Skeet Reese claims first Bass Pro Tour trophy with James River!

By Michell Forde

BASS PRO TOUR

RICHMOND, Va. — On his 55th birthday, Skeet Reese received the best present of his life. The Bass Fishing Hall of Famer added his first Bass Pro Tour trophy to his long list of accolades at General Tire Stage Six Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts on the James River, plus the $100,000 top prize that came with it.

Reese totaled 54 pounds, 3 ounces on 23 scorable bass during Sunday’s Championship Round. He would need just about all of it, as Jeff Sprague put together a furious late-day rally but ultimately fell 3-11 shy of Reese’s total. 

The California pro said the 12th victory of his legendary career will go down as one of his most memorable, as each passing season has made him increasingly hungry to join the list of BPT champions.

“This I what I’ve been fishing for the last five years out here, trying to be able to be in a position to hoist one of these Bass Pro Tour trophies,” Reese said. “To beat the group of guys that we compete against – I mean, literally, this is the best group of anglers assembled ever in the history of the sport. So, to beat these guys, that means a lot to me.”

Here’s how the Top 10 finished the Championship Round:

1. Skeet Reese — 54-3 (23)
2. Jeff Sprague — 50-8 (25)
3. Nick LeBrun — 37-3 (16)
4. Bryan Thrift — 35-9 (16)
5. Michael Neal — 34-10 (16)
6. Gerald Spohrer — 32-11 (14)
7. Dylan Hays — 30-4 (14)
8. Spencer Shuffield — 24-9 (12)
9. Andy Montgomery — 18-2 (10)
10. Jonathon VanDam — 14-6 (7)

Complete results

2019 FLW Cup Lake Hamilton Day 1: Bryan Thrift Leads with 15-03lbs!

Canadians Luzak 11th & Johnston 13th
By Curtis Niedermier 
FLW PRESS RELEASE

Thrift is a master of August junk fishing.
(Photo: FLW)

Bryan Thrift claims he was surprised to catch 15 pounds, 3 ounces to get the lead on day one of the 2019 FLW Cup at Lake Hamilton, but if he’s really surprised he’s the only one. Like usual, the Shelby, N.C., pro was the favorite coming into the tournament, and he’s way overdue to finally get a Cup win. Everyone expected this.

However, earning the win will take holding off Louisiana pro Nick LeBrun, who’s only 3 ounces behind the leader and is as dangerous as they come in a scorching hot summertime event with a tough bite. 

Interestingly, Thrift and LeBrun are fishing some of the same types of areas, but their approaches are much different. 

LeBrun is dialed on a specific shallow pattern. Thrift is running a little bit of everything. He says for him that’s typical of fishing in the South in August. 

“Today went a lot better than I expected. I said I was going to be happy if I caught 10 pounds because I hadn’t caught a lot of 2-pounders in practice,” Thrift says. “We had a lot of cloud cover today, and I think that really improved the bite some. I started shallow and caught a limit on a buzzbait in a couple hours. The rest of the day I bounced around between deep and shallow and made a few good culls here and there. It was just kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants fishing. I’m not really dialed in on one specific pattern; just kind of sampling seven or eight different patterns.”

He’s not committed to an area, either. Thrift ran all over the lake today, not quite from dam to dam. It was a tad reminiscent of the early years of Thrift’s career when he barely sat in one spot long enough for his boat wake to settle.

“That’s just August fishing,” he says. “I caught fish off places I never got a bite in practice. I know every brush pile and every stretch of bank on this lake has got a fish on it. I think sometimes they bite and sometimes they don’t in August, so running behind people doesn’t really matter because they might have fished it when the fish weren’t ready to feed.”

LeBrun’s day was quite different. He caught about a dozen bass, and every fish came on one bait. 

“I’m staying shallow. I’m running the bank. But I’m doing something a little bit different,” says LeBrun. “I think I’m making some casts that maybe a lot of guys aren’t making. I think that I’m able to kind of run water that’s already been picked over, but we’ll kind of find that out tomorrow.

TOP 10 BELOW

Terry Bolton Wins 2019 FLW Tour on Lake San Rayburn Day with 91-03lbs!

Canadian Charles Sim finishes 10th! 

by Justin Onslow

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Bolton hangs on for win crankingup 91-03lbs with Rapala DTs.
(Photo: FLW)

Terry Bolton’s professional fishing career almost ended before he finally had his moment. The moment every tournament angler dreams of. The moment decades in the making, so close so many times, yet still so far out of reach.

Today, Bolton finally grabbed hold of that moment, and he didn’t let go.

With a 17-pound, 6-ounce bag on day four of the FLW Tour opener on Sam Rayburn, which was presented by Polaris, the 24-year Tour veteran did something he’s been within ounces of doing so many times before: He won. He won his first Tour event, and he did it despite a handful of tremendous anglers — including standout rookie Nick LeBrun and the best angler on the planet, Bryan Thrift — breathing down his neck in a furious effort to outpace the Benton, Ky., pro.

Bolton bagged 33 pounds and 9 ounces on day two of the event, which set the wheels in motion for everything that followed. He added 19-10 on day three to retain the lead, and his 17-pound bag today brought his winning total up to 91-3.

But for all the fish Bolton caught this week, there were two moments that truly stood out for the man who has earned more than $1.2 million in his FLW career.

On day two, Bolton pulled up to a spot at which he caught all 20 pounds and 10 ounces the day before. He made some casts, landed a lot of fish and got up to “27 or 28 pounds” before he decided to move. Almost.

TOP 10 BELOW