well i love to throw the big baits, but i am no guru by any means. alot of people over here in south carolina view me as an absolute idiot when they see me(when i let them) trowing trout plugs. no big secrets here. i just sharpen my hooks before every trip and i am always looking for modifications and toying around with different baits to better them. like on the stocker trout i love the action on that bait, my favorite bait when the bass want a sub surface retrieve. i have found a way to put 2 trebles on it other than what rod and todd does with just one. i get him to rig one up how he does it and when it gets to my house i take some spectra and run a line and tie a size 1/0 treble behind the existing one and put it right there behind the wing. i leave some slack in the spectra to allow best swimming action. this increased my stocker hookup % from about 30 to about 60-70. i also take a red sharpie and draw gills on there. also a secret of mine is not to let alot of people over here know. there are only about 3 people over here who throw big baits just as much as they would throw a texas rig, and we have a secrecy bond or whatever because we only have really one small lake that is good for throwing the baits and we wouldnt want everyone over here catching 8+ hawgs every trip out because they heard thru the grapevine that we was wearin em out. greedy me o well lol. who doesnt like the fish to themselves!
-patrick