As he drove home from the Bass Pro Tour season-opener on Lake Conroe, Andy Montgomery kicked himself. The veteran South Carolina pro had finished 43rd in the 66-angler field. On paper, with Montgomery coming off a 67th-place finish in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race in 2024, that looked like another disappointing event in a prolonged slump.
Instead, Montgomery points to Conroe (and more specifically to the days afterward) as the moment his momentum turned around.
The Mercury pro emerged from the event upset with himself because he felt like if he had just stuck to his strengths – that being target-oriented power fishing – he could have at least cashed a check, if not advanced to the Knockout Round. Instead, he tried to utilize his one allotted period per day with forward-facing sonar by targeting suspended bass chasing baitfish with a jighead minnow.
While Montgomery knew going into the event that would be the dominant pattern (and indeed it was), he wasn’t able to make it work. He mustered two scorable bass during his period with forward-facing sonar on Day 1, then just one during the opening period on Day 2 – and that came after he had abandoned the suspended fish and returned to the shallows.
“I was so mad at myself after Conroe, because if I had just fished, I would have got a check and been OK,” Montgomery said. “Those guys catch them so fast, it’s hard not to use (forward-facing sonar). But you also have to recognize that if you’re not on their level yet, you can’t go try to compete with them.”
At that point, Montgomery made a commitment – until he’s able to hang with the best at using forward-facing sonar, he’s not even going to turn it on. He hasn’t utilized the technology since, and his results have steadily gotten better.
Montgomery had solid first days at both the Harris Chain and Lake Murray before stumbling on Day 2. At Stage 4 on Lakes Chickamauga and Nickajack, he finally strung two solid days together, using a combo pattern of sight-fishing for spawners and casting around docks to make his first Knockout Round of the season and finish 16th. Then, at Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, Montgomery was the lone angler who made the Top 10 on the strength of the shallow bite. That boosted him to 26th in the AOY standings, back on track to qualify for REDCREST 2026 after he missed out on the championship for the first time ever this year.
“That’s two Tennessee River places that you know offshore is going to dominate, and I sight-fished and fished docks (at Chick), and then at Kentucky Lake, I didn’t do nothing but fish docks,” he said. “It’s 100% knowing that I’m not on the level of them guys with Scoping, and I 100% knew that I had zero chance of winning, but I really felt like I could get checks or even make Knockout Rounds and both of them.”
Avoiding what he believes will be the winning pattern might sound counterintuitive. But Montgomery said getting back to his comfort zone has allowed him to make better and quicker decisions. That, he believes, is the single most important quality for a tournament angler.
“I think the biggest thing is your decisions aren’t as crisp when you’re not fishing good, because you’re fighting yourself,” he said. “You fish more defensively than you fish offensively. When you’re fishing good, you’re fishing offensively. You’re not just trying to hold on.”
Montgomery experienced that firsthand at Stage 5. Employing the technique he’s best known for – skipping various jigs under boat docks – he spent nearly all of the Qualifying Round plying marinas in Lake Barkley. When those areas started to falter, he ran to Kentucky Lake, found other docks that looked good, and was able to ride them all the way to a ninth-place finish.
“When I felt the stuff that I had practiced on was petering out, I was able to make adjustments faster, and you can do that better when you’re fishing in your wheelhouse,” he said.
Montgomery is hopeful he can carry that momentum into the final two events of the regular season, both of which should still be in his wheelhouse. That’s particularly true for the Potomac River, host of Zenni Stage 6 Presented by Athletic Brewing Company. Montgomery finished fifth in a 2016 Bassmaster Elite Series event on the river, which is chock full of shallow cover, and he made the Championship Round at the nearby James River last June.
He’s optimistic that the Potomac will be an event where, even without forward-facing sonar, he can feel like he’s legitimately in contention to take home his first Bass Pro Tour trophy.
“I have a lot of success on tidal fisheries,” Montgomery said. “The Potomac used to be one of my favorite places to fish. Haven’t been there in 10 or 12 years, but it’s going to be shallow, it’s going to be grass fishing, tidal fishing.”
Montgomery isn’t necessarily divorcing himself from forward-facing sonar. While he’s not willing to sacrifice too much time with family, he hopes to spend more time during the offseason familiarizing himself with the intricacies that make the top anglers so effective with it.
In the meantime, though, he’s on a roll fishing how he loves to fish, and he has no plans to change tactics soon.
“I’m just at a different stage of life,” he said. “I’ve got kids, and they all play ball. It’s just harder to spend a lot of time on the water right now for me. So, you’ve got to fish your strengths until I find the time to get good at it.”