The second stop on the PAA Tournament Series gets under way tomorrow at Lake Norman in North Carolina, and the bite is expected to be fairly tough. A 15-pound bag will probably show up here and there, but it likely won't take more than an average of 12 pounds a day over 3 days to walk away with the top prize.
A lot of local aces are in the field, including FLW Tour Angler of the Year Bryan Thrift and his longtime cohort Andy Montgomery (pictured). Thrift won the Tour event at Norman last March and Montgomery finished 3rd.
Thrift and Montgomery have both fished hundreds of tournaments at Norman, but the latter said that anglers who are adept at catching suspended spotted bass stand an excellent chance to fare well this week.
"The spots are the wildcard and there's some guys here who know how to catch them deep," Montgomery said. "The locals pretty much just fish shallow year-round – less than 5 feet.
"There's some fish shallow, but it can be pretty hard to get a bite. I had six good bites on one (practice) day and five on the other."
He predicted that the winner will catch a mix of spots and largemouths – a phenomenon that holds true even in most 1-day events at Norman.
BassFan will provide daily coverage of the tournament, which runs through Saturday.
