2018 FLW Tour Lewis Smith Day 1: David Williams Leads with 18-11lbs!

Chris Johnston 39th, Gustafson 40th, Cory Johnston 85th & Richardson 131th

by Sean Ostruszka

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Williams leads by 2 pounds.
(Photo: FLW)

One species or the other – that’s how the last two FLW Tour events have shaped up, and it may go down that way again here at Lewis Smith.

At Lanier, the top pros were divided into either the largemouth camp or the spotted bass camp. At Cumberland, it was smallmouth versus largemouth. Now at the FLW Tour presented by T-H Marine on Lewis Smith, it’s back to largemouth or spots, with largemouths taking the early edge thanks to David Williams.

The Maiden, N.C., pro sacked up 18 pounds, 11 ounces of largemouths to take nearly a 3-pound lead over Blake Smith.

Now, it’s worth noting that Williams caught his fair share of spotted bass on day one, though, they were all “babies.” In fact, may pros’ bags were mixed, but it’s clear they’re typically targeting one or the other.

Williams is a shallow-water, largemouth guy at heart, and he did his heart right today.

“Today went just like I’d dreamed it,” Williams says. “I culled a few times and was basically done fishing by 10:30 a.m. I actually gave my rod to my co-angler so he could catch some.”

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2018 Bassmaster Elite Grand Lake Day 1: Omori Tops Them All with 23-12lbs.

10 limits over 20 pounds!
By Thomas Allen
BASS PRESS RELEASE

Tak on the path to second win in 18.
(Photo: BASS)

Japanese angler Takahiro Omori, who now calls Emory, Texas, his home, recently earned his seventh Bassmaster title at the first event of the 2018 Bassmaster Elite Series season on Alabama’s Lake Martin.
 
Today his dominating streak continues thanks to a pair of 6-pound bass that anchored a 23-pound, 12-ounce five-bass limit at the 2018 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Elite at Grand Lake in Grove, Okla.
 
“I didn’t have a very good practice earlier this week,” he said. “I knew the fish were about to spawn, but I was surprised with what I caught today. The rest of the field also caught quite a few big fish, and that’s going to keep things interesting for the next three days.”
 
The 47-year-old angler has been fishing with B.A.S.S. for over 27 years, and he said this was his best day ever on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees.
 
“The best finish I’ve had on this lake was 30th place, so I’m very happy with how I did today,” said the 2004 Bassmaster Classic champion. “I know more fish are moving to shallow water, but it will be tough to catch this much again tomorrow.”
 

Bass Hacks That Work!

Check out this video on some great hacks to make your fishing and rigging better and easier.

BASS Elites and FLW Tour Fishing this Weekend!

 

Get ready for some serious bass fishing overload starting Thrusday. Both BASS and FLW will have tournaments this weekend with live feeds on the weekend (BASS Live starts Friday). What to watch first? Depends on what you wish to see. FLW Tour anglers will be on Smith Lake which should be in full spawn mode. Watching guys bed fish can be a snooze but if the pre-spawn topwater bite is hot, you'll be in for some epic coverage.

Bass Elite guys will be on Grand Lake in Oklahoma. April equals fishing the bushes and trees. Christie won Grand Lake in April by catching schooling bass in bays with buck brush. Expect the shallow bite to be good again as this long winter should have many of the bass thinking about spawning.

Either way, get ready for some fever pitched bass fishing. IBASSIN will have you covered with all the results and press releases.

Bucktail Jig Magic with Jim McLaughlin

The bucktail jig is a bass and walleye classic. Big Jim McLaughlin has tied tens of thousands of bucktails in his life, so he knows how to fish them.   Listen to this Canadian living legend as he explains why bucktails are so good along with some hot colours.

OFAH Insights: Have your say on Firearms Bill C-71

On March 20th, Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness tabled Bill C-71, the federal government’s long anticipated gun bill. While the intent of this Bill was to target illegal guns and gang violence in Canada, it is abundantly clear that this Bill adds numerous additional restrictions to licensed firearms owners.

The OFAH continues to work with as many MPs as possible across the province, including Minister Goodale’s office, and has requested to appear before a government committee on Bill C-71 in an effort to minimize unnecessary restrictions on law-abiding firearms owners.

We need your feedback on Bill C-71 to help drive our messages home. Your participation in a short survey on the Bill is extremely important to the OFAH, and we appreciate you taking a few minutes to provide us with your feedback.

