Brandon Palaniuk started the day in 37th place. As long as he finished this event 38th or better, he would win his second Progressive Angler of the Year title, no matter what anyone else did on the water.
So Palaniuk simply needed to survive the day. But BP isn’t a survivor, he’s a thriver. Where many would have been tempted to try to peck out a limit, Palaniuk locked big baits in his hand and went after the win, refusing to layup and hope for the best.
Throwing a large Storm Arashi topwater that he helped design, Palaniuk put together a good limit early this morning. This was likely enough to seal the deal. Then, he swapped over to a big swimbait to try to cull, and caught his biggest fish of the day.
As long as Palaniuk’s bass make it to the scales, he’s won his second AOY. And he did it how he wanted to do it, chucking big baits at big bass. No bunting here.
