It’s no secret, but Elite Series pro Chris Zaldain loves throwing big swimbaits and he’s one of the few professional anglers that regularly include them in the tournament rotation. He’s known for going big and swinging for the fences, which will be the case when he launches his boat for the first day of the Bassmaster Classic. There are no points involved in this event and it’s a high-stakes event where everyone is vying for the trophy, which is precisely what Zaldain is trying to do.
Going big in Tennessee
Zaldain has fished the tournament waters of Ft. Loudon twice and both times, he was around the right fish to win. Once during the 2019 Bassmaster Classic, when he weighed a tournament-best 21 pound, 12 ounce bag and the other time during the 2021 Elite Series stop, where he fished next to the eventual winner.
“I know what it’s going to take to win there and plan to use a West Coast style with swimbaits in this event to try to get one of those 20-pound bags, which are huge here and will help you separate yourself,” he said. “We’re going a little bit later in the year than that Elite event in 2021 and a three-week change in dates is huge this time of year, so that should open it up to more techniques. That event was mainly finesse, and I think the big bait will do much better this time.”
Zaldain has his own line of swimbaits with Bass Mafia, aptly called the Daingerous, which can be rigged in several different ways. It also comes in a few different sizes, but Zaldain plans to utilize the 6 and 7-inch baits with a weighted hook.
“I’m going to crash it into any cover I see,” he said. “That’s a good way to trigger those bigger prespawn bass, get them to react. I’m going to target rocks, laydowns, and anything that breaks the moving water.”
He likes a 13 Fishing Envy rod, the 7-foot, 6-inch heavy model for fishing these baits. “It’s got the perfect power to get those fish to the boat,” he said.
With both largemouth and smallmouth in play, Zaldain says fishing this way can catch either species and they will be above-average size.
“We’re going to see a lot of mixed bags in this one and when the fish start biting, they all start to bite,” he said. “Those bite windows discriminate between species and you’ll get little waves where it seems like everything is getting active and feeding at once. Those windows change as the weather changes, or if the current picks up. You can catch fish quickly when that happens here.”
Not going to die with the swimbait
While Zaldain plans to fish a swimbait as much as possible, he will also mix in a jig and possibly a flat-sided crankbait to ensure he comes in with a daily limit.
“I’ll have a big jig tied on so I can flip isolated laydowns, rocky banks, and current breaks,” he said. “You’re not fishing for second place, you want to win, and you’ll have to have a limit every day to win this one. The jig will give you a good chance at a big bite and a flat-sided can catch a big one but will mainly be good to fill your limit.”
For the jig, he opts for the same rod he uses for his Bass Mafia swimbait.
“That 7-foot, 6-inch heavy 13 Fishing Envy is a do-it-all heavy-duty rod,” he said. “You can flip a jig into a laydown with it and it’s all power; there’s no finesse to it. On the biggest stage in fishing, you don’t want to play the fish and need to get it into the boat immediately.”
He likes a 7-foot, 1-inch 13 Fishing Envy crankbait rod that is a fiberglass and graphite blend for his cranking.
“It’s got an extra delayed action, so you are not going to pull those trebles out of the fish when they grab it,” he said. “I’ll be crashing that crankbait into rocks and laydowns and often making repeated casts to the same rocks with different angles. The rod has a perfect length and gives you great casting accuracy, so you can be precise with each cast.”
Zaldain has come close on this fishery and always has a winning mindset. He’s also not afraid to throw big swimbaits as he knows they can fool those bigger fish that it will take to win the Bassmaster Classic. If he wins, it will be doing it his way and the swimbait will likely be a big player in his game plan.
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