Elevate Your Popper Game
Tune in with Elite series pro Chris Zaldain as he explains how poppers can be some of the most versatile weapons in your topwater arsenal when
SEASONAL
Seasonal fishing tips from Megabass
Targeting Suspended Bass with The Megabass Deep-Six Crankbait
Chris Zaldain breaks down his approach to target suspended bass with the Megabass Deep-Six Crankbait. – Finding the correct depths are key. Pay attention to when you’re marking fish above the bottom! – Long casts are extremely important, as is matching the bait with the proper set up. – Fall and post spawn are ideal …
Targeting Suspended Bass with The Megabass Deep-Six Crankbait Read More »
Fishing the Vision Oneten Jr for Late Summer Bass
One of the biggest myths in bass fishing, is that jerkbaits are limited to pre-spawn fishing. While this time of year is indeed the best times to throw a jerkbait, the lure remains productive all season long, especially given the profile and color options we see today. Fishing the Vision Oneten Jr for late summer …
Fishing the Vision Oneten Jr for Late Summer Bass Read More »
How to Improve Your Frog Fishing with The Megabass Big Gabot Frog
Chris Zaldain takes to the topwater game with tips and tricks on how to improve your frog fishing with the Megabass Big Gabot. Whether you pop it or walk it, the Big Gabot’s Catamaran Mouth shatters expectations and attracts even the biggest predators.
Vision 110+2: How to Improve Your Cold Water Jerkbait Fishing
The cold water season can put fish in a slump, but by learning how to improve your cold water jerkbait fishing game with the Vision 110+2, you will be able to hit the water with confidence this season.
Fishing the S-Crank for Springtime Bass
Spring is a time of great transition in bass fishing April is a key time in this phase. Throughout many parts of the country, April is the month where most spawning activity occurs. The exception to this would be the southern and northern tier of states. This activity would include those bass looking to build …
SonicSide in the Pre Spawn
take advantage of the megabass SonicSide in the Pre-Spawn Of all the seasons, the pre-spawn period of the year without a doubt is the time of the most radical transitions in terms of fish movement and behavior. Rising water temperature plays a key role in these transitions, but more importantly are the length of the …
Late Winter Bass Transitions
Understanding bass movement is a lifelong project The hardest part of this sport for many people to understand is that there are no absolutes. There are exceptions to every rule and every accepted fact regarding these fish. On those occasions when you figure it all out, bass fishing can be incredibly rewarding, but much of …
Early Winter Jerkbait Fishing
Master These early winter Jerkbait fishing Techniques Without a doubt, jerkbait fishing is one of the most difficult techniques to master. Since jerkbaits rely on the angler to impart the strike-triggering action and conditions are constantly changing, anglers must consider and master an—at times daunting—list of variables to find success. Which Season is best for jerkbait fishing? …
Megabass Big-M 7.5 for Ultra Deep Cranking 24ft +
How is ultra-deep cranking different from normal deep cranking? What areas of the lake do you target? Why, when, and most importantly, how? Chris Zaldain shares his tips for summertime ultra-deep cranking success with the new BIG-M 7.5. The Megabass Big-M 7.5 takes your deep cranking to depths of 24+ ft and beyond on 16lb …
Megabass Big-M 7.5 for Ultra Deep Cranking 24ft + Read More »
Megabass I-Wing 135 | Chris Zaldain
Trophy bass anglers rely on plus-sized lures to attract and trigger the biggest bass in any given system — this mentality extends beyond the swimbait category and into the topwater arena as well. Chris Zaldain demonstrates how to fish big and aggressive topwater baits to trigger pressured bass on a popular Texas fishery. Product featured …
Shallow Summer Cranking
In most man-made lakes and river systems, a portion of the lake will have some off-colored water, current and shallow cover. While the percentage of bass that use shallow water may not equal the numbers of offshore bass, for those anglers willing explore it, the results can often be rewarding in both quantities and quality …
