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Zaldain Talks Heavy Metal and Uprooted Eel Grass Rrior to Guntersville Elite
Thanks to early sunrises and late sunsets, most pros have logged 13-hour practice days in preparation for the Berkley Bassmaster Elite on Guntersville that begins Thursday.
Chris Zaldain was certainly among them. He was one of the very last pros to come off the water Wednesday. But the always classy and even-keeled caster of oversized swimbaits graciously took time at the dock to share his thoughts with fans on the eve of competition.
Q: Let’s start with an easy one, where did the nickname “Zaldaingerous” come from?
CZ: Brandon Palaniuk started calling me that during one of the very first seasons we competed as pros when I made a lot of Top 10 cuts.
Q: What’s going to be the biggest challenge on Guntersville this week?
CZ: Making a clear cast among on the uprooted, chopped up, eel grass floating on the surface.
Q: Every fishery is in a constant state of ecological change, but what remains Guntersville’s greatest asset?
CZ: The abundance of aquatic vegetation and shad here is still amazing.
Q: How much weight will an angler need to average here each day to get a Top 10?
CZ: I’ll say 17-pounds a day.
Q: What four lures can fans watching on Bassmaster.com and Fox Sports 1 expect to see pros using a bunch?
CZ: Frogs, soft plastic stick worms, deep diving crankbaits, and a swimjig
Q: What music or podcasts are you listening to most right now?
CZ: Heavy metal – a lot of Avenged Sevenfold
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Live Cast REPLAY
Tonight we will be joined by Jason Abram the 2021 MLF BIG5 Pro Circuit Lake Eufaula Champion. We will be breaking down the event, talking swim jigs and much more! All hosted by Lurch the MC. It’s going to be a good one 8pm Eastern!
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Arey says Guntersville’s Exceptional Water Clarity is Altering Patterns
Matt Arey’s not saying Guntersville’s water clarity is anywhere near that of the bottled water for sale at the lake’s iconic Waterfront Bay Grocery & Tackle store. But he will tell you it’s the clearest he’s ever seen Guntersville in his 13 years of fishing professional tournaments on the famed Northeastern Alabama bass fishery.
“I fished my first pro level event here in 2007 or 2008, and I’ll promise you, I’ve never seen Guntersville this clear. There are places where you can see your lure 5-feet below the surface,” said Arey while fueling up next to Seth Feider at Waterfront Grocery after two days of practice.
The Team Toyota pro believes much of G’Ville’s newfound clarity is the result of an abundance of eel grass (Zostera) that acts as a natural filter. And while bass and their prey love living in it, Arey says it will definitely alter the typical early summer patterns fans are accustomed to seeing Elite Series pros rely on.
Arey finished 3rd here in June of 2019 by mining a classic off-shore structure spot in 17 to 20’ of water with a ¾-ounce football jig and a deep diving crankbait. But he says those kinds of magical isolated spots are less of a player now because the eel grass beds offer so many top-notch stopping locations between the spawning areas and deeper creek and river channels.
“At one point today, I was offshore with a spinning reel and a dropshot rig trying to find some deep fish in that clearer water and Hank Cherry found it so rare and funny he stopped and took a picture of me with his cell phone,” grinned Arey.
“I’d guess only 20% of the field will focus on the classic off-shore, post-spawn ledge bite or isolated structure spots this week,” says Arey. “And I still think you’ll need to average 17-pounds a day to make the Top 10 cut, but you’ll see a lot of limits being caught around shallower grass on a topwater and other baits like Jamie Hartman wrecked ‘em on the final day of our 2019 event here,” concludes Arey.
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Darold Gleason’s Sentimental Tiny Torpedo
Sometimes cousins are more like brothers. That’s certainly the case with Bassmaster Elite Series pro Darold Gleason and his younger cousin Jared Burns, and a nearly 30-year old Tiny Torpedo topwater lure on the dashboard of Gleason’s Toyota Tundra serves as a daily reminder of that bond.
“I grew up mostly fishing in ponds, and this Tiny Torpedo was one of the first artificial lures I ever used as a teenager,” remembers Gleason, winner of the 2019 Central Open on Toledo Bend. “Jared is six years younger than me, so as I got older and started fishing from a bass boat, I gave him this exact Tiny Torpedo to use in his pond fishing.”
