Jared Lintner couldn’t afford to force the issue at Oneida Lake last week. He wanted to fish the way he’s most comfortable, which was probably the best decision since he needed at least a Top-20 finish at the final Bassmaster Elite Series event to pull into contention for a Bassmaster Classic berth.
His decision to target just largemouth paid off with a season-best 13th-place finish that moved him into 33rd place in points, which should be good enough to grab a Classic berth based on the number of anglers ahead of him who’ve earned multiple qualifications.
“One of the things I battle with all year long is sometimes you have to fish the way you’re maybe not comfortable with,” he said, “so coming into here where there are both smallmouth and largemouth and you can fish them in two totally different ways, I made a conscious decision before I even showed up here that I was going to fish for largemouth and I was going to fish the way I’m comfortable fishing.
“I’ve been here four times and there’s plenty of grass so I just went flipping and frogging. That’s how I wanted to fish,” the Californian added. “In the past, I had a few smallmouth spots where I caught them pretty good and they just didn’t pan out at all. If I couldn’t catch them off the area I knew then I wasn’t going to chase them.”
He spent the entirety of his practice locating areas that were holding largemouth because he felt that was his best chance at catching those crucial 4-pounders that can make up a lot of ground in the standings.
He’s flipped enough mats back home to know not every bite is going to result in a clean retrieve with the fish winding up in the livewell. It’s a high risk, high reward way to fish.
“You’re going to lose some and I knew that going into it,” he said. “It’s part of the game. If you ever get every fish in the boat when you’re flipping a 1-ounce weight in heavy mats, you’re going to win that tournament. You have to fish perfect. I knew the risks and I was happy it got me to where it did, but obviously I would’ve liked to have a Top-5 or 6.”
He had two areas he ran back and forth to and worked over grass in 3- to 7-foot depths flipping a Jackall Sasuteki Craw and Berkley Havoc Pit Boss under a Paycheck Baits Punch Skirt with a 1-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten weight.
His day-1 stringer of 12-14 had him in the middle of the pack in 47th place, but he made a strong move from there, advancing to 15th on day 2 before his 13-01 bag on day 3 gained him two more positions.
“Looking back, if everything would’ve went perfectly, I wouldn’t have won because I wasn’t on the fish to win,” he said. “I may have had an outside chance, but each day I lost a 3-pounder, which is huge when you can cull out a 2. If I’d have caught those key fish, I’m fishing (Sunday) and probably sitting in fifth or sixth.”
The Big Bite Lookback, which focuses on the angler who's first out of the final cut at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great folks at Big Bite Baits.
