Brandon Palaniuk started Day 2 in 7th place, weighing just four bass for a total of 21-14. In that bag were three 6-pounders and a 3-pounder. One more bite would have made a world of difference. Give him another 3-pounder and he’d have jumped to 4th. Another 6 and he’d have scared the lead.
But bites are hard to come by. Palaniuk has put two in the boat today, a couple of 3-pounders. He is three good bites away from another fantastic day. The conditions have changed though, and he is having to change with them.
Palaniuk is our first guy out of the LIVE coverage crew, as cameramen went with the first through sixth-place anglers today. But B.A.S.S. photographer Steve Bowman has followed Palaniuk since the start of the event and has some info to relay.
“He’s fishing this long bay at take off. Wind is blowing straight out. Yesterday we could see all kinds of bait. Today, not so much. But he seems to be working out, or downwind.”
Palaniuk has been targeting bass relating to isolated brush piles and the ends of docks. He did most of his damage on Day 1 with a big Megabass jerkbait, one that he weighted to sink down to the piles.
“I think these fish are obviously moving. Thought that yesterday and this kind of backs that up. He’s got two, both smaller than anything he weighed yesterday. If they are truly moving out, and he runs across them closer to the lake, then I’ll find that interesting.”
Palaniuk has had very few bites to build a pattern around, and he’s trying to adjust with little to work on. But he’s one of the best at adjusting. The best last season, winning his second Progressive Angler of the Year title. We’ll see if he can figure these fish out here.
