CHARLES COUNTY, Md. (Major League Fishing) — Jeff Sprague and Bryan Thrift endured a slow start Thursday. But when the tide literally turned, the Team YETI duo caught fire, rallying to boat 15 scorable bass weighing 32 pounds, 5 ounces and winning Knockout Match 2 at the Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches on the Potomac River.
Sprague and Thrift were well off the pace, not catching a single scorable bass through the first half of the day. But a move to docks on the northern end of the competition area coincided with the outgoing tide and completely changed their day on the water. Once the water began falling, the duo steadily climbed SCORETRACKER® and eventually pulled away for a convincing victory.
Team Lucas Oil’s Jake Lawrence and Jacob Walker mounted a rally of their own in the final period, catching three late scorable bass to overtake Team Star brite (Justin Cooper and Colby Miller) and secure the second and final berth in Friday’s Championship Round. Lawrence and Walker finished with eight bass weighing 18-11, while Cooper and Miller wound up third with four bass weighing 10-14.
Afternoon adjustment turns Team YETI from zero to heroes
For much of Thursday, Sprague and Thrift looked nothing like the team that dominated Elimination Round Match 3 on the lower Potomac two days earlier. A rising tide made for a difficult bite on the upper section of the river, forcing the pair to keep moving and search for an area that could come alive later in the day.
That finally happened when they shifted to a stretch of docks on the northern end of the competition water just as the tide began to turn. The timing proved critical, as the falling tide repositioned the bass around the docks and ignited the bite.
“We just kept going and kept trying things,” Sprague said. “You never know what you can learn. Even if something doesn’t work right then, you might learn something about where those fish are setting up that you can use later. Once that tide started to change, everything changed for us.”
The turnaround was dramatic. Sprague and Thrift went from struggling to generate bites to steadily adding fish, ultimately topping Lawrence and Walker by more than 13 pounds.
“We finally got around the right docks at the right time,” Thrift said. “Once that water started moving out, those fish set up where we could catch them. We had tried a lot of different things earlier in the day, but when we got in the right area and the tide got right, it happened pretty fast.”
The win sends Sprague and Thrift back to the Championship Round of the Patriot Cup, an event they won together in 2024. With another opportunity to hoist the trophy Friday, Sprague said the team’s experience in the format should serve them well.
“We’d love to win another Patriot Cup,” Sprague said. “That’s what we came here to do. Tomorrow is destination unknown again – no practice, no information – so we’ll go back, retie everything and be ready to figure it out all over again.”
While Team YETI eventually separated from the field, the most dramatic battle of the afternoon came at the elimination line. Team Star brite entered the final period in second place after a strong start that included a 4-3 largemouth from Miller, but the team failed to add another scorable bass after 11:06 a.m.
Lawrence and Walker capitalized. They caught three scorable bass in the final period, including a late surge that pushed them past Cooper and Miller and into the Championship Round. Walker punctuated the comeback with a 4-3 largemouth of his own – the final scorable bass caught Thursday – to share Berkley Big Bass honors with Miller.
Four teams set to fight for Patriot Cup
Weights will zero, and the four remaining teams will take on a new, unknown body of water with the trophies on the line Friday. Team YETI and Team Lucas Oil will be joined by Nick Hatfield and John Hunter of Team O’Reilly Auto Parts as well as Bradley Roy and Greg Vinson of Team Seaguar BRAWLR. Whoever can amass the most weight during the Championship Round will take home the Patriot Cup.
Watch all the action on RFD+ from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. The final hour of competition will also air live on RFD-TV.