The iconic topwater found its way full circle back to Gleason several years later in 2015 when he qualified for BASSfest on Kentucky Lake, nine hours northeast of he and Burns’ homeland near Toledo Bend.
“That tournament was a turning point in my life and fishing career, because it was really the first true pro event I ever qualified for. Jared obviously realized the significance of it because he executed a friendly little sneak attack and taped this Tiny Torpedo and a heartfelt ‘good luck’ note on my truck right before I left,” Gleason remembers fondly.
The good luck Tiny Torpedo brought good vibes in the form of 61-pounds of Kentucky Lake largemouth Gleason caught on a football jig and deep diving crankbait. The quality-sized bass he likes to call “Ocean Ponies” lead to a 14th place finish and a check for $11,000 in his pro debut.
The Torpedo has been on his Tundra’s dash for six years since that pivotal early summer event on Kentucky Lake, and Gleason now in his rookie season the Bassmaster Elite Series, finds himself glancing at the sacred lure often amid the 30,000 miles he and bride Randi travel annually.
“The toughest part of life as a pro angler is time away from home and the people you love. Little tokens like this make you feel a little better connected to them while you’re away. And the fact Jared always cheers me on so faithfully is pretty dang special – just like this 30-year-old topwater of he and I’s,” concluded Gleason.
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Palaniuk Notches First Bassmaster Opens Victory On James River
RICHMOND, Va. — Brandon Palaniuk had three days to sack up the winning total of 53 pounds, 12 ounces, but two memorable hours delivered most of his weight at the Basspro.com Bassmaster Northern Open on the James River.
After placing 50th on Day 1 with 13-11, Palaniuk caught the event’s heaviest bag — 22-6 — in the final hour of Day 2 and took over the lead. On Saturday, he tallied 17-11, also in the final hour and surged across the finish line by nearly 3 1/2 pounds.
Brandon Palaniuk, of Rathdrum, Idaho, has won the 2021 Basspro.com Bassmaster Northern Open at James River with a three-day total of 53 pounds, 12 ounces. Photo by Andy Crawford/B.A.S.S.
A five-time Bassmaster Elite Series winner, the pro from Rathdrum, Idaho, notched his first Opens victory and collected a top prize of $52,000.
“I’ve fished the James River five times now in the Northern Opens; this was my fourth final day,” Palaniuk said. “I’ve come close and I’ve been trying to get this monkey off my back for a while and, dang, it feels good.”
Palaniuk spent his tournament in the Chickahominy River, which flows into the James downriver from the take-off site at Osborne Park & Boat Landing. The first day, he fished natural habitat features, but Days 2 and 3 saw him capitalizing on a fast-paced opportunity at Walkers Dam, about 22 miles upstream.
“I got beat to this spot on Day 1, but I figured out the cast late in the day yesterday,” Palaniuk said. “You had to make the exact cast. If you were off 2 feet left or right, you wouldn’t get bit. It would happen in the first five cranks of the reel handle.
“The incoming tide was best because it held the bait and the fish higher in the water.”
The week’s tide schedule brought outgoing water in the morning, then a rising cycle around midday. Tides advance approximately 50 minutes each day, so the second and third rounds presented Palaniuk with a narrow window of opportunity.
“Yesterday, I had three fish with an hour to go and I caught 22 pounds in the last hour,” he said. “I knew it was because of the incoming tide, so I told my marshal today ‘Low tide is at 12:35 (in the Chickahominy). We’re going to have 25 minutes of incoming tide before we have to leave. We’re going to push it to the last minute.’”
Both days, Palaniuk found that targeting specific current seams was critical to enticing bites. He observed large gizzard shad in the area and recognized that the bass were leveraging current dynamics to capture their meals.
Palaniuk caught his best fish on 6- and 8-inch Megabass Magdraft swimbaits in the albino color. He also caught fish on a drop shot with a green pumpkin/blue fleck XZone Lures Deception Worm, which he fished over isolated cover off the bank.
“I just cycled through it because it just seemed like there would be little feed windows,” Palaniuk said. “It changed every 10 minutes and you’d have to figure out where they were positioned. Once you found that, you could catch a couple pretty quick.”
Nicholas Bodsford of Richmond, Va., placed second with 50-5. The local favorite turned in one of the event’s most consistent performances with daily weights of 16-10, 16-7 and 17-4.
