Bryan Thrift Wins 2019 Costa FLW Series Northern Division event on Lake Champlain with 57lbs!

Thrift Wins Wire to Wire

by Jody White

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Thrift Loves New York!
(Photo: FLW)

Taking the win in wire-to-wire fashion, FLW Tour pro Bryan Thrift tallied 18 pounds, 4 ounces on the final day for an even 57-pound total in the Costa FLW Series Northern Division event on Lake Champlain. For the win, Thrift earned $44,200 and a new Ranger boat, and it’s his 11th win with FLW. The Northern Division is presented by Gajo Baits and the tournament was presented by Polaris. 

Historically, Thrift has been stellar throughout the south in his home state of North Carolina, Arkansas, along the Tennessee River and everywhere else. He hasn’t, however, really kept up his typical pace in the north country. After the last few weeks on Champlain, it’s safe to put that trend to bed.

“I’m not going to say it’s been my nemesis, but I’ve never really got in a groove on this lake until 2016 when we came for the Tour and I tied for 10th and ended up 11th,” says Thrift. “It was like the lightbulb went off then and I realized what I was doing wrong. Not that I learned what to look for, but I learned how to practice. I think that was the biggest thing.”

Thrift finished third in the FLW Tour season finale on Champlain just a few weeks ago to finish out a somewhat trying season for him. This was his third Costa FLW Series win, so he’s no stranger to them, but he says they’re all good ones.

“Man, it feels great to win,” says the Shelby, N.C., pro. “I feel like I’ve let a couple chances to win kind of slip through my fingers this year, and a couple of them were my fault. If I would have got beat in this one I would have got flat beat, and I can handle that. When I beat myself, I don’t like it.”

2018 FLW Tour Lake St. Clair Day 1: Chad Grigsby Blasts 25lbs!

Chris Johnston 6^th, Cory Johnston 29^th, Gustafson 63^rd & Richardson 142th

by Sean Ostruszka

FLW PRESS RELEASE

32 limits over 20lbs but Grigsby's the heaviest!
(Photo: FLW)

Catching 20 pounds in a tournament is a great day for most any lake in the country. Lake St. Clair, however, is showing it’s not like most any other lake.

While pros knew St. Clair was going to put out some big limits of smallmouth bass at FLW Tour stop No. 7, which is presented by Mercury, few predicted that the pro field would catch 32 limits of more than 20 pounds on day one. Plus, co-anglers added seven more 20-pound-plus bags. Heck, Larry Nixon – the winner the last time the Tour stopped here – caught 18 pounds and sits in 79th.

While seemingly everyone caught plenty of big bronzebacks, no one did it better on day one than Chad Grigsby. The Maple Grove, Minn., pro’s 25-pound, 13-ounce bag was anchored by a 6-3 kicker, giving him a 1-13 lead over second-place pro Darrel Robertson.

Yet, as great as his day ended up, it certainly didn’t start that way.

“I really didn’t catch them well until 10 a.m.,” Grigsby says. “That’s when the clouds left and the lake slicked off. I made a little adjustment to a different bait. I hadn’t thrown it at all, even in practice, but almost immediately we started catching them.”

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