Latest news with Brandon Palaniuk

There’s no question it’s feeling like the holiday season here in Idaho.  We’ve got a good bit of snow and cold weather which has allowed me to spend a lot of time in my office working on the business side of things.  Going into the new season I’ve expected everything to go smoothly with my sponsor deals.  Overall, it’s not been too stressful as many of my old deals are multi-year and aren’t up for renewal.  I’m very fortunate to align with the companies I do; we all seem to share the same views on the fishing industry and work very well together.

We will be having a couple of changes in 2017 that I’m really excited for.  I’ll be announcing a few new partnerships that I feel are great companies.  One is a start up that I truly think can change the game in the industry.

I’ve also been working on some personal projects and ideas that I think could start changing the industry.  I have spoken to some sponsors and other industry professionals and there has already been some interest expressed.  My grand idea would be very large scale, involving full time videographers and photographers following me around all season.  This would include not only the Elite Series, but also hunting trips and other adventures.  It’s something I’m pretty excited about and I’m continuing to work on putting everything together.  I really think it will help shed more light on our sport and industry in a positive manner.

This past month I was at SEMA working with my sponsors in the automotive accessories side of things.  It was a great event.  It went very quickly with everything going on, but I did make some new contacts and secured some prior deals.  I also made sure to see all the cool new accessories on the market.  It is an amazing atmosphere.  Some of the Elite guys that were there hadn’t been to it in the past and were blown away by how big the show actually is.

I made it out in the woods a little more chasing some elk and mule deer.  It was a bit frustrating as I didn’t see one worth shooting this year.  The more I do it and the older I get though, I really just enjoying being out there in the woods.  It’s really peaceful and the scenery is beautiful.  I want to do some more hunting next year.  I’d love to do some destination hunts.  There’s so many cool places to see that I really look forward to.

This past week my wrap was finished up and I picked my boat up.  Everything looks good to go and with our season starting earlier than normal, I’ll be heading out sooner rather than later.  But, for now, I’m looking forward to enjoying the holidays with my family and friends.  I want to wish everyone a happy holiday season and new year.

I made it to Las Vegas for another SEMA show today.  I’m particularly excited this year to be here because of all the great new aftermarket auto accessories coming out from BOLT, A.R.E., Rigid Industries, Dick Cepek and GoPro.  It’ll also be time to work on more stuff with Crossed Industries.

The amount of anglers that are now at this show is staggering.  When I first started coming to SEMA I think the only booth that had any anglers was Toyota/Bonus Bucks.  Now, in only a couple of years, there are a lot of us.  There are plenty of tricked out fishing trucks and boats too.  It’s really cool to see the crossover between the automotive and the fishing industry up close and personal.

Since wrapping up the season, I’ve already been planning and starting to prep for the next one.  2017 will bring a whole new dynamic with us starting the Elite Series season before the Classic.  To be honest, I liked being able to focus all my efforts on the Classic before the season started so this will definitely change some things for me.  I do like to fish a couple events before the Classic, like the Opens, but this will be much different.

The end to my 2016 went fairly well.  I didn’t have a stellar event at LaCrosse; I was pretty happy to make the cut and get some good points after the way the event started.  I had found one area in Pool 8 and one in Pool 7.  I didn’t feel too confident going into that first day which I was going to go to at blast off.  I ultimately decided to go to Pool 8 since I had caught some bigger ones.

The rain blew out many of the areas down there and mine was no different.  Jordan Lee and I both started there and ended up bailing after a short time.  I went to try and lock through by nine, but couldn’t get through because a barge took priority.  The turning point for the whole tournament came when I did not panic and calmly went to fishing history.  By the time I made it back through at 12:30 I culled everything within two hours and ran back down.

Day two, I didn’t bother going back to Pool 8 since I knew it was completely blown out, so I went straight to Pool 7.  I ended up putting over fourteen pounds in the livewell and barely snuck into the cut at 48th.  The third day I went back up and got out with some valuable AOY points before Mille Lacs.

