Chris Zaldain was asked – sarcastically – if he was disappointed after weighing “only” 21 pounds, 11 ounces on Day 2, and falling into second place. He answered in the affirmative. He missed two “big bites” early, and he explained that just can’t happen if you’re going to win this tournament.
“My first cast I threw my swimbait out there and I had one of the biggest bites – it was like a bear trap closing,” said Zaldain, who failed to get a hook into that fish. “Then I broke one off.
“You get those two in the boat, and there’s your 23- to 25-pound bag. You’ve got to capitalize early. That’s the biggest thing.”
Zaldain wasn’t the only angler to say that yesterday. You heard it over and over again. Scott Canterbury, who is in fourth place with 45-2, said he could have weighed-in at 10 a.m. the last two days.
That’s not to say there weren’t a few key fish caught late. Some anglers seemed to figure out the late bite yesterday, especially after the wind picked up. Both leader Jeff Gustafson and third-place David Mullins culled up several times in the afternoon hours. But those culls were usually in ounces, not pounds.
Zaldain’s words have held true for almost everyone the first two days at Cayuga Lake: “You’ve got to capitalize early.”