Tournament Secret Chatterbait and Swimblade Modifications

Is there a bass tournament angler alive that throws a stock fishing lure right out of the box with no modifications?

Whenever you read that someone won a big tournament on such-and-such a lure, it's a good bet that the bait was modified in one or more ways...

Take the current Chatterbait style lure craze for a moment.

In January 2006, FLW co-angler Bryan Thrift of Shelbyville, NC credited the Chatterbait (in white and in brown) for his first place win in the Stren Series event on Lake Okeechobee, Florida.

Thrift opened the tournament in third place Wednesday with five bass weighing 19 pounds, 6 ounces.

"I just throw it out and swim it along like a spinnerbait," Thrift said.

On Thursday he added another five bass weighing 11 pounds, 7 ounces to his catch to make the semifinal round cut in fourth place with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing, 30 pounds, 13 ounces. He then caught five bass weighing 14 pounds, 2 ounces Friday to make the final cut in third place.

On Saturday he caught another five bass weighing 22 pounds, 7 ounces to secure his Stren Series win.

Although it was far less publicized, Thrift also won two other Stren Southeast series events the year before but did not talk much about those two wins at the time - and never discussed the modifications that were made to the baits.

The only photos of the modified swimblades that were leaked were so small you couldn't see much detail but the two photos below will give you a good idea what they looked like.