Montgomery Heading To Elite Series Tournament On Bull Shoals With Open Mind
Andy Montgomery has never fished Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas before, so when practice starts Monday for the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament next week, he will be in full learning mode.
“I’ don’t know much about the place and really have not done much research, but I have fished Table Rock and Beaver Lake several times and they are on the same chain, so I figure the fishing will be pretty similar,” Montgomery said.
“When practice starts Monday I’ll be riding around to see what the place looks like and go from there. I’ll just keep moving and covering water,” he said.
“I do know there is a lot of clear water in the lake, extremely clear, so there will probably be a lot of sight fishing. I kind of expect sight fishing to be the dominant pattern. Other than that, if we get a rain and get any color in the backs of the creeks you can probably catch them flipping around the bushes. The Ozark lakes fluctuate a lot, so if we get a rainfall and the water comes up in the bushes we will try to catch them flipping.”
Another tactic he will probably consider, he said, is throwing a Wiggle Wart.
“The Wiggle Wart is always a staple in the Ozark Lakes,” he noted.
Montgomery said he has a pretty tough hill to climb to get back into the top echelon in the points standings after a rough tournament on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee last month. After a 40th place finish and earning a check on the St. John’s River, Montgomery finished 83rd a week later on the Big O and left with no money. As a result, he heads to Bull Shoals in 66th place in the standings.
“I have done well on Okeechobee in the past and am pretty comfortable fishing down there. I had an extremely good practice there, but for whatever reason they did not bite the first day of the tournament and I did not go back to my spot the second day. I should have because I knew the fish were there,” he said.
“I caught them good the second day. I just did not catch an size. They are all little fish. I did lose one big one the second day flipping it into the boat that would have got me up there in the standings.”
While Montgomery isn’t satisfied with his place in the standings, he is not overly concerned.
“It’s way too early in the season. We’ve only fished two tournaments. I don’t like being down there, but I have been down there before and was able to fight my way back.”
Bassmaster Elite Series Bull Shoals Quest
Apr 19-22, 2012
Bull Shoals Lake
Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock
