HIGH PRAISE FOR BRYAN THRIFT
EDITOR ’ S NOTE
HIGH PRAISE FOR BRYAN THRIFT
bryan Thrift won his second career FLW Tour Angler of the Year title in 2017 . It says so right on the cover of this issue of FLW Bass Fishing magazine , and you can read about it on page 56 .
There ’ s a lot that I could say about Thrift ’ s performance this year and throughout his career , but I ’ d rather share what Andy Morgan had to say about Thrift in a recent conversation . The G . O . A . T .’ s opinion carries a lot more weight than mine anyway .
We were at the ICAST show in Orlando , Fla ., chatting with Tour pro Joseph Webster and FLWFishing . com Senior Editor Kyle Wood . When Webster commented about how well Thrift had fished this season , Morgan cut in , gushing praise about how Thrift was the smartest , most clever , hardest-working bass fisherman on Tour . He also remarked about how impressive Thrift is at playing the “ tournament game ” and how he has mastered his own system of run-andgun “ smoke-on-the-water ” fishing .
Considering the respect that everyone in the industry has for Morgan and his standing as one of tournament fishing ’ s all-time greats , I can ’ t imagine much higher praise .
The more I thought about that conversation , the more I thought about what could have been this season had Morgan not been suffering from the flu at Lake Travis . He wound up 90th at Travis , which was by far his worst finish of the year , yet he still made a run at Thrift at the finale on the Potomac , finishing 44 points back in second place . Had Morgan been well , he probably would ’ ve placed quite a bit higher , and a finish anywhere in check range at Travis would have resulted in a neck-and-neck AOY finish .
Could you imagine the two heavyweights duking it out right up until the end , trading blows throughout the second half of the season ? What a show that would have been .
My guess is we ’ ll see that scenario sometime soon , and I hope we do . Thrift and Morgan are FLW ’ s most consistent pros in terms of AOY finishes . They ’ re superstars , too , and are seemingly immune to all the tournament pitfalls ( but not the flu bug , apparently ) that trip up other great pros from time to time . They also show no signs of stopping .
So while I ’ m happy to celebrate Bryan Thrift ’ s 2017 AOY season , I must admit I ’ m already looking forward to 2018 , when we can start the race all over again .
Curtis Niedermier , editor-in-Chief
publisher Irwin L . Jacobs
editor-in-Chief Curtis Niedermier
production Manager / Graphic Designer Michelle Dowling
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FLWFISHING . COM I auGuSt-SepteMber 2017