Jackall pro Jared Lintner (at right, during a Regular Joe weekend to his local lake) thinks outside the box while fishing Senkos.
We went straight to the point this month in our quest to translate professional bass-fishing knowledge to your local lake. No quirky concepts, no trick questions, no off-the-wall stuff, just a simple request from designated professional angler: “If you were still just an average Joe looking for a little edge over his buddies this month, how would you get it?”
In other words, Pro, help us think outside the box a little. Dig deep in those voluminous tackle boxes and show me something you haven’t shown anybody yet. No same-‘ol same-‘ol. No green-pumpkin Senkos, no ½-ounce black-and-blue jigs, no shad-colored Sammys.
We want something that’ll put us one step ahead of the other clowns sharing the back deck.
Surprise surprise, did we ever dig out a gem. Here’s what we found, courtesy of Elite Series angler and Jackall pro Jared Lintner of Arroyo Grande:
Lintner’s new hotness: A slick rigging for Senkos
Lintner has always been a Pros/Joes favorite simply because he does things differently than 99 percent of the tournament crowd. He does that, though, out of Regular Joe necessity.
“The lakes I fish around here (Arroyo Grande) aren’t that big and they get a lot of pressure,” Lintner says. “You always have to be doing something a little bit different because those fish have seen everything 1,000 times. You have to think differently and fish differently. Any little advantage you can find, use it.”
Lintner’s newest advantage: the EcoPro Tungsten Pro Wacky Weight (www.ecoprotungsten.com), which he had just barely started fishing when we tracked him down in late August. If you’re like 99.9 percent of the Golden State bass crowd that wacky-rigs a Senko, Trick Worm, Jackall Flick Shake Worm or the like, this is a potential game-changer for you.
“Fishing a Senko, you know what you’re in for: they catch fish and you HAVE to fish them, but you’re constantly losing them and constantly rigging,” Lintner says. “I’m one of the guys who has been weighting Senkos with tungsten in the head and wacky-rigging them with a rubber band, but the problem is when the fish throw your Senko – which it will just about every time – there goes your weight, also. It gets expensive.”
That bait also gets frustrating because the rigging – hook point laying parallel to the bait – translates into a poor hookup percentage.
“You’ll feel a pressure bite, swing on it and all you’ll get is a bait with teeth marks on it,” Lintner says. “The hook laying parallel to the bait isn’t the best way to hook fish.”
How it works: The Pro Wacky Weight is almost impossible to describe (go check it out on the EcoPro website), but the basics are: an “eye” is pushed perpendicular through the body of the bait, which is then held in place by two “posts”, with the weight snug against the bottom of the bait. You run your hook through the Wacky Weight eye just like you would through the rubber band, but now it’s perpendicular instead of parallel.
“If your hook is perpendicular you get more hookups, simple as that,” Lintner says. “Economy wise, the first time I fished these I went through a handful of Senkos and caught 50 fish. I lost two snagging them in the rocks, but you’re going through way, way, way fewer baits. It’s a pretty slick deal.”
Lintner’s old-school tweakery of the same-‘ol
“Outside the box” doesn’t always have to be the Buck Rogers bait from the future. As Lintner points out, sometimes it’s just as smart and effective to simply take a new approach with a standard bait or technique.
A prime example: upsizing your weight, especially over the next three months as your local waters cool down.
“Everybody out there will throw the standard ½-opunce football jig,”Lintner says. “A lake like Lopez, there are maybe six good rock walls in the whole lake and everybody is fishing them the same. Those fish see the same ½-ounce football head over and over and over. They’re constantly seeing the bait go by them at the same speed with the same motion, in the same colors. I used to be right in line with everybody else. I’d throw the same ½-ounce jig over and over and have to really grind it out.”
Lintner’s solution is to upsize the weight, which does two things: it changes the pace of the bait as it falls, and it creates a bigger disturbance once it hits the bottom and you’re grinding it through the mud and rock.
“Two years ago I started throwing the 7/8-ounce Omega structure jig and really started whacking them,” Lintner says,” Lintner says. “I’ll up my weight to 1 ounce or even as big as 1 ½ ounces. I wouldn’t say it’s anything crazy innovative, but it’s made a big difference for me.
Sounds simplistic … and it is.
“The heavier jig is more of a reaction-type bite when it’s dropping,” Lintner points out. “Fish are just seeing the bait in a different way than with the ½-ouncer. Also, when you’re stroking a jig along the bottom, fishing it down 60 feet when it’s super, super cold, you’ll create a bigger disturbance. Fish will react to that because it just looks different than what they usually see.”