Calico Bass Fishing with Jared Lintner by Pete Robbins

Ocean fishing with Jared Lintner

T C C UO A NALIESF - T OA U R L P N I A

Story

BY PETE ROBBINS

Photos Courtesy of AFTCO

with Jared Lintner

W

ith a seven-week break between the Elite Series season’s sixth

event at Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas and the start of the tour’s

northern swing, Jared Lintner couldn’t just make a short trip to get

ready for smallmouth country. The St. Lawrence River, Lake Cham- plain and Lake St. Clair are a long haul from his home in Arroyo Grande. But rather

than cursing the darkness, Lintner decided to light a candle, and he went practic-

ing in the most effective way he knew how – in a place where no self-respecting

smallmouth would ever be caught.

He went fishing for calico bass off the coast of California.

“Calicos are very much like a largemouth or a smallmouth,” he said. “They just

pull harder. The places we were fishing, the currents were very similar to those we’ll

experience on the St. Lawrence, and the fish were setting up exactly the same

way they do on the St. Lawrence. I learned a lot about how current affects from

doing things like this. Even if they’re 100-feet deep, some rock piles are just better

that others that seem similar just because of how the current hits them. The tide

affects them, too, but it’s more about the current.”

Unlike some tour-level pros who are all bass, all the time, Lintner tries to

schedule at least a few trips for other species each year, whether it be bottom

fishing in the salt, salmon fishing, or something else altogether. That’s an interest

he shares with multiple other pros, including good friend Jeff Kriet, who seems to

compete as a means of financing his offshore habit.

Time constraints limit the number of trips that Lintner can take each year, so

while relaxation and fun are the primary drivers of where he goes, those that will

pay benefits at his “day job” are also given preferential status.

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