Chris Zaldain Wins BASS Sturgeon Bay

While his competitors labored throughout practice and during the 3 days of competition to find areas with consistent populations of smallmouth at Sturgeon Bay, Chris Zaldain managed to locate a spot that had fish steadily coming to it and leaving it at the same time - a sizable feat on a substantial piece of water that was on the cusp of going through its seasonal transition. What's more is when that key spot went cold on the final day, he modified his strategy and was able to catch a good enough stringer elsewhere to pull out the win. The performance punctuated his best season yet on the Elite Series and gave him something to build on heading into the offseason and next year. "It felt so good to be the best of the Top 50 this week," he said. The win allowed Zaldain to move up to 6th place in the final AOY points standings -he was 10th entering the tournament. His previous best finish in AOY points was 8th in 2013.

Zaldain didn't seem to encounter the struggles in practice that many others in the field did. His first day at Sturgeon Bay yielded more than a dozen bites. "I felt good about it," he said. "On day 2, I did something totally different and it didn't go as well." The final day of practice is when found what proved to be his best area by Monument Point. "I only caught two there and dropped two waypoints, but I felt like it would be consistent in that 14- to 16-foot depth zone," he added. With this being his fourth season on the Elite Series, Zaldain said he's learned to maximize his practice time and not sit on areas he think might be productive come tournament time. He'd rather come back during competition and dissect it more rather than learn all there is to know about an area in practice. "It's really cool," he said. "I've learned after 4 years of doing this that being efficient in practice is key. I find it really exciting on game day to expand on what I'd found because you can't get intimate with a place during practice. It's a waste of time, especially with so much water to cover."

Competition

Zaldain arrived at the Monument Point spot around 9 on the morning of day 1 and proceeded to catch a limit pretty quick. Then, the learning process began. He started dissecting the area and learning where the sweet spots were and understanding why the fish were concentrated there. "There were scattered high spots on a couple shoals," he said. "The two shoals that stuck out the most were the one that was closest to the bank and the other was the furthest from the bank. Those seemed to get the most traffic as far as fish being on them. "I just think these fish were in that transition and the fish coming from deeper water were stopping on that shoal that was farther out, and the fish that had been on the flat were moving to the shoal closer to shore before they headed in to feed." He said the whole area was about 100 yards by 60 yards and his main focus was targeting the scattered boulders that were about 1 to 2 feet high off the bottom. Most of his fish over the first 2 days were caught as he pulled a small plastic swimbait by the big rocks. "The boulders were the size of a table top and I had to be really cognizant of wind and current directions," he noted. "I was always positioned down current." He opted for the 3-inch version of the Megabass Spark Shad since it seemed to best match the minnow forage that was prevalent in the area. He also mixed in a dropshot on occasion. "There were beach ball-sized schools of bait around there and it was a perfect ambush scenario for those smallmouth," he said. "Every time I'd see that bait on my electronics, I knew the next three casts would be crucial because those fish would be keying on it. When the bait moved around it was hard to stay on top of them. "After 2 days, I knew where the boulders were and I knew to cast to the boulder closest to the ball of bait."

He followed up his 18-02 stringer from day 1 with a 20-03 bag on day 2 to climb into 2nd place behind Greg Hackney, who led after days 1 and 2. Zaldain went back out Sunday convinced he could overtake Hackney for the win. He noted that Hackney's weight had dipped a little and that he wasn't catching a lot of fish. "I saw his bags were dwindling and I was gaining momentum," he added. "I couldn't sleep Saturday night. I was fired up to get back out there." He thought another 20 pounds was a reasonable expectation, but it didn't take long to recognize something had changed -the fish just weren't there anymore. "We had a little bit of post-frontal weather today so maybe that's why it was tougher there," he said. He hung around until 9:30 before opting to check another area where he'd gotten bites with a jerkbait in practice. He caught a keeper on a jerkbait right away, then decided to try the swimbait. On his third cast, he caught a 4-13 kicker and added two other keepers. He ran back to his starting spot, but still couldn't finish his limit there. He moved back to where he caught the 4-13 and finished his limit -he only got five bites on the final day -and it proved to be more than enough to overtake David Walker, who'd caught 20-10 to finish 2nd, and Hackney, who blanked.

Winning Pattern:

Zaldain said casting up wind and swimming his bait down the side of the boulders triggered the most strikes. "The bite was real light," he said. "They'd swim next to it or behind it and just mouth it."

Winning Gear:

Swimbait gear: 7' medium-action Megabass Orochi XX shakey-head spinning rod, Shimano Stradic Ci4+ 2500 spinning reel, 15-pound Seaguar Smackdown braided line (main), 8-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon line (leader), 1/4-oz. unnamed round-ball jig head, 3" Megabass Spark Shad (hiuo).

Main factor: "My decision to go to that jerkbait spot and expand on it with the swimbait was key. I was not going to go down being stubborn and sticking with my key area. I had to expand and cover water in places I had confidence in."

Performance edge "That Raymarine CHIRP DownVision was so key in helping me be able to see those fish tucked tight up against those boulders."

