Fantasy blog: Montgomery prepares for prespawn affair

We’re less than a week away from the start of the second FLW Tour event of the season. And from the looks of things, this tournament will be significantly different than the last three Lake Norman events. Instead of sight-fishing in crystal clear water, the 150-boat field will be battling prespawn mud.

Mud on Norman, the largest manmade lake in North Carolina, is a rarity. Pro Andy Montgomery described the water as the dirtiest he’s ever seen it in his life. And Montgomery has been fishing Norman for the better part of 30 years. Last year, he took 13th place in what were less than ideal “local” conditions.

In fact, each of the past three Norman tournaments was tough on the North Carolina contingent. When the bass move up to spawn, nearly all of an angler’s local advantage is wiped out. Instead of capitalizing on key on honeyholes, Montgomery and Co. were scouring the bank for females like everyone else.

This year, the vast majority of the fish will be prespawn. And while that’s a relief to the locals, the conditions still aren’t ideal.

“I felt real good about my chances until it got muddy,” said Montgomery. “It will still fish to my strengths, shallow power fishing, but it will almost be like a brand new tournament. The timing is great; we like the prespawn. But we’ve just never fished it like this.”

Montgomery said that at a recent local tournament it took 19 pounds to win.

“They’ve been really, really biting. I don’t exactly know how the pressure of a 150-boat field will affect them in this mud but I think it’s still going to be pretty strong.

“The bottom line is that it’s going to be a prespawn tournament – especially with the forecast we have. There could be a few fish up at the two power discharges. They heat the water up a bit and that sometimes attracts a few spawning fish, but it’s not going to be a sight-fishing tournament like the last few years. It will still be a bank-running tournament that’s won shallow.”