Bucking the trend

Going shallow instead of deep earns two Carolina anglers top-10s at Fort Loudoun-Tellico

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Locals. Ledges. Deepwater. Offshore. That’s just some of the common vernacular being tossed around this week at the Wal-Mart Tour event on Fort Loudoun-Tellico lakes.

Coming into this tournament the consensus was you had to A) be a local B) be a deepwater cranking expert, or C) be a little of both to do well at Fort Loudoun.

And for the most part, that scenario has panned out. Most of the leaders are fishing out off the bank and three of them have Tennessee addresses.

But what if you’re not from around here? What if you don’t like it when your electronics read a number higher than 10 feet? Does the common man even have a prayer of cracking the top 10 in a summer tournament on Fort Loudoun?

Absolutely. And that’s one of coolest aspects of tournament fishing: there are other ways to skin the cat, so to speak.

Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., (6th) and Hank Cherry of Maiden, N.C., (10th) have both scored top 10’s at Fort Loudoun this week by fishing their style – swimming jigs shallow – a technique they honed on their home waters in the Carolinas.

Montgomery did fish deep a little on day one when he sacked 15-5 but on day two everything came shallow for 12-10.

Cherry, on the other hand, has been on the bank the entire time to sack up 12-0 and 14-15 respectively.

Both anglers are focusing on a shad spawn – or what’s left of it.

“For the most part the shad spawn is pretty much over,” Cherry said. “But there are still remnants of it going on. The shad have broken off into little packs, but they have not completely left the bank.”

To take advantage of the waning shad spawn, Cherry is relying on 1/2-once Brian’s Bees Dump Truck jigs in white tied to 25-pound test fluorocarbon line.

“Most of the banks here are steep, but I’m keying on the fewer flatter banks that travel out into the water for a bit before dropping off,” Cherry revealed.

Interestingly, Montgomery is looking for what he calls “shad fry.”

“The shad spawn is pretty much over, but what you can find is the shad fry,” Montgomery revealed. “You can’t actually see shad fry because they’re so small, but when you swim you’re jig though them, you’ll see them sprinkle the surface. I think little bream and perch move in there to eat the shad fry and the bass are not far behind.”

To catch his fish, Montgomery is relying on buzzbaits, Chatterbaits and swimming a jig. Since he is trying to emulate bream, many of his color patterns are green and brown.

Another key component to both of these pros’ patterns is fishing at a blistering pace while covering miles of water.

“I fished for 2-1/2 miles one-way yesterday just standing on the trolling motor the entire time,” Cherry said.

Of course, such intensive fishing is not as glamorous as sitting on one glory catching one fish after another such as the leader David Dudley has done this week, but it does represent an alternative way to catch enough fish to make a top-10 against some of the best locals and deep crankers in the field.

Weigh-in information

The day three weigh-in of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Fort Loudoun-Tellico event begins at 4 p.m. at the Knoxville Convention Center located at 701 Henley St. in Knoxville.

The doors of the Convention Center will open at 12 p.m. to kick off the FLW Family Fun Zone which is free and open to the public.

Saturday’s conditions

Sunrise: 6:18 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 67 degrees

Expected high temperature: 82 degrees

Water temperature: 80 to 83 degrees

Wind: light and variable

Day’s outlook: chance of thunderstorms