If you want to learn a thing or two about barbecuing steaks, go ask a Texan. If you need some pointers on growing corn, seek out an Iowan.
And if you want to find out how to catch more big bass on swimbaits, talk to a Californian. Bassmaster Elite Series angler Jared Lintner is probably as good a source as you'll find.
The 2006 BassFan Rookie of the Year (ROY) has used swimbaits to win numerous tournaments in the Golden State. Over the years, he's learned to tweak them a bit to make them even more effective under certain conditions – in his home state and elsewhere.
"A lot of people, especially back East, will just take them out of the package and expect to start catching 10-pounders with them," he said. "Sometimes that works, but a lot of times it doesn't."
Stretch 'Em Out a Little
An older angler who was a regular at Lake Cachuma years ago gave Lintner some advice on how to get more action out of a soft-bodied swimbait.
"You get a pot of boiling water and tip the tail half of the body in it for 20 seconds or so," he said. "That makes it pliable, and you can stretch it.
"Then you pull on the tail, which makes it just a little bit longer. You increase the distance between the belly of the bait and the tail, maybe a half or three-quarters of an inch, and it adds more action that you would think. It happens because you allow more water to hit the tail."
You must take caution not to pull too hard on the tail and thus break it off. Also, the optimum time for leaving it in the boiling water varies from one bait to another.
"There's a lot of plastic on a 9-inch Osprey, and it might take 30 to 35 seconds to get it right. With a 6-inch ABT, it might only take 20 seconds. The main thing, though, is the water has to be boiling."
Yank the Bill
With hard swimbaits, the first thing Lintner does is remove the bill or lip from the front of the bait.
"A lot of people probably aren't going to like this (idea), but for me, it works," he said. "The only one it doesn't seem to work on is the MS Slammer, but it's effective on any other (swimbait) that comes with a bill.
"Most wood baits aren't designed to be fished below the surface, and a lot of them are designed to catch fishermen rather than fish. The bills look good, but I don't think they do much to attract fish. To me, it almost makes them too perfect."
He discovered the effectiveness of this modification on his own.
"One time at Cachuma I was fishing big wooden bait and I got it hung up on a rock. As I was trying to pull it out, the bill broke off. I kept using it – it was the only one I had – and I ended up winning that tournament by about 10 pounds.
After that he started experimenting with a lot of different baits. He says he got a lot more strikes once he began removing their mouthgear.
"At first I was really surprised by how many more fish I caught. Just the weight and the action they have in the joints is enough, and (removing the bill) usually makes it more erratic – it acts more like a wounded baitfish.
"You get a lot of fish that follow a swimbait because they're attracted to the constant, perfect motion. It's almost like they get hypnotized by it. But if they see something that's erratic, they're more likely to take it."
Some hard swimbaits have bills that are glued on, so he holds them above a heat source until the adhesive softens enough for them to be removed. If they're molded on, he'll use a grinder to file them down.
"If you can show (the fish) something that's out of the ordinary – something that doesn't look like it's supposed to – a lot of times that's what makes them eat."
