Chasin’ bigs.
When it comes to modern-day NASCAR drivers, few have the resume that Denny Hamlin does. With more than 50 Cup Series wins and nearly 400 top-10 finishes, he’s even teamed up with the GOAT, Michael Jordan, to launch his own racing team, 23XI Racing. Of course, that Cup Series Championship has still managed to elude him (he finished second last year in heartbreaking fashion), but overall, he’s one of the best to ever do it… a first-ballot Hall of Famer for sure. He is currently leading the Cup Series standings, one of four drivers who’ve already locked in their spot in The Chase.
Also in the boat is Bassmaster Elite Series angler Chris Zaldain. A Texas native and absolute hammer with a big swimbait, Zaldain boasts 29 Top 10s, including 13 Top 3 finishes, and over a million dollars worth of winnings. Chris is a great angler, but he’s also a great ambassador for the sport and a phenomenal content creator. In order to be really successful in bass fishing, you pretty much have to be a good content creator as well, and Chris puts out some fantastic stuff… we’re talking tons of instructional videos, a great podcast, and footage of local derbs as well as pro tournaments. If you love bass fishing and aren’t familiar, give him a follow… you’ll enjoy it.
But in his latest video, Zaldain took Hamlin out to a private Texas lake to chase some of the monsters they have down there. Up here in Wisconsin, a 5-pound largemouth is damn near the best you’re gonna do all summer… maybe you hit a 6- or 7-pounder here or there, but that’s PB territory, and it probably won’t get any bigger. But in Texas, those Florida-strain bass can easily go double digits… we’re talking regular 30- or 40-pound bags, sometimes even more.
Check it out:
Baits Used
Of course, we gotta talk baits.
We saw Chris hook up on the glide in the early going, and they also mixed in some speed worms, Chatterbaits, and you already know it… some Coikes (urchin style baits). I’ll try to pick out exactly what Chris and Denny are using, but also recommend some comparable baits as well… or some of my personal favorites.
Chatterbait
Just about every bass angler on Earth knows what a Chatterbait is and just about every bass angler on planet Earth fishes a Chatterbait Jack Hammer or the Elite Evo. Personally, I really like the tungsten Elite Evo, but I regularly use them all in different situations. Don’t sleep on a 3/4 ounce Chatterbait on deep weed lines this time of year too.
Z-Man Evergreen Chatterbait Jack Hammer – $19.99
Colors: Green Pumpkin Shad, Black Blue, Clearwater Shad
Z-Man Chatterbait Elite EVO – $9.99
Colors: Green Pumpkin, Electric Shad, Bama Craw
Glide Bait
The fellas hooked their first tank with a glide bait, and it’s not clear to me what he was using (perhaps a Clutch or a Chad Shad) but we also see Denny seemingly holding a Clutch Baby Boss. They’re definitely not in everyone’s budget so I linked a few more affordable options.
Color: Yella Fin Shad
Berkley Chop Block Glide Bait 6″,8″ – $15.99-$24.99
Colors: Burnt Bone, MF Blue Gill, Shad
Toad Thumper Sway Glide Bait – $34.99
Colors: Bad Bone, Bad Shad, Heavy Metal
Speed Worm
Everybody loves a good speed worm (aka swimming worm) and the Zoom Ultravibe speed worm is classic. It looks like Denny and Chris might be using the Magnum (7-inch profile) and why wouldn’t they with those Texas monsters?
Zoom Ultravibe Speedworm – $5.99
Zoom Magnum Ultravibe Speedworm – $6.99
Colors: Junebug, Green Pumpkin, Watermelon Red
Urchin Bait
The urchin bait has absolutely taken over bass fishing this year, so much so that they’re pretty hard to find. But the way they’ve been winning tournaments lately, it’s not hard to see why everyone wants to get their hands on one. You can fish them like a Senko around docks or in shallow water, but one of the really fun ways to fish them is the same way we saw Denny and Chris do it… scoping out in deeper water. Of course, “deeper water” is relative, but I’ve been fishing Coike baits out along deeper weed lines, and with FFS, you can see those big ones come flying out of the grass after it. They can’t resist that slow, subtle fall (much like a Senko), but then you start twitching it away from them like a jerkbait and they hammer it.
Of course, the Hideup Coike is the most popular urchin bait, but they’ve been HARD to get so here’s a few others I’ve been using as well:
Colors: Green Pumpkin Blue, Scuppernong, Wagasaki
Colors: Black, Bloodshot, Green Pumpkin
