SHREVEPORT, La. – Chevy pro Bryan
Thrift of Shelby, N.C., brought a five-bass limit to the scales weighing 9
pounds, 15 ounces to lead day three of the Forrest Wood Cup at the Red River
presented by Walmart. Thrift, with a three-day total of 15 bass for 39-6, holds
a 4-ounce lead over previous leader EverStart pro Randall Tharp of Port St.
Joe, Fla., who weighed five bass weighing 9-7 for a three-day total of 15 bass
for 39-2. The Forrest Wood Cup, professional bass fishing's world championship,
features 46 of the best professional anglers from across the country casting
for the top cash award of $500,000.
Bryan sets the hook early. Every bite is gold on the Red River! (Photo: FLW) |
"Well, I'd rather have the lead
then be in second," said Thrift, who finished in third place at the 2012
Forrest Wood Cup. "It's still anybody's game, though. Somebody in sixth or
seventh could go out tomorrow and try something off the wall and catch 18
pounds like Randall and I did on the first day and win this thing. The river is
capable of producing those type of weights, so I really don't believe that
anybody is out of this."
Thrift said that despite taking the
lead, he struggled for most of the day. He estimated that he only had eight or
nine keeper bites throughout the day, and four were barely over the 12-inch mark.
"I tried to find places in
practice where I could get multiple bites, but they're slowly fading
away," Thrift said. "The places where I was getting three or four
bites each day are now only getting me one, sometimes none. Today I fished around
40 to 50 different places. I've been fishing woods, pads, rocks – anything that
looks good. I'm just putting the trolling motor down and covering water."
Despite running and gunning, Thrift
said that all of his big fish have come from the same area.
"I've caught my big fish each
day off of this little point in a backwater area," said Thrift. "They
all came on an Evercast Lures Shaky Head rigged with a 6½-inch Damiki Finesse
Miki Worm. I've also been catching fish on an original Z-Man Chatterbait.
"Tomorrow I'm going to do the
same deal," Thrift went on to say. "If it's not working, I'll do
something else. I'm not going to get stale in my approach and go down dying
with one thing. If I'm not getting bit, I'll change it up and try to make them
bite something else. I think I'm most likely going to have to run some new
water tomorrow. I'm going to fish what I feel like is going to give me the best
chance to catch a big one and win this tournament."
The top 10 pros advancing to the
final day of competition are:
1st: Chevy pro Bryan Thrift, Shelby,
N.C., 15 bass, 39-6
2nd: EverStart pro Randall Tharp,
Port St. Joe, Fla., 15 bass, 39-2
3rd: Chevy pro Larry Nixon, Bee
Branch, Ark., 15 bass, 35-14
4th: Jacob Wheeler, Indianapolis,
Ind., 15 bass, 34-15
5th: Walmart pro Mark Rose, West
Memphis, Ark., 15 bass, 34-6
6th: Robbie Dodson, Harrison, Ark.,
15 bass, 33-5
7th: Kerry Milner, Bono, Ark., 15
bass, 32-13
8th: Troy Morrow, Eastanollee, Ga.,
15 bass, 32-7
9th: Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., 10
bass, 32-4
10th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 15
bass, 32-4
Finishing in 11th through 20th are
11th: Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J.,
15 bass, 32-3, $20,000
12th: 3M Scotch Tape & Peltor
Brands pro Ray Scheide, Dover, Ark., 14 bass, 31-11, $20,000
13th: Straight Talk pro J.T. Kenney,
Palm Bay, Fla., 15 bass, 30-11, $20,000
14th: Walmart pro Wesley Strader,
Spring City, Tenn., 15 bass, 30-7, $20,000
15th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville,
Ala., 15 bass, 30-6, $20,000
16th: John Cox, Debary, Fla., 15
bass, 29-10, $15,000
17th: Mark Daniels Jr., Fairfield,
Calif., 14 bass, 29-10, $15,000
18th: Matt Arey, Shelby, N.C., 15
bass, 28-11, $15,000
19th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 15
bass, 27-15, $15,000
20th: Keystone Light pro Brent
Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 15 bass, 27-7, $15,000
Final results for the remaining field
can be found on FLWOutdoors.com.
Overall there were 98 bass weighing
179 pounds, 3 ounces caught by pros Saturday. The catch included 18 five-bass
limits.
Theo Corcoran of Kansas City, Mo.,
won the co-angler division and $50,000 Friday with a two-day total of 10 bass
weighing 26 pounds, 10 ounces followed by Brock Mosley of Collinsville, Miss.,
in second place with 10 bass weighing 19-1 worth $10,000.
The 2013 Forrest Wood Cup at the Red
River presented by Walmart is being hosted by the Shreveport/Bossier City
Sports Commission.
Anglers will take off from Red River
South Marina located at 250 Red River South Marina Road in Bossier City, La.,
at 7 a.m. Sunday. Weigh-in will be held at the CenturyLink Center located at
2000 CenturyLink Center Drive in Bossier City, La., beginning at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Fans will be treated to the FLW Expo
at the Shreveport Convention Center located at 400 Caddo St. in Shreveport,
La., on Sunday from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. prior to the weigh-ins. The Expo includes
Ranger boat simulators, the opportunity to interact with professional anglers,
enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and
fans can learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities.
All activities are free and open to the public. Five-hundred free rods and
reels will be given away each day to the first 500 children 14 years and under
who are accompanied by an adult. The rod and reel giveaways are courtesy of
1130 AM The Tiger. Also on Sunday, one lucky fishing fan will win a Ranger
Z520C with a Mercury outboard. The Ranger boat giveaway is courtesy of KSLA
News 12 and is free to enter, but the winner must be present at the conclusion
of Sunday's final weigh-in to win.
Coverage of the Forrest Wood Cup will
be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC when "FLW" airs Sept. 29
from 2:30-3:30 p.m. ET. The Emmy-nominated "FLW" television show is
hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 564 million households
worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports
television show in the world.
FLW and the Capital City, Lake Murray
Country Regional Tourism Board announced Friday that Columbia, S.C., would once
again be hosting the Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing,
Aug. 14-17, 2014, on the jewel of South Carolina, Lake Murray. The last time
the Forrest Wood Cup, the sport's premier event, was held in Columbia was 2008.
Rayovac pro Jason Christie of Park
Hill, Okla., was awarded the second annual Forrest L. Wood Sportsmanship and
Community Leadership Award on Saturday, and a donation will be made to
Christie's charity of choice. FLW recognized the angler that exemplified the
ideals of sportsmanship and community service throughout the 2013 season. The
Forrest L. Wood Sportsmanship and Community Leadership Award recognizes the
individual who displayed overall commitment of sportsmanship and community
leadership, on and off the water, by displaying ethical behavior, upholding
integrity, class, selflessness, conservation efforts and kindness to others.
For complete details and updated
information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news
and more, follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at
Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
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