Lake Michigan Winning Pattern BassFan 9/22/15 (Todd Ceisner)

David Walker was in a fairly comfortable position heading to the AOY Championship. His berth in next year's Classic was virtually guaranteed and if he climbed into the Top 20 in points, he stood to earn at least $6,000 in year-end prize money. What wasn't comfortable was how inconsistent the fishing was. "The hype coming up here was you'd need 20 (pounds) a day to compete, but that was not reality," he said. Eventually, he settled in on a deep-water dropshot pattern and caught bigger bags each day. His runner-up finish moved him up two spots in points to 23rd. "I started shallow in practice along the banks and moved out to the 10-foot range," he said. "I had a big area and whittled it down to the best parts. Once I found what I needed to look for, there was a pattern fishing the shoals. It was an obvious pattern, but looking for the right depth range and all the nuances takes time." He caught smaller fish on day 1, but slid out to a deeper range on day 2 and caught 18-02. He targeted fish in 35 feet on the final day and bagged 20-10. "On Friday, I caught about 20 fish and they were mostly 3-pounders," he said. "I was catching a lot of fish so that made me feel good about Sunday. I was looking forward to getting back out there. It seemed like there were fewer fish (out deep), but I could catch bigger fish. At that point, I was not concerned with numbers. I was looking for quality."

Dropshot gear: 7'1" medium-action G. Loomis NRX spinning rod, Shimano Stella 3000 spinning reel, 10-pound Sunline SX-1 braided line (main), 7-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line (leader), size 1 Owner dropshot hook, size 1 Gamakatsu Aaron Martens TGW dropshot hook, 3.75" Z-Man StreakZ (red bone and shiner), 3/8- and 1/2-oz. Reins Down Shot sinker. He tried the larger StreakZ, but had the most success with the smaller version.

Main factor: "Going into the final day with some confidence is what iced the cake."

Performance edge: "It was a network of everything I use. Each one had a role and when you add it all up, it made it really good."

Sturgeon Bay 2-5 Patterns BassFan 9/24/15 (Todd Ceisner)

Being that he was in the Top 20 in points coming into the AOY Championship, all Alton Jones needed to do was weigh in one fish and his Classic berth would be secured. He did that and then some. He caught the fish he needed on his first cast of day 1 and never looked back in registering his second Top-3 finish of the season. He also moved up to 16th in points and secured a spot in next year's Toyota Texas Bass Classic (last year's TTBC winner Brent Ehrler finished 7th in points so he'll be considered a double-qualifier). "My goal coming in was to qualify for the Classic and I got that done by catching a keeper on my first cast," he said. "Beyond that, I wanted to stay in the Top 20 in points because it meant a better payday. I accomplished every incremental goal that I set." He did it by relying on what's become his go-to smallmouth tactic - dropshotting a green-pumpkin YUM Warning Shot. Last week, he targeted a isolated 50-yard square rock hump in 35 to 40 feet of water well north of Sturgeon Bay. "I'm convinced a lot of those Green Bay fish leave Green Bay for the summer and go to the islands up north and out into Lake Michigan," he said. "I went as far North as we could trying to catch fish coming in from lake. The fish were just eating whatever scattered across the area I was on. It was a lot of fun." That particular area produced all but one of his weigh-in fish on days 2 and 3. "Most of my fish were deep on a late-summer pattern, at least those were the more consistent fish," he said. "If the water had been a little cooler, those shallower fish would've been better and more bigger fish would've been caught."

Dropshot gear: 6'9" medium-action Kistler Z-Bone spinning rod, unnamed spinning reel, 15-pound unnamed braided line (main), 8-pound Silver Thread fluorocarbon line (leader), 1/0 Owner offset worm hook, YUM Warning Shot (green-pumpkin), 3/8-oz. unnamed dropshot sinker. Jones prefers to Texas-rig the Warning Shot and he rigs it upside down.

Main factor in his success - "That YUM Warning Shot. I really believe there's something to that bait. I gave a bag to a few other guys and I don't think they used them. I hope they don't."

Performance edge - "My Skeeter and Yamaha. We were in brutal conditions and I didn't have a lick of trouble. It got me there and back safely and comfortably."

Sturgeon Bay 2-5 Patterns BassFan 9/24/15 (Todd Ceisner)

Practice at Sturgeon Bay did nothing to instill confidence in Bobby Lane's mind. The night before the tournament, he was left with this dilemma: Go 5 miles south of Sturgeon Bay where he'd caught one fish, 16 miles north of the bay where he'd caught another one or stay around takeoff, where he'd caught his only other keeper in 3 days of practice. "Practice was absolutely horrible," he said. "I decided to start where I'd caught my biggest one and that's where I wound up catching 21 pounds on the first day." That area, which also produced fish for several other competitors, yielded no fish for Lane for the rest of the tournament. He limped in with three fish for 5-10 on day 2. "I just had to get lucky after the second day," he said. "On the first day I'd drop down and four would chase it up and four would chase it down. I don't know what they're doing. I saw plenty on my graph every day and dropped straight on top of them. On Thursday, I got five bites. Friday, I had zero bites and on Sunday, I didn't get a bite there. I caught a lot of short fish, though. They were still there. You could see them. It's just a weird time right now." After starting the year with a zero on day 1 at the Sabine River, Lane was thrilled to have a mostly pressure-free event to end the season. "This week was very enjoyable," he said. "Sturgeon Bay was phenomenal. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my season. It's been an amazing adventure." On day 3, he caught all of his weight off a bridge in the city of Sturgeon Bay. He was in an area with several other competitors, including brother Chris, and they all had success on Sunday. "That current goes in that way and I think it had something to do with the lake turning over," he said. "The fish were swimming into the river and replenishing because you could catch them off same spot after a little bit. I underestimated Sturgeon Bay. There are more fish here than I could ever imagine. I bet if they did a shock around those 2 bridges, thousands would pop up."

