15 16
BRYAN THRIFT
16 LB 13 OZ (10) ALEX DAVIS
15 LB 15 OZ (6)
By David A. Brown
T
PHOTO BY MATT PACE
he North Carolina pro employed a two-pronged
approach to master tough Lake Ouachita. Step one
involved targeting schoolers early, and, although his first
choice of a topwater failed to impress, he assembled a
small limit with a 3/4-ounce Damiki Back Drop Spoon and
a trio of worm presentations – drop-shot, shaky head and
Texas rig.
Once he had five, Thrift would burn the bank with a
Damiki D-Pop in the phantom color. The objective was to
hunt down the big fish cruising the shallows for bream.
This strategy produced Thrift’s two biggest fish on day
one, but the second day yielded no topwater bites.
Thrift ran from one end of the lake to the other and
struggled to establish consistency. His topwater bite
ranged from the main lake to the backs of pockets, and
limit fish came from an area he had located during prac-
tice. Spending an hour and a half there delivered about 7
1/2 pounds to start each day.
56
By Tyler Brinks
D
PHOTO BY SEAN OSTRUSZKA
avis took the day-one lead with 13 pounds, 10
ounces, but that would be the high point of his tour-
nament. He weighed in just one fish on day two.
During the practice period, Davis located a 50-yard
stretch of grass on the lower end of Ouachita. He went
all-in there during the tournament.
“Even if I moved spots, I always stayed close to the
grass and kept going back because I thought if I had a
chance to win it would be from there,” he says.
The Alabama pro caught two solid bass the first day
by pitching to holes in the grass with a black and blue
Jackall Archelon rigged with a 1 1/2-ounce weight. The
two bass accounted for nearly half of his total weight for
the tournament. The other four fish he caught fell for a
walking topwater bait fished near the bank.
FlWFISHING.COm I Fall 2018