THRIFT’S
WINNING
STRATEGY
By Curtis Niedermier
Bryan Thrift took the lead on
day one of the FLW Cup and
never relinquished it, weighing in
38-7 in three days. In a tourna-
ment where most pros settled on
one or two patterns and hesitat-
ed to adjust, Thrift did the oppo-
site. He capitalized on the best
opportunity each day, particularly
in the mornings, before finishing
each afternoon on a key shallow
point in Hot Springs Creek where
he culled fish every day.
Thrift started day one on the
bank with a buzzbait and quickly
picked off easy fish while the pick-
ing was good. Those fish would
eventually run out, but he knew it,
so on day two Thrift mostly fished
offshore brush. The final day, he
did something entirely new and
started on a schooling spot in the
lower end. The champ quickly put
a small limit in the boat to take
the pressure off.
Thrift’s winning baits could fill
a Plano box: a Damiki under-spin,
some swimbaits, a walking plug, a
buzzbait, a couple crankbaits.
What he caught them on was less
important than how he handled
the daily conditions and the fish-
ing pressure over seven days of
practice and competition. In hind-
sight, every move made sense,
yet Thrift was the only one with
the foresight to execute with such
perfection.
That’s why he’s the champ.
56
A Routine of Preparation
After every tournament Thrift
parks his Ranger in his garage and
empties it. Like, all of it.
“I take everything out,” says Thrift.
“Rods, reels, tackle – everything. All
that’s left is a life jacket, prop, tools
and some rope. I examine everything
and put it all back in its spot.”
Thrift is a creature of habit, almost
on an obsessive level. He says he just
“likes things a certain way.”
“My wife, Allison, messes with me
all the time,” Thrift says. “Like, she’ll
move the soap sponge from the sink to
the counter just to see how long it will
take me to notice and move it back.”
New got a taste of how particular
his friend can be back when they
were first getting to know each other.
“There were like 422 empty Plano
boxes stacked up perfectly,” New
recalls. “Well, I picked one up and just
set it back down, but not exactly per-
fect. He flipped out. I mean, he was
legitimately mad.
“Fortunately, he’s calmed down a
lot from back then.”
Thrift may not lose his cool over
tackle boxes anymore, but his anxiety
in the week leading up to an event
doesn’t seem to have subsided. He
barely sleeps, spending seven hours a
day for up to four days on tackle and
boat prep. There’s a method to the
madness. Many pros get to an event
and still need to load their boats or
prep tackle. Not Thrift. He’s already
thought through every scenario his
hamster-wheel mind can formulate
so he can focus on fishing.
New says it’s one of the things
separating him from everyone else.
“Say a school of fish comes up bust-
ing unexpectedly,” New adds. “Most
guys are going to scramble because
they’re not prepared. If you replayed
the scenario 50 times, they might catch
a fish 15 times. Thrift is going to catch
a fish 45 out of 50. He’s already
thought of the scenario, so he’s always
prepared and ready.”
FLWFISHING.com I FALL 2019