Post Spawn Topwater Fishing
One can imagine over a century ago, some innovative person observing largemouth bass attacking birds or snakes swimming, and then creating a crude topwater imitation to take advantage of the aggressive, opportunistic nature of bass. Today, topwater still remain one of the most effective and fun ways to catch bass in the warmer months. Topwater …
Magdraft Freestyle Rigging Techniques
How do you fish and rig a FREESTYLE swimbait? Professional Angler Chris Zaldain has been wildly successful with Megabass swimbaits on Bassmaster Elite tournament trail, notching multiple top-finishes and heavy bags. Take a seat in Chris’ boat as he breaks down the Magdraft 6” and its new sibling, the MAGDRAFT FREESTYLE. Chris shares two of …
Chris Zaldain Bass Master Classic 2019
ZALDAIN GOES AGAINST THE CURRENT FOR A CLASSIC-BEST LIMIT Faced with an 11-pound gap to make up after Day One of the Bassmaster Classic, Chris Zaldain was amazed by the 20 pounds that Ott DeFoe brought to the scales. He’d followed a “false clue” on Day One that led him down an errant path to …
How to Fish the Megabass ONETEN+2 Jerkbait
Megabass expands their jerkbait lineup with the VISION ONETEN+2, a new class of jerkbait that delivers the tournament-proven ONETEN action in the 12-foot depth range using 12lb fluorocarbon. Professional bass angler Chris Zaldain explains why getting deeper can mean more bass in a lot of situations. For one, bass often suspend off the edge of …
Megabass Sonic Side Flat Sided Crankbait
Flat-sided crankbaits catch bass all year, but they’re at their best during the prespawn period when water temps are cold but starting to warm. Professional bass angler Randy Blaukat details when and where to target bass with flat-sided crankbaits and how to fish them to catch quality prespawners.
Zaldain Goes Deep for Swimbait Spots
As Chris Zaldain left Palatka, Florida for the seven-hour drive to Lake Lanier, he experienced a bit of déjà vu. The road took him through Atlanta, up into the Georgia foothills, and he felt himself being transported “back to Northern California.” That told him much of what he needed to know and informed the choices …
Fall Transitions
Fishing the Fall Transition Bass fishing is an art and a science. Each year, our knowledge of the sport increases exponentially with new products, technology, and time on the water. However, one aspect remains the same; bass behavior and locations always change with the seasons. Understanding these underlying seasonal patterns are critical to becoming a …
Target Fall Bass with the Spark Shad Swimbait
Professional bass angler Chris Zaldain nails it when he says new school grubbing is a finesse swimbait rigged on a ball head jig. Unlike grubs, anatomically accurate baits like the Megabass Spark Shad closely mirror baitfish in appearance and motion while allowing anglers to cover the water column with speed and efficiency. Although they work …
Late Summer Frog Fishing
Hollow-belly Frogs have been catching bass for nearly 50 years, but for much of that time, many anglers thought they were relegated to fishing in Florida around lily pads. However, about 20 years ago, some Western bass anglers began dispelling that particular myth. Tournaments started getting won with huge weights in California, particularly at Clear …
Targeting Deep Bass with the DEEP-SIX Crankbait
Large schools of bass move offshore during the Post-Spawn and Fall patterns. One of the most effective ways to target these fish is to throw a deep diving crankbait like the Deep-SIX. In this video, Bassmaster Elite Angler Chris Zaldain talks about boat positioning and approach when targeting offshore bass.
Fishing the Dark Sleeper Swimbait like a Jig
Bass anglers often use jigs for pitching, flipping and casting to shallow cover. Kenichi Iida demonstrates how to employ a standard jigging technique with a swimbait, that seamlessly transitions in a horizontal swim retrieve using the versatile Megabass Dark Sleeper.
