COUNCE, Tenn. — Six five-bass limits topping 22 pounds have been weighed during the first three days of the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Pickwick Lake. Chris Zaldain caught the only one on Saturday. It weighed 22 pounds, 8 ounces, topping Matt Robertson’s 22-6 on Day 1 for big bag of the tournament so far.
Was that an indicator or things to come for Zaldain? He believes it is, and he’s going to need a big day if he’s going to catch leader Brandon Lester. Zaldain starts the day in sixth place, 7 pounds and an ounce behind Lester, who has topped 20 pounds the previous three days.
“I figured out a little something different,” said the 37-year-old native Californian who now resides in Fort Worth. “My area had zero current. I’m not fishing a ledge. It’s something completely different.
“You’ve got to have the whole ecosystem going on underneath your boat. It starts with mussels or shell on the bottom, to threadfin or gizzard (shad) to white bass to bass, and there’s catfish and drum mixed in. When you have all that happening, and you throw something that looks like a gizzard shad, you’re going to catch the biggest bass in that area. That’s what I found (Saturday).”
Zaldain has been having “an average year” by his standards. He has qualified for seven Bassmaster Classics and topped the million-dollar mark for career B.A.S.S. winnings earlier this year. This marks his 20th Elite Series top 10, but his first one since he finished third at Lake Champlain last season. Zaldain has missed only one top 47 cut this season and was ranked 25th in AOY points before Pickwick.
Nothing excites Zaldain like throwing big baits for big bass. It’s a sink or swim deal with him. Big baits, particularly big swimbaits, have led to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for Zaldain. But he’s never going to quit tweaking the process, especially on a Tennessee River impoundment like Pickwick Lake.
“If you’re not throwing something that looks like a gizzard shad, you’re not playing to win,” Zaldain said. “Whether it’s Guntersville or Pickwick or Chickamauga, the (swimbaits) you need are fives (inches long), sixes and and sevens, sometimes eight. Those fish eat gizzard shad – period.
“Your two- and three-pounders eat the threadfin shad. Your six- and seven-pounders prefer a big gizzard shad, especially when it’s hot like this. That’s why your big spoons are playing (in this tournament), big swimbaits, big jerkbaits.”
Zaldain said he caught every bass in his 22-8 sack Saturday on 6- and 7-inch protype swimbaits he’s helping design with Bass Mafia.
The TVA hasn’t been pulling a strong current through Pickwick Dam this week, and what current there is typically hasn’t taken effect until late morning, at best. Current is key for getting bass to set up on Pickwick’s ledges. Most of the leaders after three days here, especially first-place Brandon Lester, have figured out a method to catch bass without a strong current running through the lake.
Zaldain may have discovered a little something different yesterday. We’ll see.
