When the weights are as tight as they are at the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain, Chris Zaldain knows he needs to fish for bigger-than-average bass in order to separate himself from the field.
The Fort Worth, Texas, pro applied his big-bass style of fishing to near perfection on Day 2, landing 21 pounds 7 ounces to take the lead at Lake Champlain with a two-day total of 42-8. He holds a slim lead over Ed Loughran III in second with 42-0 and third-place Jacob Foutz with 41-15.
Zaldain opened the tournament in seventh place with 21-1 and now finds himself in prime position to win his first Elite Series trophy, a title he almost claimed at this lake in 2021.
“It felt great. This place has been good to me in the past,” he said. “How do you catch bigger-than-average fish? Simply put, you have to fish for them. I’m definitely in my comfort zone.
“These fish set up just like (they did) in California where I grew up,” Zaldain continued. “They set up on the most obvious stuff,” Zaldain explained. “That single sailboat in the middle of the cove, a bridge piling, pillars, rock openings, the real obvious stuff, but that stuff gets absolutely hammered. So, you have to throw something different in there.”
The remnants of Hurricane Debby pushed through New York Friday, bringing heavy rains and wind to the area and ultimately forcing the postponement of Day 2. Mostly sunny skies prevailed today, and the Elite pros continued to put on a bass-fishing clinic, catching 100 limits and 1,789-3 total pounds.
“This place is setting up really nice after the rain we’ve had,” he said. “Rising water and moving water sets the largemouth up like no other.”
Zaldain has attacked Champlain with a two-pronged approach this week. The eight-time Classic qualifier started each day by catching 17 to 18 pounds of smallmouth in one specific area before searching for kicker largemouth later in the day. His two limits have each featured three smallmouth and two largemouth.
The smallmouth he has located are between 10 and 18 feet of water. Zaldain has mixed some “old school” smallmouth fishing with some “new school,” utilizing several dragging baits while also picking a couple of smallies off with his forward-facing sonar. Most of them are under 4 pounds, however.
“Right now, it is hard to catch a brown one over 4 pounds. I’m catching a lot between 3.65 and 3.90. But when you get a largemouth bite, they are all over 4 pounds.”
All of Zaldain’s green fish have come out of grass in 10 feet of water or less in one of four sweet spots, and the amount of current moving through the area plays an important role in how the largemouth set up in the grass. A swimbait has produced many of his larger bites.
“I’m constantly looking at the current,” Zaldain said. “I’m fishing on top of the grass as well as the edges and holes. I’m not using forward-facing sonar. I’m just reading water, reading current and reading wind.”
Zaldain filled out his limit within the first couple of hours of Day 2 before moving to his largemouth area. There, he landed a 4-pound largemouth and a 5-pounder, his two biggest bass of the day.
“That was awesome. The wind was howling on this little spot, and I had caught a couple flipping in the area,” he said. “I caught one that was a 3-pound largemouth that had a 5-pounder and a 4-pounder with it. I kept flipping and (didn’t catch anything), so I picked up my swimbait and I think I caught those two.”
While he’s caught over 21 pounds each day, Zaldain has lost several big bass — including one he believed to be close to 6 pounds today — that could have given him some separation over the field.
“I executed kind of poorly these last few days. I feel like I should be leading this thing by a lot,” he said.
After missing the last two tournaments due to health issues, Loughran finds himself in contention for his first Elite Series title. He opened the tournament in 38th with a 19-1 mixed bag before landing a 22-15 limit of largemouth on Day 2, his biggest bag ever at Lake Champlain.
“Traditionally when I come up here, it is easy for me to catch some decent smallmouth and I really struggled this week,” he said. “I’m a drop-shotter, I’m not a minnow-pinger. I caught some of those drop-shot fish on Day 1 and thought it was going to be good until Day 1.”
On Saturday, Loughran stayed in a small area of the lake with shallow vegetation where he had found both largemouth and smallmouth. The majority of his bites have come between 5 and 10 feet of water. After a little flurry early on, the bite slowed down, but a key bait change helped Loughran cull up to his final tally.
“I changed up a little and just started catching them,” he said. “I’ve got a couple other little spots close by and I haven’t touched them. So hopefully there are bass there, too.”
With bags of 21-4 and 20-11, Foutz jumped from sixth to third on Day 2. The Tennessee angler finished eighth at Lake Champlain last year and is looking to improve that showing this time around.
Foutz has been targeting pelagic smallmouth between 20 and 60 feet of water. Many of the smallmouth are in groups — some groups as small as 3 and some schools as big as 20 and 30.
“If they are grouped up, you are pretty much guaranteed a bite,” he said. “The singles are bigger ones, but they are the hardest to catch. I think I have a bait deal figured out to help trigger the bigger ones in the group to bite instead of having to weed through 3-pounders.”
After landing the majority of his weight within the first 10 minutes of Day 1, the second day started much slower for Foutz, but as the day wore on, he was able to locate several groups of smallmouth.
“I knew the fish had changed and that the wind probably moved them around,” Foutz said. “I went to an area I found late on Day 1 and trolled around and picked a nice one off here and there.”
Greg Hackney, Loughran and Caleb Sumrall split Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day honors on Day 2 as each caught a bass weighing 5-7 while New York rookie Kyle Patrick holds Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament honors with a 6-2 largemouth he caught on Day 1.
Day 1 leader Seth Feider holds the CrushCity Monster Bag of the Tournament with his 23-11 limit of largemouth from Thursday.
Alabama’s Justin Hamner, winner of the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors, leads the Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 677 points. Illinois rookie Trey McKinney is second with 660 points, followed by Tennessee’s Jacob Foutz in third with 657 points. Chris Johnston of Canada is fourth with 656 points and Missouri’s Cody Huff is fifth with 645.
McKinney leads the Dakota Lithium Elite Series Bassmaster Rookie of the Year standings with 660 points, followed by South Carolina’s JT Thompkins in second with 635 points and Alabama’s Wesley Gore in third with 627.
The Top 50 anglers will launch from the Plattsburgh City Dock beginning at 7 a.m. ET Sunday and return for weigh-in at 3 p.m. The Top 10 anglers take center stage on Championship Monday.
Coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain will air on FS1 on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET. Bassmaster LIVE will be streaming on Bassmaster.com each day.
The Adirondack Coast and City of Plattsburgh are hosting the tournament.