Brandon Palaniuk has been the most consistent angler through the first 7 events of the season. But he uncharacteristically finished the Oahe Elite in 66th yesterday, missing the top 47 cut to fish on Saturday.
Fortunately for Palaniuk, the other two most consistent anglers of the year headed into Oahe faired slightly worst this week, David Mullins finishing 75th and John Cox ending up in 77th. So Palaniuk actually extended his lead on those two anglers by finishing 66th this week, thanks to a set of circumstances that would have been unimaginable just 48 hours or so ago.
But that doesn’t mean Palaniuk has his second Progressive Angler of the Year title wrapped up headed into the final Elite of the season next week. Instead, the threats have simply changed faces.
Chris Johnston now sits in second in the AOY race, some 45 points back of Palaniuk. The good news for BP is that this is as close as Johnston can get here, since the current positioning of the two is based on Palaniuk’s final standings and Johnston’s position in the lead at Oahe after Day 2.
Brandon Lester sits two points back of Johnston, sill within striking distance of BP next week and actually in better shape than Johnston currently as it pertains to the AOY race. Sneaking into the cut yesterday in 47th place, Lester could easily gain a dozen or more points with a strong Day 3, while Johnston (who again has the lead here) can only drop or maintain his position. Most likely, Lester will pass Johnston in AOY points by the end of the day. The math is simply in his favor.
Drew Benton in 4th as it pertains to AOY could narrow the gap between himself and Palaniuk as well, and leap over Johnston fairly easily, with a good showing here on Day 3. Benton sits in 30th on Oahe after Day 2, and only two points back of Lester and just four behind Johnston. If Benton were to rally 20 spots into the Top 10 to fish tomorrow, Benton could cut his deficit relative to Palaniuk to nearly half, making next week super exciting.
The likelihood is pretty good of an angler being within 20 points of Brandon Palaniuk at the start of the Mississippi River Elite next week. Which means Palaniuk will have to finish the year strong to win another AOY.
Though the fishing obviously went poorly for Palaniuk at Oahe, the grand scheme still looks good. But there is certainly no coasting to the finish line like we thought there’d be.
