The final day of the Costa FLW Series event on Lake Champlain has been about as different from day two as possible. So far, different conditions definitely have the bass acting different, but Bryan Thrift does seem to be closing in on the title.

While day two was windy and rough, day three has pretty much been calm from the get-go. It has also been hot as blazes. It’s made fishing a little tougher than expected, with a lot of anglers reporting missed or lost fish and a generally slower bite. That said, a slow bite on Champlain is a great bite most everywhere else, so we’re still going to see plenty of bass.

By about 11:30 a.m., Bryan Thrift had culled his way up to an estimated 16 pounds, which is almost certainly close to 18 pounds if you apply the traditional Thrift bump. That means he’s got to be caught, and someone else is likely going to need around 20 pounds or better to do it.

In second, Scott Dobson had a slow morning. He boxed a limit by 10 o’clock or so, but none of them were over the 3-pound mark. Edward Levin may be the best competition for Thrift right now – he started the day in third place and was catching solid quality en route to a 16-plus-pound estimate.

Down in the field, a lot of pros have had a struggle of a morning. Jason Bacon only had 11 pounds by 11:30, and Brandt Tumberg only had three fish at about the same time. Wayne Vaughan is probably too far back to win, but he’s going earn some extra money today if all goes well. he had a slow start, but he was culling into the teens by 9:30 and had some pretty good smallmouths coming aboard.

Joe Wood and Kurt Mitchell (who ran to Ti), reman true mysteries today. Both Casey Smith and Ron Nelson were sitting on blanks very early.

Weigh-in is sure be a fun one. On the co-angler side, we know Robert Fulton has about 16 pounds, and Gary Haraguchi was cleaning up behind Scott Dobson. The pro side has a little less mystery, but there’s a lot of time left for someone to catch a kicker or two to put the heat on Thrift. As usual, it’ll be live online at 2 p.m. ET, and live in-person at the Plattsburgh City Marina.