Courtesy of Alan McGuckin – Dynamic Sponsorships

 

This week marks the first time Carhartt pro Chris Zaldain has ever competed on Lake Eufaula. But after three long days of practice on the famed reservoir, he says he’s fired up to get started, and shares a few things fans can look forward to keeping their eyes on as competition unfolds Wednesday through Saturday on ESPN2, ESPN3 and Bassmaster.com.

 

Q: You’ve never been here before, what are your impressions of this history rich reservoir after three days of practice?

CZ: It’s for sure the original “OG” of ledge lakes that everybody says it is. The river channel is super defined, and more importantly, the channel is filled with twists and turns that break current and set these bass up to feed along the ledge.

 

 

Q: What percentage of all the fish weighed-in this week will be caught deeper than 10-feet of water?

CZ: I’ll say 75%, but there are bluegill spawning, so there’s definitely going to be a number of good fish caught shallow that are up there picking-off spawning bluegills.

 

 

Q: Give fans a heads-up on something to look for that might surprise them.

CZ: I think there’s a chance this big reservoir is going to fish pretty small and put a lot of anglers in a few select concentrated areas.

 

 

Q: Speaking of other anglers, who should fans have on their Rapala Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing team?

CZ: Caleb Sumrall because he’s so comfortable picking apart shallow vegetation, and there’s a ton of that here. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, Keith Combs, because he’s one of the best deep crankbait anglers on the planet.

 

 

Q: This place has plenty of alligators swimming in it, what’s the biggest one you’ve seen in practice?

CZ: I’ll guess around 9-feet long.