ARKANSAS SPORTSMAN

Thrift’s variety-pack approach a winner

After leading for two days, Mark Rose of West Memphis let a victory at the FLW Tour bass tournament slip away Sunday on Sam Rayburn Reservoir near Beaumont, Texas.

Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., snatched the $125,000 title by finishing the final day with five bass that weighed 17 pounds for a three-day total of 73-3. It was Thrift’s third FLW Tour victory. His first was on Lake Ouachita in 2010 during FLW’s short hiatus from Beaver Lake, which will host the next FLW Tour event April 10-13.

Rose has won two FLW Tour events. He earned $30,000 for his second-place finish.

Rob Kilby of Hot Springs finished 11th to win $12,000.

Cody Meyer of Auburn, Calif., leads the FLW Angler of the Year race with 567 points and $49,000 in winnings this season. Stetson Blaylock of Benton is in seventh place with 520 points and $32,000 in winnings.

Thrift started the final day 2 pounds, 14 ounces behind Rose. He caught four bass quickly on a chatterbait. They were all cookie-cutter keeper fish, so he switched to a flipping pattern to upgrade his size. He flipped a Texas-rigged Damiki Knockout against cypress trees and shook it against all sides of the trees at different depths.The adjustment worked and enabled him to overtake Rose, whose weights progressively got lighter each day.

Rose was third after the first day with 23-15, but he took the lead on Day 2 with 19-2 (43-0). He caught 16-1 on Day 3, and 11-1 on the final day.

Thrift was more consistent. He daily totals were 18-12, 20-14, 16-9 and 17-0.

A storm that moved through the area around Lufkin, Texas, adversely affected the fishing for most of the anglers. Rose confined his activities to a small area that consistently produced fish, including the 9-pounder that anchored his bag after the second day. He said that a clear sky after the storm hurt him. Wind and clouds were crucial for positioning the quality of fish that he needed.

Thrift patrolled a larger area and employed a bigger variety of tactics and presentations. In addition to the cypress pattern, he also caught fish in shallow grassbeds and other assorted cover. His biggest advantage was fishing an area that didn’t seem to be affected by the weather, and one where bass replenished every day.

His victory was a satisfying recovery from his 107th-place finish at South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell.

DAVIS IS ELITE

After his third-place finish on the St. John’s River in Florida on March 23, Mark Davis of Mount Ida leads Bassmaster’s Angler of the Year race with 196 points.

Todd Faircloth of Texas has 190 points as they square off today through Sunday on Table Rock Lake at Branson, Mo.

Davis is probably the most unheralded superstar in professional fishing. With nearly $1.7 million in winnings, he also won Angler of the Year in 1995, 1998 and 2001 and won the Bassmaster Classic in 1995.

In August 1994, Davis finished fourth in the Bassmaster Top 100 event at Lake St. Clair, Mich., at the beginning of the trail to the 1995 Classic.

“You have to do two things to earn a good living in fishing,” he said over the phone that night. “You have to win the Classic, and you have to win Angler of the Year. This year, I’m going to win them both. Keep that under your hat for now, but I’m telling you right now, I’m going to win them both.”

Those stats rank him truly as an elite angler, and he continues to pad them while competing against younger, more telegenic anglers. Even so, he’s scarcely mentioned in the national bass fishing media.

In 2005, Davis fell out with BASS for a few seasons for professional and personal reasons. We sat together on the flight home from the 2005 Classic at Pittsburgh, and he talked at length of his frustrations with young anglers who get television exposure for screaming and dancing instead of catching fish.

“The only way I can get on TV is to win,” Davis said.

He competed on the FLW Tour for a few seasons and was in contention to win the 2007 Forrest Wood Cup, which was the first tournament to pay the winner $1 million. However, Davis never really fit in at FLW. His identity was and is with BASS, and he’s noticeably more comfortable back with BASS.

Because he’s one of “our” guys and because he’s a good guy, we’re very much looking forward to writing about Davis winning his fourth angler of the year title.

Sports, Pages 20 on 04/03/2014

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