Brandon Palaniuk Wins Bassmaster Elite Santee Cooper

If there was any doubt about Brandon Palaniuk's versatility as a professional angler, it was dispelled with his performance at last week's Santee Cooper Lakes Bassmaster Elite Series. The Idahoan had primarily plied offshore haunts with finesse techniques en route to his previous four victories on B.A.S.S.' top tour (including one earlier this year at Lake Champlain). Santee Cooper was his first shallows-oriented triumph and he did the bulk of his work with power-fishing tactics. He caught nine of his 20 weigh-in fish punching mats, six on a swimbait, two on a bladed jig, two on a jerkbait and one on a dropshot rig. The dropshot fish was a 7 3/4-pound giant that served as the foundation of the massive final-day bag that carried him to an 8-pound win over runner-up and cousin-in-law Carl Jocumsen.

After the 3-day practice period, he had no inkling that another blue trophy was about to be added to his collection. "I was hoping to somehow scrape together enough to make the cut," he said. "I didn't have a ton of bites in practice and I didn't ever feel like I was dialed in on anything. "That was like a blessing in disguise, though. I was able to pick up little bits and pieces of clues here and there and make some adjustments without getting locked into any one thing."

Not an Easy Start

Palaniuk weighed the first of his two 20-pound-plus stringers on day 1, but it took a while for him to get into the groove. Focusing on the Jack's Creek area of Lake Marion, he started the day on a turn in a creek channel with some short grass where he'd caught a big one on a topwater bait in practice, but managed only a 1 1/2-pounder. He made a move to the north to some mats the were exploited by a number of competitors who fared well in the event. He settled into a good rotation and got three oversized bites - a 7 1/2-pounder, a 6 and a 4.

In the midst of that flurry, he made some casts with six fish in his livewell, which resulted in a 2-pound reduction from his 23-01 raw weight. He went straight to the mats on day 2 and boxed another solid stringer (18-13) to take the lead for the first time. It was topped by a 6 1/4-pounder he caught no more than 30 feet away from where he'd enticed his biggest specimen the previous day. "It was a grind," he said. "I'd get a couple of bites in a 30- or 40-yard stretch, then go the next 2 hours or more without one."

Day 3 forced the field to contend with 25-mph winds and many had a difficult time. Palaniuk was among that group as his 9 1/2-pound bag was barely half of his weight from day 2. "I got one big bite on (a swimbait) in the morning, but I lost that one. Most of my big bites were coming from punching and some guys still caught them, but you could tell by the weights that it was different. For whatever reason, the punch bite wasn't as strong." The quintet and 14- and 15-inchers he weighed dropped him to 3rd place, 1-03 behind Jocumsen.

Change of Plan Worked

Palaniuk had planned to start day 4 on the mats, as he'd done the previous 2 days, but had a change of heart just before take-off. "The morning of day 4 is always quieter," he said. "There's only 10 guys and you get there earlier and get you photo and media stuff done, then you've got 25 or 30 minutes to just sit there. "Me and Carl had talked and I was just sitting there in the boat, thinking and taking everything in. It was the warmest, most humid, low-pressure feeling we'd had and something in my mind clicked. I decided to go back to the place where I'd started on day 1 to try for one Hail Mary topwater bite. If I could catch a 6- or 7-pounder and then get four more good bites punching, I could make it interesting." The wind of the day before had dirtied up the area and he gave up on the topwater plug after a couple of casts. He switched to a bladed jig and caught a 4-pounder and a 3, then saw a big one blow up in the middle of the channel.

He trolled in that direction and spotted a brush pile in 6 or 7 feet of water on his electronics. He let it sit unmolested for a bit while he went and fished the grass some more. The pile would be his last stop before heading north to the mats. He tied up a dropshot rig - something he hadn't used all week, and connected with the 7-12 on his second cast. It got hung up in the brush briefly, but eventually made it to his boat still attached to the 10-pound fluorocarbon. With three big ones in his livewell, he made a few circles around the area in search of two more, but they weren't forthcoming. He went to the mats and fished for 4 hours without a bite, then relocated to a new mat that he'd been eye-balling all week but hadn't tried. It gave him a 3 1/4-pounder and he added a 2 3/4 from a nearby brush pile on the dropshot to complete his limit. He eventually culled the smaller one with a 4 1/4 from his "magic stretch" that had surrendered the bruisers on days 1 and 2, but that proved to be overkill.

Winning Gear:

Punching gear: 7'9" extra-heavy Alpha Angler Mag Hitter rod, Daiwa Zillion HD casting reel (7.3:1 ratio), 65-pound Seaguar Smackdown braided line, 1 1/4-ounce tungsten weight, VMC Sinker Stop, 3/0 VMC Heavy Duty Flipping hook, X Zone Lures Muscle Back Finesse Craw (black/blue laminate).