Targeting Transitions with the Dark Sleeper
The compact profile and boot-tail design of the Dark Sleeper swimbait make it ideal for bottom contact applications. But unlike many swimbaits, the Dark Sleeper’s unique dorsal-fin shields the hook-point, making this presentation virtually weedless–perfect for targeting transitions where bass hide! Megabass Pro Edwin Evers shares a few of his favorite ways to fish the …
Choosing shallow-cover cast angles
When I think of September bass fishing, I think of fishing around shallow targets. Of course, many anglers associate bass fishing with shallow cover, as a bass is an ambush feeder, but the thing that separates the average angler from the expert in dissecting shallow cover is understanding casting angles. One of the first things …
Locating and Planting Brush Piles
One of the keys in competitive bass fishing is learning to focus on catching better than average-sized bass. The skill level of anglers has accelerated at such a fast level over the past 10 years that having the ability to just catch a limit keeper size fish will rarely even cash you a check at …
Early Post-Spawn Topwater Fishing
The transition from pre-spawn, spawn, to post-spawn is not an exact science. When it comes to topwater techniques, these periods overlap and are far from definite. Geographical locations, the type of lake, water visibility, localized weather patterns and various other factors all make this unpredictable. One thing is for sure, though: The period immediately after …
Understanding Late Pre-Spawn Patterns
Without a doubt, April is one of the favorite months for bass anglers throughout most of the country. The fish are moving shallow in large numbers and therefore tend to be easier to catch this time of year than at just about any other time. Depending upon which area of the country you live in, …
Best Times to Catch Big Bass on Jerkbaits
While you can catch fish on jerkbaits all year, there is a specific window of time on each body of water across the country when you stand the best chance to catch a huge bass. This window varies depending what part of the country you live in, and it may vary from year to year …
Best Wintertime Jerkbait Locations
Jerkbait fishing may be one of the most difficult techniques to master, but on those occasions when you put the puzzle together there’s almost nothing in fishing that’s more rewarding. Even if you manage to dial in the proper colors, sizes, cadences and equipment, there’s always the additional challenge of locating the best water. The best …
Jerkbaits in 40-degree Waters
Traditionally, most anglers have viewed winter as the prime time for jerkbait fishing. The conventional wisdom indicated that suspending jerkbaits were only effective for sluggish bass in cold water. This myth has been dispelled greatly over the past 10 years, but the fact remains that jerkbaits shine when the water temperatures are in the forties. …
Understanding Jerkbait Conditions
In my opinion, jerkbait fishing can be one of the most complicated techniques in bass fishing, but if practiced correctly it can also be among the most rewarding and fun. There are many variables that are crucial to fine-tuning this technique, but determining the best conditions in which to use it may be the first …
Four Seasons of Jerkbait Fishing
While it’s true that jerkbaits are the dominant prespawn lure throughout much of the country, subtle and not so subtle variations in design make them consistent year-round producers for all species of bass. Elite Series pro Chris Zaldain has a Megabass jerkbait tied on at every event across the country, and attributes the lure category …
Northern Smallmouth: Early-winter jerkbaits for shallow water
Up here in Canada and the Great Lakes region, I like to target shallow flats, where Smallmouth feed on small baitfish before descending into their wintering holes. Although I catch Smallmouth on jerkbaits from Spring to Fall, this is truly the best time to catch a big one! The Vision Oneten jerkbait has been my …
Northern Smallmouth: Early-winter jerkbaits for shallow water Read More »
TOPWATER POPPERS: POP-X
“Topwater lures shine during the warm water months, and especially in clear water on overcast days. But which topwater category to tie on? Poppers remain a great choice under nearly all conditions, but really excel when bass and are relating to individual cover elements like clumps of grass. You can fish them as fast or …
POWER FISHING THE VISION ONETEN JERKBAIT
The Vision Oneten has long been dominant in colder pre-spawn waters, but the real secret of its effectiveness is that it produces all year long. Check the front deck of many pros, and you’ll see a Vision Oneten, Oneten+1, or Oneten Jr. within reach all year long! The clear waters of Minnesota are no exception, and the guys from Wired2Fish …