The 2022 Bassmaster Classic is quickly approaching and one angler who's thrilled to be there is Chris Zaldain. After an uncharacteristically slow start to his season in 2021, he rallied and finished strong to move up the standings to qualify for his seventh Bassmaster Classic. He likes his chances at this year's event on Lake Hartwell and knows it sets up well for his fishing style.
West Coast Style
Zaldain is now a Texan, but he'll always be a California angler at heart and he definitely still fishes that way. He loves both light line finesse tactics and big swimbaits and thinks those two could be the way to win the Classic on Hartwell.
"I've only been to Hartwell once, but I'm familiar with targeting big spotted bass from my days in California," he said. "It's across the country, but there are a bunch of similarities to the places I grew up fishing, like Shasta and Oroville. You have the long sloping points, clay banks, and deep clear water down by the dam and big spots in all of those areas."
With the event in early March, Zaldain believes a deep bite will be a significant factor and he'll pull out all of his tricks, including drop shots, Neko Rigs, and maybe even a darter head.
For the finesse side of things, he's a big fan of a rod that he also calls a "Great Lakes special" since it's excellent for open water fishing with finesse techniques.
"I'm using the 7'4" medium light 13 Fishing Envy Black III rod and it's great for deep finesse fishing, whether it's smallmouth bass or spots," he said. "For those light techniques in deep water, I'll spool up my reel with straight 6-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon because it allows the bait to get down deeper and quicker. It's a little trick I use for light baits and you can get the baits down much easier than using a braid to a fluorocarbon leader."
On the other end of the size spectrum for Zaldain is the swimbait, both six to eight-inch soft herring imitators and big glide baits. After catching a limit, he'll be ready with both of them when looking to upgrade.
"It will all be weather dependent and if there's a window for a swimbait bite," said Zaldain. "I'll try to focus on mud lines and color changes when I need that kicker bite or if I'm noticing big gizzard shad and blueback herring."
For his big baits, he'll be throwing them on an 8' extra heavy 13 Fishing Omen Black rod with a Concept A3 reel.
"That's my go to glide bait rod for the big baits: that rod is a hoss," he said. "There's not a better $160 swimbait rod out there."
Largemouth vs. Spotted Bass
As Zaldain prepares for the Classic, he's primarily shifting his focus to spotted bass after two back-to-back Elite Series events with only Florida largemouth to kick off the year. Hartwell has largemouth, too, but he believes spotted bass might be the way to win.
"It's all weather dependent, but I believe the spotted bass bite will be the most consistent," he said. "That could change with a quick warm up in temperatures, but I believe spotted bass will be what I will target. I'll keep the largemouth honest, though, and will look into them when we start practice."
Lake Hartwell has plenty of docks lining it and this is one place he'll be sure to check for a reliable largemouth bite.
"I'll have a flipping stick with fluorocarbon rigged and ready to go," he said. "The dock bite can be good there and there may also be a good largemouth bite up the lake in the muddier water. If we get a big rain, that could play even more."
For flipping, he's come to like the 7'6" heavy 13 Fishing Envy Black III paired with a 13 Fishing Concept "Z3" reel.
"That's the smoothest pitching reel I've used," he said. "It makes it easy to skip way up under docks and it's pretty hard to backlash. It's a zero bearing system and very good for pitching and flipping."
Classic Predictions
It's impossible to guess the exact winning weight, but Zaldain feels that he has a ballpark estimate based on past Classics on Hartwell and viewing local tournament results online.
"A good base would be 15 or 16-pounds a day to have a shot," he said. "We'll see someone crack 20-pounds at least once, but the average over three days should be right there in that range."
Chris Zaldain has his sights on the Bassmaster Classic trophy and he's hoping his West Coast roots and fishing style will help him do it. The lake sets up well for it and his game plan is to focus on the spotted bass that dominate Lake Hartwell's waters with a combination of finesse and big baits.
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