Swimbait gear: 7'6" heavy-action Alpha Angler Hitter rod, Daiwa Tatula Elite casting reel (7.1:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce VMC Swimbait Jighead, X Zone Lures Mega Swammer (bream).

Dropshot gear: 6'10" medium-action Alpha Angler DSR rod, Daiwa Exist 3000 spinning reel, 15-pound Seaguar Smackdown flash green braid (main line), 8-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon leader (about 15 feet), 1/4-ounce VMC tungsten dropshot weight, size 1 VMC Finesse Neko hook, X-Zone Deception (green-pumpkin/blue flake).

Bladed jig gear: 7' medium-heavy Alpha Angler Rebound composite rod, Daiwa Steez A casting reel (7.1:1 ratio), 15-pound prototype Seaguar fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce Fish Arrow bladed jig (white), X Zone Lures Swammer trailer (white pearl).

The Fish Arrow bladed jig is a Japanese model that's no longer in production.

Bassmaster Elite Santee Cooper Lake Winning Pattern - BassFan 10/13/20 (John Johnson)

After struggling mightily at the beginning of the year, Jocumsen has excelled during the fall swing and the native of Australia is now in contention for his first Bassmaster Classic berth (he's up to 44th in the points standings with two events left and the Top 40 will get in). He never came close to replicating his monstrous day-1 haul and his total ended up 8 pounds shy of Palaniuk's. He caught 15 of his 18 weigh-in fish (he had four-fish stringers on both days 3 and 4) via punching. The other three were schoolers enticed by a bladed jig on day 1.

He fished hyacinths in Jack's Creek (Lake Marion) that had duckweed blown up against them - the bass were sitting on the edge where the two types of vegetation converged. He said the depth underneath them had to be right around the 2-foot mark - there were not bites to be had if it was a foot deeper or shallower. "The biggest key of all to getting them to bite, which I figured out during practice, was to pull the bait to the top and shake it for like 5 seconds," he said. "Instead of having to hit them on the head, that allowed them to come over and grab it.

I had two main areas and the best one was in a smaller creek that not a lot of people were fishing. It had current coming through when the wind would blow and that made a big difference." His bladed-jig fish came from a 100-yard depression about 5 feet deep with grass that was surrounded by 2 feet of water. On a couple of occasions he was able to fire up big fish there under low-light conditions via the use of his Hydrowave unit. "It was very close to being the winning spot, but it slowly got worse - the winning fish were in there and no one else was fishing it; nobody even came near. I just couldn't figure out how to catch them when the sun came up."

Gear:

Punching gear: 7'10" extra-heavy Millerods Flip Freak Power rod, Shimano Metanium casting reel (8.5:1 ratio), 65-pound PowerPro Super Slick 8 braided line, 1 1/4-ounce Woo Tungsten weight (green-pumpkin), 4/0 Owner Jungle Hook (snelled), Molix SV Craw (black and blue).

Bladed jig gear: 7'8" medium-action Millerods Swim Freak rod, Shimano Curado K casting reel (5.5:1 ratio), 18-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jackhammer (white), Yamamoto Zako or Z-Man StreakZ trailer (white).

Bassmaster Elite Santee Cooper Lake 2-3 Pattern - BassFan 10/14/20 (John Johnson)

Cory Johnston began the 2020 campaign with three straight finishes in the lower half of the field, but has caught fire since the calendar turned to July. He's finished no lower than 13th in any of the past five derbies and has climbed to 2nd place (behind Clark Wendlandt) in the Angler of the Year race. He caught about half of his fish flipping and the other half swimming a jig around cypress trees. He remained in Jack's Creek throughout the tournament. "The fishing changed day to day," he said. "Generally, if it was sunny they'd be in the mats and if it was cloudy they'd go to the cypress trees. "The best decision I made was after I'd found some fish in the Jack's area in practice, I knew the area was big enough that I could expand and have a good tournament in there. I didn't do any running around and I was determined to figure things out every day."

Like Jocumsen, who focused on pads that were a mix of hyacinths and duckweed. "I was getting bit a lot of times on the second and third hop. I tied on a 25-pound fluorocarbon leader, which the fish couldn't see as good in the clear water, and I think that got me a couple of extra bites from those pressured fish. "They were definitely in specific spots and not all mats had fish." When fishing the cypress trees, he'd flip or cast the swim jig to the base and begin reeling. "If they didn't hit it on the fall, sometimes they'd get it 3 or 4 feet away from the tree. The points of the islands were key to that."

