Although Beavers’ 18-pound, 12-ounce limit was an impressive sight on the stage, the South Carolina pro admits that he had to grind it out for the entire day. He boated four keepers in a 45-minute window right away Friday morning, then didn’t boat his fifth keeper until just three minutes before having to leave the water and head to weigh-in.
“I hooked seven fish today, but only got five of them to the boat,” said Beavers, the 2017 Costa FLW Series Champion. “I was around them. They would bump my bait, but they just weren’t going to eat.
“I spent three hours there this morning, then I finally gave up and ran around looking for another bite the rest of the day,” Beavers continued. “I don’t know if the fish are becoming more educated or the weather is changing their habits.”
Beavers said that he caught all of his fish Friday on a bladed jig.
“I finally got my last one with just three minutes left in the day,” Beavers said. “It was a huge window with nothing happening.
“Tomorrow my plan is to just go hit the one area where I have been catching them, and then just run some new water from there,” Beavers went on to say. “I’ll probably stay shallow. I don’t have anything else worth going back to, and it just takes too long to find them out deep. I hope I can find them.”
The top 30 pros that made the cut and will fish Saturday on Lake Seminole are:
1st: Bradford Beavers, Summerville, S.C., 10 bass, 43-14
2nd: Sheldon Collings, Grove, Okla., 10 bass, 40-14
3rd: Rob Kilby, Hot Springs, Ark., 10 bass, 38-15
4th: Kurt Mitchell, Milford, Del., 10 bass, 37-5
5th: Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., 10 bass, 36-12
6th: Greg Bohannan, Bentonville, Ark., 10 bass, 36-3
7th: Hunter Freeman, Monroe, La., 10 bass, 35-5
8th: Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 10 bass, 34-7
9th: Joseph Webster, Winfield, Ala., eight bass, 34-6
10th: Braxton Setzer, Montgomery, Ala., seven bass, 33-10
11th: Tyler Woolcott, Port Orange, Fla., eight bass, 33-2
12th: Miles Howe, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., nine bass, 32-12
13th: Scott Martin, Clewiston, Fla., 10 bass, 32-7
14th: Billy McCaghren, Mayflower, Ark., 10 bass, 32-5
15th: Jimmy Brewer, Marshall, Texas, 10 bass, 31-0
16th: Jared McMillan, Belle Glade, Fla., 10 bass, 30-12
17th: Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., 10 bass, 29-11
18th: Terry Bolton, Benton, Ky., 10 bass, 29-1
19th: Russell Cecil, Willis, Texas, nine bass, 28-9
20th: Matt Becker, Finleyville, Pa., 10 bass, 28-8
21st: Buddy Gross, Chickamauga, Ga., seven bass, 28-7
22nd: Jason Abram, Piney Flats, Tenn., 10 bass, 28-2
23rd: Miles Burghoff, Hixson, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-15
24th: Dylan Hays, El Dorado, Ark., 10 bass, 27-0
25th: Andy Young, Isle, Minn., 10 bass, 26-13
26th: Matt Reed, Madisonville, Texas, 10 bass, 26-10
27th: Tommy Dickerson, Orange, Texas, nine bass, 26-8
28th: Kurt Dove, Del Rio, Texas, seven bass, 26-6
29th: Chris McCall, Palmer, Texas, nine bass, 26-3
30th: Jacob Wall, Jacksonville, Ore., eight bass, 26-0
Pro Bryan Thrift’s remarkable streak of 71 consecutive five-bass limits weighed in FLW Tour competition came to an end Friday as the Shelby, North Carolina pro weighed in just one fish totaling 2 pounds, 1 ounce. Thrift’s streak began in May of 2015 at the FLW Tour at Pickwick Lake. Thrift’s mark of 71 smashed the all-time professional bass fishing record of 57 set by Kevin Van Dam on the Bassmaster Elite Series. The previous all-time FLW Tour record was 50, set by pro Cody Meyer in 2014. Thrift finished the event with six bass for 12-7 and finished in 130th place.
Todd Castledine of Nacogdoches, Texas, earned Friday’s $500 Big Bass award in the pro division after bringing a largemouth weighing 8-pounds, 13-ounces to the scale.
Overall there were 596 bass weighing 1,528 pounds, 11 ounces caught by 157 pros Friday. The catch included 79 five-bass limits.