Team Zaldain

When your wife runs the same boat as you it makes a breakdown easier to handle.

That’s what happened this morning when Chris Zaldain got delayed by a mechanical issue. As fate would have it he was able to borrow the boat used by his wife Trait, who fishes the Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens. Just two weeks ago she fished the season opener not far away at the Harris Chain of Lakes. Traveling with two boats isn’t unusual for this power couple of the Bassmaster tours, especially when events from both leagues overlap as they have this month.

Trait planned on honing her fishing skills on a private lake during the tournament hours but that plan got cut short with the phone call from Chris.

“We run identical boats, Skeeter FX 20s and he rigged them both, so he’s familiar with how my boat is laid out. It was pretty much a mad rush to just get his stuff transferred into my boat.”

Good thing for Chris that his wife isn’t OCD about messing with her stuff.

“The only thing I told him to do was not mess up my prop.”

But alas, Chris is running through fields of stumps that are easy targets for outboard lower units and props. She had good reason to share the advice.

“He set it all up and I had it running last week at the Open at 77 mph, with a full load and not really tuning it up for more speed.”

Word. If Chris feels the need for speed he’s got it. But only if he stays out of the stumps.