It’s family first for Nick LeBrun,
who’ll begin his rookie season
on Tour in 2019.
world for 11 months out of the year. The month of November,
he’s not worth a darn.’”
Bohannan still makes time for family, though, and with his
new Ranger boat usually in his possession by the first week of
December, he makes plenty of time for fishing too. After all, it
takes some time to get accustomed to a new boat, and time
is precious and limited when the new fishing season starts
just on the other side of the New Year.
Like Bohannan, two-time FLW Tour Angler of the Year
Bryan Thrift spends much of his offseason with family, but he
also does a whole lot of prep work, planning and fishing.
“I’ll usually fish a day or two every week during the offsea-
son,” Thrift says. “I spend at least a couple hours every day
just organizing tackle and replacing stuff I’m low on. I try to go
through everything and get it organized.”
With a new boat to rig up and break in, new rods and reels
to test and tweak, and a slew of incoming tackle to organize,
Thrift’s focus is on preparation, plain and simple. But family
time is the most important thing to arguably the best bass
angler on the planet, and that goes for fourth-place 2018 FLW
Cup finisher Nick LeBrun, as well.
“God and family are first, and it’s great to be able to enjoy
them and relax and recuperate, but I’m doing that in stride,”
explains LeBrun, who’ll be a Tour rookie in 2019. “I’m still going
to be going fishing and working on techniques I may need to
work on and may not be as confident in, especially stuff I think
will play in January and February when the Tour starts.”
The Louisiana native still makes it a point to fish a couple
times per week, often on Sam Rayburn (where the 2019 FLW
Tour starts on Jan. 10) or Toledo Bend, both only a couple
hours from LeBrun’s house.
WINTER 2019 I FLWFISHING.COM
“This sport is all about momentum, and it’s all mindset and
keeping your mind sharp and ready,” he says. “I’m happy to be
back home and have some ‘time off’ to enjoy my family and
really just kind of relax, but I’m still keeping my skills and my
trade and my passion on the second burner.”
LeBrun emphasizes “second burner,” because he wants to
make it clear that fishing is never really fully shelved and shut
away from his mind. To him, there’s not much need for “time
off” when you’re doing something you really love.
“I’m just so blessed to do what I love and do what my pas-
sion is for a living,” he adds. “You really don’t feel like you need
much of a break. When I hear guys talking about being done
fishing for the year and putting the boat in the shop, that’s
just not me. When I think about not fishing, I just cringe.”
That goes double for pro Wes Logan, who finished seventh
at the 2018 FLW Cup in his rookie season. The Alabama native
works with his uncle, a general contractor, building houses in
the offseason and during the Tour season when he has some
free time. But when he’s not working or fishing tournaments,
he’s hunting or fishing – and not just for bass.
“Me and my buddy, Scott Canterbury, we’ll go up to
Guntersville and Logan Martin and catch crappie and fry
some,” he says, “but a lot of times we’ll fillet them and put
them in the freezer and take them when we travel during the
fishing season for stuff to eat so we don’t have to eat out. It
saves money, and you’re getting to catch some fish.”
Whether it’s bass or crappie, Logan knows it’s the fun of
the catch that really makes it all worth it, and ultimately, that’s
what keeps tournament anglers coming back for more when
the weather turns cold and the tournaments stop. At least for
a couple months, anyway.
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