loomis rods, Jared employs the Jackall Flick Shake and the Shimano Stella to put some healthy Clear Lake bass in the boat. Keep it tuned in to see the NEW G. Loomis, Shimano, and Jackall products getting put to the test by TW’s own Jared Lintner. Enter Jared’s Gear Giveaway Here – Ends 4/11/14
Truck caps and tonneau covers are essential to providing dry and secure storage for all the valuable equipment serious anglers carry. And now LEER®, manufacturers of quality truck caps and tonneau covers for 43 years, is launching a cash bonus program called “Cover Cash” for tournament bass anglers.
Becoming eligible for the Cover Cash program is simple. Purchase or own a LEER Truck Cap or Tonneau Cover for your primary tow vehicle, sign-up for the free Cover Cash program at LeerCoverCash.com, be the highest finishing participant in any of the over 300 approved tournaments and you’ll win the cash.
Authored by Jim Root, check out his website 
