From Knockout to Championship
Thrift aired it out a little in the first of REDCREST ’ s two Knockout Rounds . Just as he had done the two previous qualifying days , he hit up his morning ditch / offshore pattern for 11 quick pounds in the first hour before moving to docks with a 5-inch swimbait in pursuit of higher quality fish . That move paid off in spades : Thrift upgraded in the afternoon with his three biggest fish of the day ( 3-6 and 4-9 largemouth and a 3-9 spot ) to end the day with 17-12 .
The ditch , however , wasn ’ t quite as fruitful in the second Knockout Round , producing only 7 pounds in the first hour . A move to the docks with the swimbait fizzled as well , producing only one 2-pound spotted bass to bring Thrift to 9-10 midway through the second period . Thrift pulled the plug on his previous three days ’ standouts and headed 15 miles upriver to an area he had discovered a year prior and that had produced a couple of good bites in practice .
Fishing a 1 / 2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait paired with a 5-inch Armor Shad , Thrift was quickly rewarded with several fish between 2-6 and 2-11 that upgraded his day ’ s five-fish total to over 13 pounds and gave him the security to run his shallow pattern with a swimbait to end the day . He finished with a flourish , connecting with a 4-10 spot that pushed his five-fish limit to 15-6 and gave him a 1-9 lead over Jones .
Thrift wasted very little time on his morning ditch pattern on a frosty Championship Sunday , catching just one scorable fish ( a 1-12 ) in 30 minutes before moving out to explore a series of shallow brushpiles and offshore spots to the tune of four more fish to fill his limit at 10-11 . Eventually , though , Thrift pulled up his trolling motor and headed back upriver to the stretch where he had finished the previous day . Just after 1 p . m , Thrift picked up a 3-0 ; eight minutes later , he added a 3-2 .
Thrift would eventually cull four times on his upriver stretch to climb over the 13-pound mark again , finishing with 13-10 on the final day – more than enough to outdistance Jones by more than 4 pounds .
“ I ended up saving two really good spots for the last two days ,” Thrift said of his upriver juice . “ I went to them in the Knockout Round because I was struggling and picked up a quick 13- pound bag . Fortunately , there was enough there when I went back ( on the final day ) for another 13-pound bag . I checked it in practice and got two bites and thought , ‘ That ’ s a place I can go if I ’ m struggling and fill out a limit .’ I had no idea it was going to give me two 13- pound limits .”
Later that afternoon – after Thrift had hoisted the REDCREST trophy onstage in Charlotte and made a joyous victory lap through the crowd at The Park Expo and Conference Center – he tried to summarize his Lake Norman journey and what the win meant to him .
“ This being my home lake , I felt a lot of added pressure ,” Thrift said . “ Working shows ( in the winter ), everybody comes up and says , ‘ You ’ re going to win REDCREST !’ The very first ( major ) tournament I ever went to was actually right here in Charlotte . In 2004 , I went to the weigh-in at the Classic that Takahiro ( Omori ) won . I got teared up watching that . At that moment I knew this was what I wanted to do for a living , and to have the success I ’ ve had since I started my ( pro ) career in 2007 is amazing .
“ This is the hardest event in the world to win . You can ’ t get lucky on one big day and win , and you can ’ t win off of one spot . You have to make a ton of decisions over the course of five days to win REDCREST . I think that makes a true champion ; somebody who can figure it out and get it locked in and dialed in for five days straight . It ’ s what every kid dreams about .”
Thrift ’ s Day 5 and 6 winning stretch was a spot on the upper end of Norman that he had located a year earlier and kept in his back pocket until he needed it most .
PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON
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