2015 Bassmaster Elite Lake St. Clair Day 3: Brandon Palaniuk Extends Lead as St. Clair Group Shines!

St. Clair performs as river dies!

By Thomas Allen

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.

Brandon was the only one to catch big river bass. (Photo: BASS)

His three-day total was pushed to 64-5, keeping exactly 2 pounds between him and the second-place angler, Todd Faircloth.
“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.

2015 Bassmaster Elite Lake St. Clair Day 2: Brandon Palaniuk Grabs Lead as Crowds Tightens.

Bluewater Bridge area clusters leaders.

By Thomas Allen

bass press release

DETROIT — There was ample position shifting on Friday’s leaderboard during Day 2 of the Plano Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair, proving that some dreams never die, and persistence can pay off.

Brandon fishing in crowds but he's finding
the bigger ones.
(Photo: BASS)

After a strong showing on Thursday, Brandon Palaniuk stayed on the fish and weighed five smallmouth for 21 pounds, 1 ounce. With a two-day total of 44-5, Palaniuk claimed the top honors, including the Bass Pro Shops Big Bass, a 5-11 smallie.

“I caught my two biggest fish right away — both over 5 pounds — and I thought for sure I was about to catch the biggest limit of smallies I’ve ever weighed,” he said. “I managed to find another 3-pounder, but then the bite just died.”

The two-time Elite Series champion said he returned to the same spot a couple of times during the day to check if the fish had returned, but they hadn’t. He decided to run back into St. Clair where he managed to catch his fifth bass to fill out his limit with just minutes to go.

“The wind direction changed midday; the last couple of days it was out of the north, which pushes a lot of water from Huron into the river," he said. "I believe the current that gets created is key to those specific fish being on that spot. When the wind turned almost 180 degrees, the current was reduced.”