Thrift Eying Final Feather in His Cap

North Carolina pro hopes to add Forrest Wood Cup to resume

At this point, there’s not much left for Bryan Thrift to accomplish.

Since turning pro in 2007 he’s easily been one of the top anglers in the sport – arguably the best. He’s finished in the top 10 in more than a third of all tournaments he’s entered. He’s currently on a record-setting FLW Tour limit streak of 61 consecutive tournament days. He’s won Rookie of the Year, two Angler of the Year titles (and finished in the top 10 another eight times) and eight pro tournaments (six Tour, two Costa FLW Series).

He’s pretty much accomplished everything there is to accomplish with FLW.

Everything except winning a Forrest Wood Cup.

The 2018 Cup will be his 12th, and he’s finished in the top 10 in nine of his previous 11, including his last six Cups. His best finish is third, meaning he’s yet to lay his hands on the Cup trophy.

“I want it to happen, but it’s not something I dwell on,” Thrift says. “When you win an event, things just kind of happen where you can’t screw it up. That just hasn’t happened yet for me in the Cup.”

Obviously, Thrift will be one of the favorites going into this year’s Cup, especially since this will be his fourth time fishing for the championship on Lake Ouachita. Considering his track record, it should come as little surprise two of his previous three times fishing Ouachita in August he’s made the top 10 (fifth in 2007 and sixth in 2015).

Thrift says all his experience on the fishery in late summer it will allow him to approach Ouachita a little differently than he would other events.

“It [fishing the Cup on Ouachita for the fourth time] doesn’t make things easier, really,” Thrift says. “It will just allow me to approach it from different angles.

“I already have an idea of what I’m going to be looking for and what I want to do. So I can go into practice trying to find those little secrets. I know that lake has them – like what Knight found the last time. You have to find them to win an event like this.”

One big thing that’s no secret but is on Thrift’s radar will be the state of the grass. The last time the Cup came to Ouachita the grass was behind and not much of a player in terms of patterns. Hence, Thrift says that while he’ll have his preconceived notions about what to do, he’ll also try hard to approach the fishery as if it’s his first time there to possibly key in on a bite in the grass or other patterns he doesn’t want to overlook.

When it’s all said and done, Thrift says whether he’s holding the Cup or not doesn’t really faze him. Of course, he also admits that winning would be an “awesome” thing for a number of reasons.

“To me, winning would be like a weight lifted,” Thrift says. “Like that last thing I haven’t done with FLW.

“It’d be an amazing accomplishment to not only win the Cup, but then to be able to say I’ve won at every level and everything I could.”

Everything?

“Well, I haven’t won a BFL yet,” Thrift jokes. “So I guess if I win the Cup I’ll have to start entering those to win one of them, too.”