Dropshot gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Veracity spinning rod, Abu Garcia Revo SX and Revo S spinning reels, 8-pound SpiderWire Ultracast Ultimate Braid braided line (main), 8-pound SpiderWire Ultracast fluorocarbon line (leader), size 1 Lazer TroKar dropshot hook, Berkley HAVOC Money Maker (green-pumpkin), 1/4- and 1/2-oz. unnamed dropshot weights. He rigged the Money Maker wacky style, but also nose-hooked it on occasion for a different look. He opted for a heavier weight when fishing deeper water, but downsized on day 3 near the ramp because there was not as much current.

Swimbait gear: 7' medium-action Abu Garcia Veracity casting rod, Abu Garcia Revo MGX casting reel (7.9:1 gear ratio), 12-pound SpiderWire Ultracast fluorocarbon line, 1/4-oz. unnamed ball-head jig, 3.5" Berkley HAVOC Grass Pig (swamp gas). Lane would throw the swimbait in near-shore situations where the depth fell off about a cast or two from the bank. "Rock was the key no matter what," he said.

Main factor: "Getting a little help from my brother on the final day."

Performance edge: "Where there was deep water near the shoreline, the only way I could find that was to have the Lakemaster chip on my Humminbird. Lakemaster made it easy to find where to fish the swimbait."

Sturgeon Bay 2-5 Patterns BassFan 9/24/15 (Todd Ceisner)

It didn't take long for Chad Pipkens long to figure out that the fishing was a little off compared to expectations at Sturgeon Bay. He has plenty of Great Lakes smallmouth experience so he has a sense of when a fishery isn't up to par. He was coming off consecutive Top-4 finishes and worked his way inside the Classic cut in points. Still, he needed to register a decent finish to guarantee himself a trip to Grand Lake next March. He came through by employing his favorite smallmouth techniques - dropshot and cranking - to score a third straight Top-5 result. "I'd had an awesome two events to get there, but I didn't know if this would come together," he said. "I knew it was off and I didn't know if I could catch 12 (pounds) a day. My goal, having not been there, was I wanted to see a lot of water." He fished most of the event shallow in order to cover more water, but they was getting into an area he felt confident had a strong population of fish and somewhere he could expand on spots he'd found. "I wanted to get in the right section because if I got a few bites, I wanted to be within 5 or 6 miles of other stuff and expand on things during the tournament," he said. "The area I caught fish in the tournament was a spot I hadn't caught them in practice." His key was an underwater bar with "nubs and high spots" that stuck out, he said. "There were little sweet spots on the bar where the rock was broken up or there was a high spot," he added. "Depending on the current, they weren't always on the rock. They were ahead of it or behind it. In a way, it was just like (Lake) Erie with the current except on Erie I know where to go when the wind slacks off. Here, I didn't know where to go to maximize it. I had to drive around and explore more." While the dropshot was his key vertical presentation, he caught fish on a Damiki crankbait each day of the tournament, including three key upgrades on day 1 when he had 18-01. "I had about 16 pounds and it was midday on day 1, but I hadn't had a bite in 90 minutes," he said. "It was cloudy and windy and I'd been fishing a shallow spot, but was driving between spots. I drove over a flat in 10 to 12 feet that looked right. I got up wind and cranked the edge of the drop and culled three times."

Dropshot gear: 7' medium-action Powell Max 3D spinning rod, unnamed spinning reel, 8-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 10-pound SPRO barrel swivel, size 1 Gamakatsu dropshot hook, Poor Boys Baits Darter (smoke pepper), 1/4- or 3/8-oz. unnamed dropshot weight.

Cranking gear: 7' medium-heavy Powell Max 3D crankbait rod, unnamed casting reel, 12-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, Damiki DC-300 (real shad).

Main factor in his success - "Knowing how much these fish move. It's important to have confidence in an area. I didn't want to run around and chase spots. After having an awful practice, it was about getting in the right areas that had some fish."

Performance edge - "That Sunline FC Sniper line. I don't use a braid to fluorocarbon set up because with braid you almost feel too much. I've had situations where I've pulled the bait out of their mouths using braid. With the fluorocarbon, they eat the bait and on days like day 2, after a front goes through, they'll just mouth it. If you give them the slack and it loads up, you can catch them."

Sturgeon Bay 2-5 Patterns BassFan 9/24/15 (Todd Ceisner)