There’s no doubt about the primary bass forage in Fort Loudoun Lake right now. It’s gizzard shad, six inches long or bigger. If you were watching “Bassmaster LIVE” yesterday, Mike Iaconelli showed the tail of a gizzard shad sticking from the throat of a bass Iaconelli caught on a crankbait.
Not much looks more like a 6-inch gizzard shad than an albino pearl Megabass Magdraft 6-inch swimbait. It’s long been one of Christ Zaldain’s favorite lures.
“I really got in the zone with it (yesterday),” Zaldain said. “This is the absolute key – rock transition banks on the main river – transition from chunk rock to gravel, and if it has got laydowns on it, that’s even better.”
Zaldain will probably be one-rod Todd today. This tournament is going to come down to catching a big one, and a big swimbait is a proven big bass lure, especially in Zaldain’s hands.
(Above: In the middle of a 4-inch swimbait (top) and a 6-inch Megabass Magdraft swimbait is a gizzard shad, the primary bass forage here now. Photo by Chris Zaldain)