Astute bass anglers like Chris Zaldain excel by targeting under-pressured bass with proven big fish baits on overlooked spots. He gives us a lesson in finding schools of big bass around mid-depth saddles using a combination of mapping and an assortment of modern sonar technologies. He then leverages forward-facing sonar to make accurate casts to bass and work magnum flutter spoons through the schools with great success.
Every fishing day starts by driving your boat to a likely location. Zaldain kicks off the process by doing a map recon and applying colors to specific contour ranges to make structures and sneaky spots pop to the eye. While ledges, points, and drop-offs are excellent areas, they also receive the lion’s share of the pressure. Saddles, however, are often overlooked despite being baitfish and gamefish magnets. He shows what saddles look like on mapping, then idles these spots to see if they have life.
FEATURED TACKLE (retail links)
• FLUTTER SPOONS @ Tackle Warehouse: https://wired2.fish/3fB0jSU
• SWIVEL – Owner Micro Hyper Barrel Swivel: https://wired2.fish/3fLxvS0
• MAIN LINE – Seaguar Smackdown Braided Line, Flash Green: https://wired2.fish/3zHnf8Z
• LEADER LINE – Seaguar Gold Label Fluorocarbon, 30-pound: https://wired2.fish/3sZX4XF
• ROD – 13 Fishing Muse Black, 7’11” Heavy: https://wired2.fish/3T1QHOz
• REEL – 13 Fishing Concept A2, 8.3:1: https://wired2.fish/3N7xND6
*Additional links are below.
Once he finds predator fish, Zaldain acquires the bass off the bow using a combination of 360 Imaging and forward-facing sonar. Suppose you’re fishing a trophy bass fishery such as Texas’ famed Lake Fork. In that case, magnum flutter spoons are an excellent choice for triggering the biggest bass in the school — fish commonly conditioned to jigs, crankbaits, and swimbaits. Zaldain makes precise casts to bass by cross-cueing MEGA 360 Imaging and MEGA Live. MEGA 360 Imaging paints the detailed terrain map while he uses MEGA Live to pinpoint the fish and how far they are off the bottom. Cast beyond the school and stroke the flutter spoon over the top of them to trigger big bites.
Trial and error have shifted Zaldain’s flutter spoon program away from straight fluorocarbon. He lands way more fishing using a heavier and longer casting rod paired with a fast reel spooled with a braided mainline to a short leader of heavy fluorocarbon. Apply these tactics and tackle if you’re hunting big bass on pressured fisheries.
BOAT & ELECTRONICS
• FISH FINDER – Humminbird SOLIX 12 CHIRP MEGA SI+ G3: https://wired2.fish/3zGGznG
• 360 SONAR – Humminbird MEGA 360 Imaging: https://wired2.fish/3Um38pE
• LIVE SONAR – Humminbird MEGA Live Imaging: https://wired2.fish/3FMsnx9
• MAPPING – Humminbird LakeMaster With VX Technology, Midsouth States V1: https://wired2.fish/3TjBYyQ
• TROLLING MOTOR – Minn Kota Ultrex 112lb-36V Trolling Motor: https://wired2.fish/3WxZrPl
• BASS BOAT – Skeeter FXR20: https://wired2.fish/3Uj8wcW
• TRUCK – 2022 Toyota Tundra: https://wired2.fish/3qKmUPf
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Haha…not fishing….so sad.
Awesome. All I need is to mortgage my house to get some electronics.
Just bought some flutter spoons for the upcoming season. Cant wait to try this technique out! Looks so fun catching fish this way
How do you keep your boat icon from going out on the bow graphs when you're sitting still? I'm always struggling with boat direction when I'm fishing a waypoint and running to look at my dash just to see exactly where the boat is sitting in relation to the waypoint. Do I have to add another GPS puck to the front??
Them steez spoons are good looking
Oh snap! I've not spooned in so long!
Awesome video! Love the way Chris breaks down techniques.
Going forward. Can you please caption in the title for videos with FFS (forward facing sonar) so I don’t waste my time watching a guy play a video game.
So fish a kastmaster ok 👍
That’s a great video , great demonstration. Thanks for the quality fishing video W2Fish .
Nice Brother 👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻
I didn’t see any googan gear. Hmmmm
I thoroughly like the video. And to the ppl saying this is cheating and everything don't be mad because u can shell out the thousands of dollars on technology.. if it's not for u then keep it moving. No one asked for what u think about anything this video is of a top tier angler showing how a not so obvious structure can be productive. If u don't have these screens u can still use swimbaits, hair jigs, drop shots etc to target these fish. This technology just makes him more productive on the water and not waste hours out casting for nothing. And just because u see the fish on live doesn't mean your automaticly guna catch em.. it still takes a great amount of skill to do it. So if u don't understand something don't waste your time expressing why u aren't for it. Simple ain't it? 🤦♂️
Nothing better than a spoon bite!!
I hate watching pros using electronic s like this , why are you a pro a bass fishing if you can see where all the fish are it blows my mind this video just shows how eas it really is my friend uses it to catch striped bass
I wish the major tournament circuits would limit only 2 sonar units per boat. These electronics are getting insane.
Great job Z!
Wired 2 Fish is just AWESOME! I can’t afford all these electronics, but it is cool to see how the pros do it
I feel like the overwhelming majority of bass anglers don’t have forward facing sonar, so these videos aren’t very useful to most people
What's some swim baits you would recommend ?
I'm all about down scan fish finders I used them when I fished salt water… Iv just started fishing for bass becouse of the restrictions on salt water fish that can actually change from day to day.. when i bought my first bass boat i was wanting forward facing sonar BUT after watching the elite series and watching " pro " competitors looking down at a machine all day and then coming in and telling there great stories on how they used there great fishing Instinct to land the winning bag…… well it was obvious that with out that forward facing sonar most of them wouldn't have crap and pretty much would be way back in the Field of that day compilation…
I will not be buying a forward facing sonar and hope with time I can develop the Instinct and insight into what bass fishing is all about. I have 30 + yr of saltwater fishing under my belt and so far it has help…. instinct was the mainstay for the day when it came to red fish and snook… well why don't you show us what a great pro u are useing just down scan and side scan with some instinct thrown in there….. don't forget about a little map reading thrown in there and then show us in real competition your great fishing skills…. you should probably get Used to 30th place.
Great video thanks and good fishing
Theres more there bc i can see em on live……just fish. Enough with the videos of just showing the guys looking at the live. Its fine they have it but don’t concentrate the video on it.
I found em on my cheat machine
The spoon is DANGEROUS…ZALDAINGEROUS!!!!!!!!