Chris Zaldain would have entered today only two ounces behind leader Randall Tharp instead of six ounces, if not for a dead fish penalty. It was one that left him puzzled.
“It’s only a 35-minute run,” said Zaldain yesterday of the time it took to get from the cove he fished in West Sugarloaf Creek to the Bull Shoals Boat Dock check-in. “They were all alive and kicking when I left, and when I got here one of them was dead. I never hooked one deep. I don’t know what happened. Four ounces here is kind of expensive.”
It could be real expensive today, if ounces end up deciding the winner, as appears likely now. That’s undoubtedly why Zaldain released a bass from his livewell early this morning after seeing one that appeared to be struggling. It temporarily dropped him from a limit back to four keepers.
It’s within the rules to release a bass, provided it can swim away. You can’t release a dead one. Zaldain made sure his release was alive this morning, as captured on Bassmaster LIVE. Very few bass have been brought dead to the weigh-in scales this week. In fact, Bill Lowen is the only other angler in today’s top 12 to weigh-in a dead fish, and he’s had two this week – one yesterday and one on Day 1. That’s eight ounces Lowen has been penalized. It’s the difference between being in fifth place going into today and sixth place, where he started.
As Zaldain noted, a dead bass could be expensive this week.