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Palaniuk Primed for 2013

Category: article

 Mar 6th, 2013 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Mar 6th, 2013 at 12:00 AM

It has been just over a week since Brandon Palaniuk (BP) fell a few pounds short of capturing the 2013 Bassmaster Classic title. Sure, there are those who say second place is the first loser, but Palaniuk is not one of them. He is taking advantage of the extra notoriety he gained and pursuing plenty of media opportunities along with allowing his close finish to fuel his competitive desire throughout the upcoming 2013 Bassmaster Elite Series season.

	Brandon Palaniuk looks on at the most coveted trophy in all of bass fishing moments before Cliff Pace was crowned. (Photo BassFIRST)

“If you win the Classic, that is really huge,” said Palaniuk. “That is obvious. But by finishing in second and actually having a chance to win the event, there is value there. There is a lot of good that can come from it, through media exposure and other opportunities that I am working on. It’s all in how you go about capitalizing on it. There is a story to be told.”

Palaniuk is coming to grips with the Classic win not being his.

“I was totally excited on the final day,” said Palaniuk. “I knew I needed to catch one big fish, but I never did. When I saw Cliff Pace bringing the fish up to the scales I knew he had enough to win. It was heartbreaking for me. Imagine the most important thing you’ve ever wanted in your life, the thing you’ve dreamed about since you were little, all you’ve ever wanted in life, and you were that close to achieving it. Then it’s torn from you and taken away. Cliff earned it and deserves it, but that is how I was feeling. Now I am moving on and looking forward to more opportunities.”

The pattern Brandon found was quite unique.

“I was fishing similar baits to what a lot of the other anglers were fishing,” said Palaniuk. “I was fishing a Storm Twitchstick and a Rapala X-Rap. On the last day, I was fishing with a Storm Wiggle Wart.

“I had 7 or 8 little key stretches. They were all adjacent to major spawning areas. They all had little ditches running into them from the main river channel that dead-ended into the flats. Like drains you’d see coming off the shore into the water, only in reverse.

	Brandon Palaniuk (Photo BassFIRST)

“The areas were flat, with some of the water being 1-to 2-feet deep and dropping into the ditches of maybe 3-to 6-feet deep. You couldn’t see the cover from the shore. There you’d only see pea gravel and mud, but on these little ditch drop-offs there were softball or basketball sized rocks.

“I found this pattern a year ago February and caught 7 or 8 bass each day all weighing between 3 and 5 pounds. The same results held up this February.”

BP wants to be remembered decades from now.

“My goal during the 2013 season is to win every event,” said Palaniuk. “I’m serious. Sometime I know I am going to win them all. It’s possible, just not very probable though.

“When KVD came up, everyone was saying he’ll be the next Rick Clunn. Years from now I want people to say about some kid coming up that he is going to be the next BP. I want that type of success.

“I’m in this because of my competitive drive. I want to win every event I fish. I plan on doing this for another 50 years or until my doctor says my body is so destroyed that I can’t do it anymore. When that day comes, my mind will be pissed.”