In the eighth tournament of a nine-event Bassmaster Elite Series season, Brandon Palaniuk finally finished lower than 26th place. And it was significantly lower at South Dakota’s Lake Oahe, as in 66th place. However, the two anglers closest to catching Palaniuk in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race – second-place David Mullins and third-place John Cox – stumbled even further. Mullins finished 75th, and Cox was 77th.
Only Brandon Lester carved a piece off Palaniuk’s AOY lead as we go into the final event of the season on the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wis., which begins Friday. Lester is now second in the AOY standings, 37 points back. Palaniuk’s lead going into Oahe was 41 points.
“It’s going to be very interesting now,” said Palaniuk. “I don’t know what to expect. I’m just upset that I had an opportunity where I could have closed the deal, and I left it wide open.”
“Wide open” might be an exaggeration. A 37-point lead with one tournament to go remains daunting for anyone. But, remember, Palaniuk claims he doesn’t know where he stands in AOY points at any time during the season. He does recognize he’s leading, but his mindset is that it’s by one point.
Two trends are worth noting as the Elite season-ender at La Crosse approaches. No. 1 is that Brandon Lester is having a dream season of his own. He started 2022 by winning the first Bassmaster tournament of the year, a Bassmaster Open, on Feb. 5 at Florida’s Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. Then the 34-year-old Fayetteville, Tenn., angler won the first Elite Series tournament of his career on June 5 at Pickwick Lake. In further testament to his success this year, Lester is now the only angler who has made the Day 2/Top 47 cut in all eight Elite Series tournaments.
The second trend is Palaniuk’s uncharacteristic struggles on the Mississippi River at La Crosse. In his four previous tournaments there, he’s finished as follows: 59th in 2012, 77th* in 2013, 34th in 2016 and 55th in 2018. That asterisk in ’13 is for a controversial disqualification that would take too long to explain in this story. It should be noted he was doing quite well before the DQ, which involved an interpretation of the boundary for tournament waters.
“I’m going to approach it a little bit different than I have in the past and see if I can come out of there with a win, or at least a Top 10,” said Palaniuk, who is determined to add a second AOY title to his previous title in 2017. He’s studied the history. Only 11 anglers have won more than one Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.
Lester doesn’t have a strong feel for the Mississippi River at La Crosse, saying, “I’m just going to fish as hard as I can and see what happens.”
Chris Johnston is now third in AOY points, 46 behind Palaniuk. “I really think Palaniuk was just teasing us a little bit,” said Johnston. “He dropped back to make it a little interesting for TV. Then he’ll probably just smoke it at this last one. I’m not getting my hopes up at all.”
Speaking of hopes, there are a dozen or more hanging on Bassmaster Classic berths that will be finalized, as well, at La Crosse. With four double-qualifiers, the automatic Classic berths extend to the top 43 places in AOY points. Jamie Hartman occupies that final spot heading into La Crosse with 450 points for the season. With a 90-angler field, there are way too many scenarios where anglers could rise from below or fall from above that cutline at La Crosse.
See the full 2022 AOY standings.