Bodsford caught his bass cranking shallow cover with a Lucky Craft 1.5 squarebill and flipping a Texas-rigged Missile Baits D Bomb. With changing water clarity and a minor cold front at the tournament’s beginning, his performance hinged on adaptation.
“Practice just got thrown out the window and every day, I had to start over,” Bodsford said. “I didn’t do the same thing one day; I just made adjustments.
“Where I caught them the first day, it was muddy and high yesterday. I ran back upriver and caught enough (to make the Top 10). Today, I scrapped everything. I just went fishing and it worked out.”
Jeff Queen of Catawba, N.C., finished third with 50-4. Keeping himself in the Top 10 the entire time, Queen placed eighth on Day 1 with 17-9, rose to second after adding 17-11 and ended his run Saturday with an even 15 pounds.
Queen caught his bass on a swim jig converted into a bladed jig with a Switch Blade made by his Queen Tackle company with a Jenko Tremor Shad trailer. He also caught fish on a 1/4-ounce tungsten finesse jig with a craw trailer.
“I had a good day and at the end, I stopped right across from the boat ramp and caught my biggest fish.”
Tommy Williams of Shepherdsville, Ky., won the $750 Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 8-7.
Greg Alexander of Hebron, Md., won the $500 Garmin Tournament Rewards.
Palaniuk leads the Northern Open standings with 200 points. Bodsford is second with 199, followed by Queen with 198, Justin Margraves of Diana, Texas, with 197 and Alexander with 196.
Jacob Powroznik of North Prince George, Va., leads the Falcon Rods Bassmaster Opens Angler of the Year points standings with 687.
Visit Richmond and Henrico County, Va., hosted the event.
2021 Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Series Title Sponsor: Basspro.com
2021 Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota
2021 Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Series Premier Sponsors: Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
2021 Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Bass Pro Shops, Garmin, Huk Performance Fishing, Marathon, Rapala
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S., which encompasses the Bassmaster tournament leagues, events and media platforms, is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 515,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), TV show, radio show, social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.
The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Series, TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Series, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, Bassmaster Team Championship, Bassmaster B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series powered by TourneyX and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk.
2021 Basspro.com Bassmaster Open at James River 5/13-5/15
James River, Richmond VA.
(BOATER) Standings Day 3
Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$
1. Brandon Palaniuk Rathdrum, ID 15 53-12 200 $52,267.00
Day 1: 5 13-11 Day 2: 5 22-06 Day 3: 5 17-11
2. Nicholas Bodsford Richmond, VA 15 50-05 199 $25,387.00
Day 1: 5 16-10 Day 2: 5 16-07 Day 3: 5 17-04
3. Jeff Queen Catawba, NC 15 50-04 198 $17,920.00
Day 1: 5 17-09 Day 2: 5 17-11 Day 3: 5 15-00
4. Justin Margraves Diana, TX 15 47-11 197 $14,933.00
Day 1: 5 11-08 Day 2: 5 19-10 Day 3: 5 16-09
5. Greg Alexander Hebron, MD 15 47-06 196 $13,492.00
Day 1: 5 21-02 Day 2: 5 13-04 Day 3: 5 13-00
6. Mike Hicks Goochland, VA 15 43-13 195 $11,947.00
Day 1: 5 18-13 Day 2: 5 12-05 Day 3: 5 12-11
7. Tommy Williams Shepherdsville, KY 15 42-02 194 $11,950.00
Day 1: 5 10-02 Day 2: 5 20-05 Day 3: 5 11-11
8. Jonathan Kelley Old Forge, PA 15 42-02 193 $10,453.00
Day 1: 5 19-06 Day 2: 5 13-15 Day 3: 5 08-13
9. Hugh Cosculluela Spring, TX 15 41-00 192 $8,213.00
Day 1: 5 18-03 Day 2: 5 12-02 Day 3: 5 10-11
10. Bo Boltz Jr New Kent, VA 15 38-10 191 $6,720.00
Day 1: 5 18-08 Day 2: 5 12-14 Day 3: 5 07-04
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PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Tommy Williams Shepherdsville, KY 08-07 $750.00
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Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 187 1046 2419-12
2 154 946 2062-06
3 10 50 130-10
———————————-
351 2042 4612-12
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