Take thesurvey here and please share it with family, friends and colleagues.

Your opinion matters.

Humminbird & Minn Kota Linked for Better Fishing with Charles Sim

Linking your Minn Kota trolling motor to your networked Humminbirds will allow you to precisely navigate your boat right on the juice. Listen to Bassmaster Classic qualifier Charles Sim as he explains the importance and benefits of linking your Humminbird electronics to your Minn Kota trolling motor.

Bryan Thrift Wins 2018 FLW Tour Lake Cumberland with 70-02lbs!

Chris Johnston move to 6th from 70th

by Curtis Niedermier
FLW PRESS RELEASE

Smallmouth and swimbaits make Thrift a champion.
(Photo: FLW)

So long as Bryan Thrift fishes the FLW Tour, for anyone else, winning a tournament will never come easy. Winning means beating Bryan Thrift. Beating Bryan Thrift is a feat.

The Shelby, N.C., pro proved once again that if he’s in the hunt on the weekend, he’s not going to have a bad day. He’s purely lethal. Today, Thrift put the finishing touches on his sixth FLW Tour victory and his 10th FLW win overall. This one came on a cold, rainy, miserable day in central Kentucky at Lake Cumberland for stop No. 4 of the 2018 Tour. The tournament was presented by General Tire, and Thrift won with a 70-pound, 2-ounce total and pocketed $125,200 for his efforts. 

Thrift squashed an impressive run by 2017 The Bass Federation National Champion Allen Boyd, who gave one of the tournament’s best performances, catching 18 pounds, 2 ounces of largemouths despite losing a couple of hours this morning to a mechanical issue. Boyd charged ahead hard, but he couldn’t keep pace with Thrift, whose 18-10 stringer gave him a four-day margin of victory of 1 pound, 10 ounces.

Surely, if there’s a conversation about who’s the best bass angler alive right now, Thrift deserves consideration. Andy Morgan, another of bass fishing’s best, said on stage today in Somerset that he thinks Thrift is the best there is. There couldn’t be a much better commendation than that.

“Who’s the best?” is a fun debate, but the facts are what matter now. Thrift closed out the tournament with his fourth consecutive stringer of Cumberland smallmouths. He weighed in 15-9 on day one, improved the following two days with 17-4 and 18-11, and finished with 18-10.
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2018 FLW Tour Lake Cumberland Day 3: Bryan Thrift Jumps into Lead by Ounces over Andy Morgan

Chris Johnston 10th

FLW PRESS RELEASE
All FLW Tour events are exciting, but this week’s tournament has been exceptional thanks to a showdown among A-list pros who are flat out smashing fish on Lake Cumberland. We’re on the cusp of what could be one of the greatest Sunday slugfests in FLW Live history on the final day of the season’s fourth Tour stop, which is presented by General Tire.

Morning smallmouth key to Thrift pattern.
(Photo: FLW)

Bryan Thrift is in the lead with 51 pounds, 8 ounces, but Andy Morgan is only 7 ounces back, Allen Boyd is a pound and 2 ounces back, and Greg Bohannan is 1-15 back. The entire top 10 is within 6 pounds of Thrift’s lead. With many in the top 10 catching 30 or more fish a day – and a lot of good ones – there’s no predicting the outcome, except to guarantee that Sunday at Cumberland will be one to remember.

Aside from the pro showdown, there’s also a very interesting species showdown going on. The main patterns are targeting staging and spawning smallmouths with swimbaits, and targeting staging and spawning largemouths with spinnerbaits. The two patterns seem to be producing at about an equal rate.

Thrift is in the smallmouth camp. He’s weighed in 15 brown bass, and brought in 18-11 today for his 52nd consecutive limit in FLW Tour competition, extending the record that he broke yesterday.

“Today was fun,” Thrift says. “The first two days were a little bit of a struggle, but I caught a lot of fish today.

“You can’t feel safe with Morgan behind you,” he adds. “Hopefully they bite again tomorrow. I caught a lot of them, so we’ll see.”

The fact that he caught so many today is the only thing that worries Thrift. He’s simply not sure if his “home area” can last for another day.

All three days he’s fished a variety of targets in his area, from the main lake to primary and secondary points to some of the lead-in banks in pockets. About the only thing he’s not fishing is the backs of the pockets where other pros are targeting largemouths.
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