BASS PRESS RELEASE
DETROIT — After a poor start to the season, Brandon Palaniuk of
Rathdrum, Idaho, claimed that paying attention to the Toyota Bassmaster
Angler of the Year standings had been negatively affecting how he
approached each day.He hasn’t checked the points in a couple of months. He’s simply been swinging for the fences.
His approach is clearly working to his advantage — he weighed 20 pounds of smallmouth bass Saturday to retain the lead going into the championship round in the Plano Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair.
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| Brandon was the only one to catch big river bass. (Photo: BASS) |
“I started my day in the same place where I managed to catch three nice fish and one that I hoped to cull out later,” said the five-time GEICO Bassmaster Classic contender. He hooked, fought and boated all four bass on Bassmaster Live, an innovative video service that allows visitors to Bassmaster.com watch the leaders fish in real time.
“I left a little earlier, based on what I learned from the past couple days. It seems that the bite is shut off by noon, and I knew there were quality fish in St. Clair that could help me wrap up a limit.”
Palaniuk believes that to seal the victory Sunday, he’ll need his hot spot near Lake Huron — a 50-minute boat ride from Lake St. Clair — to produce another limit of 4-pound bass.
Coming in under the radar to take over second, Faircloth weighed five bass for 21-11 Saturday, including the Bass Pro Shops big Bass of the day, a 6-3 smallmouth. He has a three-day total of 62 pounds, 5 ounces.
