I Did Not Sign My BASS Contract (The Bilge Podcast)

The Bilge is officially BACK! After a year off, Chris and Trait Zaldain fire up the mics with special guest Matt Pangrac (Bass Talk Live) for a no-holds-barred Season Premiere. We dive deep into Chris’s near-exit from the Elite Series, the live-stream ban fallout, angler revenue share fights, rule controversies, on-water blowups, ticket drama, and why today’s young pros are cashing huge checks without big sponsor deals… and what that means for the future of the sport. This is the raw, unfiltered conversation the bass fishing world needs – straight talk from people who live it every day. #TheBilge #BassFishing #Bassmaster #EliteSeries #FishingPodcast #BassmasterDrama #LiveStreamBan #ProAngler #TournamentFishing #zaldaingerous Check out Bass Pro’s latest sale 👉🏽 https://bit.ly/BPSOnlineSale Shop for your next truck here 👉🏽 https://bit.ly/GilchristAuto Buy My Swimbaits here 👉🏽 https://bit.ly/LoadedSwimbait FOLLOW CHRIS Website https://zaldaingerous.com Subscribe to Channel https://bit.ly/ZaldaingerousYoutube Instagram   / chriszaldain   Facebook   / chriszaldain11   Twitter   / chriszaldain   CHRIS' SIGNATURE GEAR Sunglasses https://bit.ly/ZaldaingerousSunglasses Unloaded Swimbait https://bit.ly/UnloadedSwimmer 5", 6", & 7" Loaded Swimbait https://bit.ly/LoadedSwimbait Big Larry Spoon https://bit.ly/BigLarrySpoon Little Larry Spoon https://bit.ly/LittleLarrySpoon Favorite BPS Hat https://bit.ly/VinatgeBPSHat 00:00 – Intro: The Bilge is BACK 00:39 – Welcoming Matt Pangrac (BTL OG) 02:07 – Why we paused the podcast for a year 04:43 – Chris almost didn’t sign his 2025 Elite contract 07:53 – The angler GroupMe drama & lack of real power 11:08 – Live stream ban: what really happened 14:14 – The data that proved independent streams HELPED Bass 16:48 – Has the sport actually grown since the 2019 split? 20:50 – Sponsor packages, Starlink boats, and the future 27:50 – New title sponsor announcement: Silencer Co. 29:21 – Hog hunting stories & off-topic chaos 35:09 – Our biggest public mistakes & lessons learned 36:48 – The “rookies in the gray area” title fallout 46:36 – The Murray Lake on-water blowup explained 58:03 – Chris’s Oklahoma live-well ticket story 1:07:33 – Close calls & why self-reporting matters 1:22:12 – Is the penalty system fair? Real talk on rules 1:29:38 – Young pros making bank but no star power – the coming storm 1:39:47 – Newlywed Matt Pangrac drops marriage advice 1:40:55 – Outro & what’s next