CHARLES COUNTY, Md. (Major League Fishing) — Jeff Sprague and Bryan Thrift turned in the most dominant performance thus far in the Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches. Representing Team YETI, the duo led from start to finish and caught 24 scorable bass weighing 53 pounds, 2 ounces to win Elimination Round Match 3 on the Potomac River.
Sprague and Thrift quickly separated themselves from the field and never looked back, combining to catch more than double the weight of runner-up Team O’Reilly Auto Parts (Nick Hatfield and John Hunter). Sprague led all anglers with 15 bass weighing 33-12, while Thrift added nine for 19-6, including a 4-15 largemouth that earned Berkley Big Bass honors and stands as the largest bass caught through the first three days of competition.
Hatfield and Hunter finished second with 12 bass weighing 24-13 to claim the final spot in the Knockout Round. Team MillerTech’s Dustin Connell and Mark Daniels Jr. finished third with 14-3, while Team Knighten Industries’ Keith Carson and Anthony Gagliardi finished fourth with 13-6.
Clutch decision keyed big day
After learning they’d be competing on the Potomac, Sprague and Thrift planned to make a long run downriver. But an early decision to stop at a familiar area on the way quickly changed their plans.
“We were actually going to run way down and fish some other creeks that were 12 or 13 miles farther down,” Sprague said. “On the way, I just kind of bounced it off Bryan and said, ‘Hey, you want to hit this deal over here?’ I’d been in there before and caught some fish, and he said, ‘Yeah.’ We rolled in there and started catching them.”
That decision proved pivotal. Team YETI steadily added weight throughout the day, rotating through a variety of techniques and locations. The common theme was targeting baitfish. Whenever Sprague and Thrift located concentrations of bait, bass were nearby.
“The big thing today was just paying attention to what was happening around us,” Sprague said. “If we pulled into somewhere and didn’t see bait, didn’t see activity and didn’t get bites, we didn’t waste much time. That’s something we can take into the next round. If there’s nothing happening, we need to get out of there and keep moving.”
Sprague did much of his damage with a swimming worm, while Thrift mixed in several presentations, including a Z-Man ChatterBait MiniMax. Their versatility allowed them to capitalize on several different areas and conditions as the tide changed throughout the day.
“We had a lot of good decisions today,” Thrift said. “We started on a place we were both familiar with and both knew had a chance to be good, and it just kind of took off from there. We caught them on a lot of different baits and in a lot of different ways. It was just one of those days where things seemed to work out.”
As the day progressed, Sprague and Thrift were able to continue experimenting and gather information for Thursday’s Knockout Round rather than fishing under the pressure of the elimination line.
“It’s very rare in a tournament where your stress level actually drops during the day,” Sprague said. “We were fortunate enough to keep putting a fish on SCORETRACKER® here and there, and that allowed us to keep learning. Even late in the day, we were still making casts and looking for something that might help us in the next round.”
While Sprague and Thrift controlled the top spot virtually all day, Hatfield and Hunter made their biggest move late. Five of the team’s 12 scorable bass came in the final period, allowing them to pull clear of the other two tandems and stave off elimination.
Knockout Round Roster Set
With the Patriot Cup field now cut in half, the matchups are set for the Knockout Round. Hatfield and Hunter will take on Mark Davis and Marshall Hughes of Team B&W Trailer Hitches as well as Bradley Roy and Greg Vinson of Team Seaguar BRAWLR in Wednesday’s first Knockout Match. Then Sprague and Thrift will face off against Justin Cooper and Colby Miller of Team Star brite and Jake Lawrence and Jacob Walker of Team Lucas Oil on Thursday. The top two finishers each day will earn a spot in Friday’s Championship Round.
Watch all the action on the RFD+ Livestream from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET each day. The final hour of competition will also air live on RFD-TV.
