Andy Montgomery did everything he could possibly do to put himself in position for a strong finish at the West Point Lake Elite Series. The only missing ingredient?
"I just never got a 4- or 5-pound bite," he said. "It was a good week, but if you look at the guys in the Top 12, it's pretty safe to say they all caught at least one 4 or 5. I never caught anything over 2 1/2 pounds."
He weighed 10-plus pounds on each of the first 2 days, but his weight slipped to 8-13 on Saturday, enough to keep him out of the final round by 3 ounces. He finished 13th with 29-06.
After posting two finishes in the 80s earlier this year and missing a check in the first three events, he was still mostly pleased with the outcome, which was his best showing since finishing 6th at Douglas Lake last year.
"I'm a little disappointed because anybody could've won that deal," he said. "I was only 4 pounds out of the lead (after day 3) and that's one bite there. If you caught a 5 there, you were culling a 1 1/4-pound spot. I'm disappointed because I thought I would've had as good a chance as anybody to win."
The only thing he would've changed about his strategy was he might've slowed down on Saturday and flipped a little more. That's what other anglers around him were doing and it resulted in some big fish.
His main pattern was targeting areas where shad were spawning and pulling a Strike King spinnerbait through them.
"I dabbled in some pockets, but most everything I caught was off main-river or main-lake stuff," he said. "Mostly clay banks and natural rock and some bushes. The main key was channel swings on the main river."
The Big Bite Lookback, which focuses on the angler who's first out of the final cut at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great folks at Big Bite Baits.