Gear:

Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action Daiwa Elite rod, Daiwa Tatula Flip/Punch casting reel (8:1 ratio), 65-pound Seaguar Smackdown braid (main line), 25-pound Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon (4' leader), 3/4-, 1- or 1 1/4-ounce tungsten weight, 4/0 Gamaktsu Super Heavy Cover hook, various creature baits (black and blue).

Swim jig gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Daiwa Tatula Elite Multi-Purpose rod, Daiwa Steez casting reel (7:1 ratio), 15-pound Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon, 3/8-ounce Punisher swim jig (junebug), Strike King Rage Craw trailer (green-pumpkin).

Bassmaster Elite Santee Cooper Lake 2-3 Pattern - BassFan 10/14/20 (John Johnson)

Felix has finished among the top half of the field in the past six events after starting the campaign with a 64th at the St. Johns River. He's up to No. 6 in the Angler of the Year standings. He caught a 20 1/2-pound bag (highlighted by a 6 1/2-pounder) on day 1 by flipping docks, but that was the only day that tactic was effective. He spent the vast majority of the last 3 days sitting on one deep hole. "It was nice and calm and sunny on the first day and the fish weren't overly pressured," he said. "But then the weather changed and the wind was beating on the docks and it just shut that whole pattern down. I caught one fish doing it the rest of the week."

He describes his deeper-water spot as "a typical ledge situation like you find on the Tennessee River." It was next to a main-channel point that had stumps and laydowns on the front side and water in the 10- to 17-foot range. He found it on the first day of practice when he spent most of the day graphing. It was the only deep-water locale he discovered where the fish were even somewhat cooperative and he had it all to himself. "There weren't tons of fish there, but there was a decent-sized school of 30 or more. There were still some left (on the final day) but they didn't bite very well." The fish were roaming around and actively feeding during the early morning hours and he caught a couple of nice ones on a swimbait. When that frenzy subsided, he'd spend the rest of the time dragging a shaky-head.

Gear:

Shaky-head gear: 7'6" medium-heavy 13 Fishing Omen rod, 13 Fishing Concept A casting reel (8:1 ratio), 12-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 1/4-ounce jighead, 7" Roboworm Straight Tail worm (margarita mutilator).

Dock-fishing gear: 7'4" medium-heavy 13 Fishing Envy rod, 13 Fishing Concept Boss casting reel (8:1 ratio), 17-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 3/16-ounce bullet weight, 3/0 straight-shank worm hook, same bait as shaky-head.

Swimbait gear: 7'4" 13 Fishing Envy Chattercrank rod, 13 Fishing Concept Boss reel (6:1 ratio), 15-pound Seaguar InvizZ flurocarbon line, 3/8-ounce All Terrain Tackle swimbait head, Keitech Swing Impact 3.5 (sexy shad).

Bassmaster Elite Santee Cooper Lake 4-5 Pattern - BassFan 10/15/20 (John Johnson)

Schultz caught two quality fish from lily pads on day 3 that helped him make the Top 10. Otherwise, his focus was entirely on cypress trees. "(Fellow Floridian) Cliff Prince and I worked together and the bite was tough as nails in practice, but we both got some bites doing the same thing and we knew it'd work in parts of the lake," he said. "I really had nothing else to do, so I just settled in with it. It was kind of a blessing that I wasn't on a whole lot.

"The lake's full of trees Ð they're everywhere. I stayed on the upper lake (Marion) and had fish on both sides. It was best on the takeoff side where the major creeks are developed, but when we had the bad wind on day 3 I had to improvise and I went to the other side and caught some over there." He caught 90 percent of his fish by skipping an unweighted Senko to the base of a tree. Most of them bit in 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet of water and never deeper than 3 feet. "Patience was a big thing. It seemed like I'd have to hit 300 trees to get a bite."

Gear:

Senko gear: 7' medium-action Shimano Ci4 Complex rod, size 3000 Shimano Sustain spinning reel, 10-pound Sufix 832 braid (main line), 10-pound Sufix Advance fluorocarbon (10' leader), 2/0 VMC Ike Approved Neko Weedless Hook, 5" Yamamoto Senko (green-pumpkin/watermelon laminate).

Buzzbait gear: 7' medium-heavy Shimano Expride rod, Shimano Chronarch or Calais casting reel (7:1 ratio), 30-pound Sufix 832 braided line, 3/8- or 1/2-ounce Hildebrandt SqueakEasy buzzbait (black).

His smaller buzzbait had a black silicone skirt and he threw the larger one with a Zoom Horny Toad trailer.

Bassmaster Elite Santee Cooper Lake 4-5 Pattern - BassFan 10/15/20 (John Johnson)