You may have heard this morning on “Bassmaster LIVE” that Skeet Reese conversed with Chris Zaldain about his swimbait pattern yesterday, all of which is legal within the B.A.S.S. rules by the way. The two California natives are longtime friends and swimbait enthusiasts.
Zaldain opened the tournament with 24 pounds, 3 ounces, which remains the big bag of the event. Then he almost missed the cut on Day 2, finishing with two late flipping bites that gave him 3 bass weighing 7-2, enough to put him in 40th place. Zaldain came back with another good bag on Day 3 – 19-10 – and finished in 19th place.
“That swimbait thing is definitely a double-edged sword,” Zaldain said. “It’s very, very, very weather dependent. I admit I was real stubbon (on Day 2).”
When Zaldain saw the weather on Day 3, he knew it was going to be another good day with the swimbait, specifically an 8-inch Megabass Magdraft. Sunshine and 7 to 12 mile-per-hour winds are perfect conditions.
“I was looking for banks that were tight-contoured with rocks,” he said. “The wind had to be pushing right against the bank. It creates an excellent ambush point. I was paralleling the bank. It wasn’t a shad spawn deal. It was just a single big fish looking for a big meal. My biggest key was staying on the main river, and it had the clearest water.”