"Cold fronts can be good in the fall," he says. "If you jerk it or twitch it on the retrieve, you might tangle the whole thing." THE FLORIDA FACTORīut what if you fish in Florida? Don’t Florida bass "turn off" after a cold front? Not so, according to Sunshine State native Bernie Schultz. "I use a slow, steady retrieve with that slower reel," he says. Instead of heavy braid, Montgomery opts for 25-pound Strike King Tour Grade Fluorocarbon, saying he gets more bites on it than braid and that it makes working the bait easier. I put 3 1/4-inch Strike King Rage Swimmers in Sexy Shad on 1/8-ounce jigheads and make long casts to areas where there are birds or where I see baitfish on my electronics."įor the heavy umbrella rig, Montgomery uses a 7-foot, 6-inch Lew’s flipping rod and Lew’s BB1 Pro Speed Spool casting reel (6.4:1). "I make my own rigs that have nine baits and lots of blades to look like a school of shad. Montgomery is a fan of the rig even though he can’t use it in competition. If the fish are a little deeper than his jerkbait will reach (about 10 feet), he picks up the castable umbrella rig. He believes most anglers waste time by pausing the bait too long. Montgomery fishes the jerkbait fast, rarely pausing for more than a second or two. At this time of year, the bass are using the baitfish as their structure." "I’ll look for bass and shad on my electronics, too-in the backs of creeks, on points, in pockets-but I don’t expect to find them relating to structure. "I throw where I see birds," Montgomery says. Andy Montgomery goes in search of gulls and herons to show him where the bait is, then throws a jerkbait, like Strike King’s KVD Deep Jerkbait in Crystal Shad. Bird watching: Once a cold front passes, bass look to feed. He fishes it on 12-pound Strike King Tour Grade Fluorocarbon, a Lew’s Custom Lite SLP casting reel (7.5:1) and a 6-foot, 8-inch Team Lew’s Pro LFS-X5 medium-action rod. His favorite jerkbait at this time is the Strike King KVD Deep Jerkbait in Crystal Shad. If you see gulls or herons, you know you’re in the right place." It’s all about the shad, and it’s a great time to watch for birds. "After a front," Montgomery says, "the fish are really keying on bait. There are few places he can’t put a jig, but after a fall cold front, the jig takes a back seat to jerkbaits and the castable umbrella rig. South Carolina’s Andy Montgomery is known as the best skipper on the Bass Pro Tour. Generally, the shallower I’m fishing, the more pauses I’ll work into my cadence." A LITTLE DEEPER Other times they want the bait to be paused after a few twitches. "For the J-Walker, I’ll experiment with my retrieve until I find what they want.
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