Thrift Leads FLW Tournament at Grand Lake

March 30, 2019
FLW Tour News Archive

GROVE, Okla. (March 30, 2019) – The FLW Tournament at Grand Lake is setting up for a dramatic final day on Sunday – the top 10 is stacked with a two-time FLW Tour Angler of the Year, an FLW Cup champion, an FLW Series Champion, a Bass Fishing League (BFL) All-American Champion and a local angling prodigy that are all in striking distance to win the tournament, and the top prize of $125,000.

  

Tour stalwart Bryan Thrift of Shelby, North Carolina, who started the day in fifth place, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 19 pounds, 3 ounces to take the lead with a three-day total of 52-1.

  

Pro Jeremy Lawyer of Sarcoxie, Missouri, (48-14) jumped into second after bringing in a limit weighing 17-9. Billy McCaghren of Mayflower, Arkansas, (46-12), South Africa’s Michael Matthee (44-15) and reigning FLW Series Champion Bradford Beavers of Summerville, South Carolina (44-6) round out the top five. Local angler, 21-year-old Sheldon Collings of Grove (39-9) moved into the top-10 cut Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 13 ounces.

  

With just a 3-pound, 3-ounce cushion heading into the final day, tournament-leader Thrift is excited to see how it all shakes on Championship Sunday.

  

“I love it – this is where I want to be,” said Thrift, who has six career victories in FLW Tour competition – tied for No. 3 all-time. “If you’re ever leading going into the final day and it doesn’t make you excited, it’s time to quit. It’s an awesome feeling and I’m excited to get back out there tomorrow.”

  

Thrift said that he had seven bites on Saturday, catching, “a couple on a jig and a couple on a crankbait.” He first keeper came around 9:30 a.m., and he said he caught, “one here, one there” every 45 minutes or so.

  

“It’s tough because I can’t look at something and say ‘that’s where I’m going to get a bite,’ Thrift said. “I’ve got to go into places and fish everything there – docks, rocks, wood, sand, gravel – I have to fish all of it because I have no idea where I’m going to get bit from. I caught two today on a bare bank. I caught one on a dock, one out of a tree and one on a rock.

  

“The plan for tomorrow is to do the same as I did today,” Thrift went on to say. “I’m going to fish everywhere that I’ve gotten a bite – that’ll take me about an hour. And then I’m going to run all new water. We’ll see what happens.”

  

The top 10 pros advancing to the final day of competition Sunday on Grand Lake are:                                                                                                            

              1st:          Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 15 bass, 52-1

              2nd:         Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 15 bass, 48-14

              3rd:         Billy McCaghren, Mayflower, Ark., 15 bass, 46-12

              4th:         Michael Matthee, Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa, 13 bass, 44-15

              5th:         Bradford Beavers, Summerville, S.C., 14 bass, 44-6

              6th:         Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., 11 bass, 43-4

              7th:         Miles Burghoff, Hixson, Tenn., 13 bass, 42-7

              8th:         John Cox, DeBary, Fla., 12 bass, 42-4

              9th:         Jamie Horton, Centerville, Ala., 13 bass, 41-10

              10th:       Sheldon Collings, Grove, Okla., 15 bass, 39-9

Finishing in 11th through 30th are:

              11th:       Bailey Boutries, Daphne, Ala., 11 bass, 39-8, $12,000

              12th:       Jon Canada, Helena, Ala., 12 bass, 37-15, $12,000

              13th:       Todd Castledine, Nacogdoches, Texas, 13 bass, 37-14, $12,000

              14th:       Bradley Hallman, Norman, Okla., 12 bass, 37-8, $12,000

              15th:       Braxton Setzer, Montgomery, Ala., 12 bass, 37-1, $12,000

              16th:       Matt Reed, Madisonville, Texas, 13 bass, 37-0, $11,500

              17th:       Ryan Chandler, Hebron, Ind., 15 bass, 36-13, $11,500

              18th:       Joel Willert, Prior Lake, Minn., 12 bass, 36-7, $11,500

              19th:       Josh Douglas, Isle, Minn., 15 bass, 35-10, $11,500

              20th:       Kyle Weisenburger, Ottawa, Ohio, nine bass, 35-9, $11,500

              21st:        Ron Farrow, Rock Hill, S.C., 11 bass, 35-9, $10,500

              22nd:       Larry Nixon, Quitman, Ark., 12 bass, 34-5, $10,500

              23rd:       Shell Rotella pro Jimmy Houston, Cookson, Okla., 12 bass, 33-12, $10,500

              24th:       Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 12 bass, 33-9 , $10,500

              25th:       David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 12 bass, 33-8, $10,500

              26th:       Joey Cifuentes, Clinton, Ark., 11 bass, 32-4, $10,500

              27th:       Terry Bolton, Benton, Ky., 10 bass, 31-8, $10,500

              28th:       Lendell Martin Jr., Nacogdoches, Texas, nine bass, 26-10, $10,500

              29th:       David Wootton, Collierville, Tenn., 10 bass, 26-6, $10,500

              30th:       Tyler Stewart, West Monroe, La., eight bass, 26-4, $10,500

https://www.bassresource.com 

Overall there were 98 bass weighing 276 pounds, 5 ounces caught by pros Saturday, Of the final 30 pros, 10 of them were able to bring a five-bass limit to the scale.