By Jonathan LePera
Special to BassFan
If you’ve hung out with Bassmaster Elite Series angler Andy Montgomery any, you find out real fast he has a quick wit, but when it’s time to fish, he’s all business.
“I was a product of where I grew up in – the Carolinas,” he says. “I knew it was something that I had to master skipping jigs or I would get my butt kicked at home.”
With docks playing such a starring role on the lakes he fished as a youngster, he knew that if he couldn’t perfectly place his bait right beside a float, pole, or way beneath a dock, he was merely donating his money at the ramp.
Fish Your Strengths
Andy Montgomery won the Lake Norman Southern Open in 2014 by skipping his jig into places most anglers couldn’t.
Montgomery calls Norman “the best dock lake there is,” with West Point a close second. Lake of the Ozarks made his jig fishing bucket list as an honorable mention.
The key is to fish baits as close to poles, floats, or docks as possible. Cold fronts? No problem – just expect fewer bites and be ready when they happen, usually around cover. Slowing down isn’t in Montgomery’s vocabulary, though.
“I want to pitch as many docks as I can in one day making the optimum casts to as many docks as possible,” he said.
Bait selection is strictly dictated by where fish are positioned.
Pre-Spawn
This time of year, largemouth are lethargic and relate to docks and floats in 2 feet of water or less. When skipping a Strike King Structure Jig and Rage Bug combo, he’ll hop it a couple of times before moving on as 95 percent of his bites come on the initial drop.
If fish are staging beneath floats, he’ll pump his rod tip as he retrieves a Pure Poison vibrating jib and Rage Bug trailer to illicit a strike.
A 3/8- and ½-oz Colorado or Indian bladed KVD Finesse spinnerbait rigged with a Rage Grub keeps the bait up in the water column. He’ll match the skirt color to the bait in the water. Montgomery recommends anglers try to hit the poles and the corners of the floats to trigger strikes.
Spawn & Post-Spawn
He’ll pitch in a plastic bait, like a Rage Bug or Lizard, and leave it be for a couple of seconds before giving it a shake.
If Montgomery had his way he’d fish fast all day, every day, and this time of year suits him well. He’ll swim a shad or brim-colored jig as bass will be aggressively feeding on such forage.
He’ll keep a spinnerbait with double willow leaf blades on deck so that he can wind it faster around the corners of the floats.
Summer
Once the sun is up and the water is flat and fish are keyed in on brim, topwater is the ticket. Montgomery will throw a bluegill-patterned Strike King Sexy Dawg and KVD Splash working them quickly around the shaded sides of docks and floats and the corner of floats.
He’ll keep a vibrating jib in blue craw or green-pumpkin for those times when the topwater bite slows.
Fall
Fish start keying on shad and move off of their typical brim diet come fall. Double willow spinnerbaits get the nod as does a shad colored bladed jig. Poles and floats are all you’ll need to find some quality fish.
“Figure out the forage that the fish are feeding on and match your bait to it,” Montgomery said.
Skipping Tutorial
When choosing the proper skipping rod for you, make sure it has a medium-heavy action with a fast tip to help with accurately placing baits where they need to be. Regardless of your height, pick a medium-heavy rod that doesn’t hit the water when you try to skip your jig.
Montgomery always uses 20-pound fluorocarbon line with a Daiwa Tatula Type R reel with an 8:1 gear ratio. He’s adamant that with Daiwa’s TWS T-Wing technology, anyone can learn to skip. For anglers first starting out, lock down your magnets and as you become more careful, keep backing them off until you hit Montgomery’s level of perfection.
He’ll turn of the magnets, back off the spool tension, and use his thumb to prevent overruns in the hopes of gaining the much needed casting distance when skipping jigs.
Gear Report
> Plastics: 7’6” medium-heavy Daiwa Tatula casting rod, Daiwa Tatula Type R casting reel (8:1 gear ratio), 20-pound fluorocarbon line.
> Spinnerbaits/Vibrating jigs: 7’1” medium-heavy Daiwa Tatula casting rod, same reel (6:3:1 gear ratio), same line.
> Topwater: 6’6” medium-heavy Daiwa Zillion casting rod, Daiwa Steez casting reel (6.3:1 gear ratio), 12- to 15-pound monofilament line.
In the embedded video below, Montgomery takes us through his game plan for fishing docks in different seasons.
