REDCREST 2025 is quickly approaching, and many professional bass fishing stars will be competing, including a small handful that has already won this marquee event. That group includes North Carolina pro Bryan Thrift, who won the 2023 event on his home waters of Lake Norman.
Thrift also has a Forrest Wood Cup win on his resume and knows how to close events and take home the win. He'll be one to watch when this event kicks off on Lake Guntersville in Alabama.
What Thrift Expects from Guntersville
While Thrift has competed on Lake Guntersville many times during his professional career, this one is a first for him. All of his previous visits were under a five-five limit format, where this will be a catch as many as you can under the Major League Fishing format.
"We were there with the Bass Pro Tour a few years ago, but that was when we had a five-fish limit format," he said. "So, I don't really know what to expect in this one. It will be different, and I don't think anyone knows how this will play out."
Another new wrinkle is that anglers can only use forward-facing sonar for one period, which Thrift is a fan of. "That kind of takes the focus off of the live sonar stuff, and obviously, they'll still catch them with it, but you'll have to catch them all day to have a shot to win," he said. "I'm looking forward to this event and think the fishing will be really good for us. It is hard to predict a winning weight or even a good day, but I think there will be a bunch of bass caught because of how good the lake is fishing right now."
Thrift has a knack for the big game, having already won two championships. He says he doesn't approach these more significant events differently than a regular season tournament. "You just have to go about your business," said Thrift. "I approach them the same way as I do any other tournament and try to find the biggest groups of bass that I can during practice."
Tactics in Play
Lake Guntersville is a phenomenal bass fishery with plenty of vegetation and other prime bass habitat. All will be in play during this event, and Thrift says there will be plenty of ways to catch them, including the ChatterBait that he helped popularize years ago.
"A ChatterBait is always a factor around the grass and should be a great one to catch fish during REDCREST," he said. "I like to fish mine on P-Line 100% fluorocarbon in 17-pound test. I like that original 100% Fluorocarbon instead of the Tactical for ChatterBauits because it's stiffer and has less stretch. That allows me to drive that single hook much better and keep them hooked up."
While many believe there will be bass spawning, Thrift is also planning for some pre-spawn bass staging to move up, and for these, a jerkbait or lipless crankbait could be a factor.
"I think there will still be some pre-spawn fish that come into play," he said. "For these baits with treble hooks, I like P-Line Tactical Fluorocarbon because it's softer and has a little stretch. It's not a lot of stretch, but just enough to be a little more forgiving when you have a fish digging and pulling hard with treble hooks."
Some other possible REDCREST winners for Thrift include buzzbaits and a frog. For both of these, he likes to fish them on 50-pound P-Line EndurX No Fade Braid. These two techniques are ones that Thrift will rely on to catch a bigger-than-average bass, as they are prime ways to catch big female bass any time around the spawn.
"That's a great casting braid, and the great thing is that it never loses its color, so you don't need to keep a marker in your pocket to recolor the line all day," he said. "It comes in some different colors, and I like black for my buzzbaits and green for my frogs since I'm fishing the frog around vegetation. It's been a great braided line for me ever since it was released, and they guarantee that the color won't fade on you, or you can send it back in for another spool, which is pretty cool."
Bryan Thrift has been one of the best in the game for years and continues to strive on the Bass Pro Tour. Since joining that circuit, he's been consistently good and won REDCREST just two years ago. He should be on the short list of favorites to win this event as it's setting up right into his wheelhouse with shallow fish in the grass.
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