I have to say after visiting Mille Lacs for the first time, that it is one impressive fishery to say the least.  I figured out pretty early on what I needed to do.  I could tell what the bigger fish were doing and what they were holding on.  I wasn’t getting a lot of bites, but the quality was solid.  The first day I did not execute and ended up with a little less than twenty pounds.  At most places in the country, that’s a very respectable bag, but at Mille Lacs you need a lot more.  Thankfully, over the next two days, I was able to put some bigger ones in the boat with 22-11 and 22-12 lbs respectively.  By those final two days it got a lot better for me as I culled through some twenty pound bags to get what I had.

Mille Lacs was also the first tournament I really got to utilize my Minn Kota Ultrex trolling motor and it didn’t disappoint.  The spot lock was invaluable throughout the event.  If I had not had it, I would’ve wasted so much time trying to get back on my spots after fighting a fish.  My Humminbird 360 imaging also played a huge part; I was able to see and cast to specific rock veins.  Without those two components working together, I truly feel like I would have been at a disadvantage.  

On another note, I have managed to get out on the water back home.  I have been chasing an 8 lb smallmouth and keep getting closer and closer.  The big ones are eating and I took an local high school kid with me recently and he caught his personal best at over six pounds.   Needless to say, he was pretty excited and it was fun for me too.  Once I get back from SEMA I’m hoping to keep chasing after that 8 lb bronze and hopefully hit the woods and chase some elk as well.    

What does a Bassmaster Elite Series Pro do between long periods without an event?  With a prolonged break in between the Cayuga event and the Potomac event this past month, I’ve managed to stay busy.  I just was in Ohio at Hunter Shryock’s house doing some filming with him for 496 films.  It’s was tough with the dog days of summer upon up, but we managed to catch a few.

I had iCast earlier in July which was a good time.  It’s always exciting getting to see all the cool new products set to come out.  Most of my days were spent shooting product videos and hopping around to different sponsor booths.  Bass Mafia has some incredible new products set to come out that I’ve very excited about.  The issue that’s been around for some time is figuring out the best way to store your tackle.  They have stepped up to address that problem by creating extremely functional storage bins for your weights, jigs, and spinnerbaits to name a few.  Most of them will be available this fall, but many other storage options are in the works for the near future.  Bass Mafia is really thinking outside the box.

I just wrapped up shooting an episode of Major League Fishing last week which was enjoyable.  It will be airing next year and all I can say for now is that we were in Alpena, Michigan.  While we were there I was lucky enough to be involved in shooting some promo stuff with the city.  I got to scuba dive/snorkel on some wrecks, do some stand up paddle boarding and biking too.  It definitely was a cool experience and great to be enjoying some other outdoor activities.

We’ve got the final part of the Elite Series season coming up with the Potomac River event starting next week.  I was able to make it there before cut off and I’m excited for that one.  I ran all around the river and caught a bunch of fish.  After that we have the Northern Open on the James River.  I’ve made a couple top ten’s there in the past.  It’ll be a tough event, but should be a good one as well.  Then we finish up the regular season on the Mississippi River in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  The fishing there should be really good.  We’ve never went there at this time of year, but there should be a lot of fish catches and it’ll be a fun event for sure.  The tournament season will culminate at Mille Lacs in Minnesota and it should be an incredible venue for the Angler of the Year Championship.  It’s got some absolutely giant smallmouth swimming in it.  I’ve only been there once for a writer’s event and got to witness four and five pounders swimming around all over the lake.  The next couple months are important ones and I’m excited about where we’ll be heading to wrap up our season.

After hanging around New York a couple of extra days I made my way down to the Potomac River to do some looking around before the off.  After finishing up at Cayuga and Oneida I went back to my roots and did some bank around the old Erie Canal.  The one evening in just a couple hours I caught five or six on a frog which was pretty fun.  At one point I was catching them while standing on an old concrete wall that dropped off about forty feet behind me.  There’s going to be some great footage from that adventure.

We started off our month at Texoma which ended up much different than expected.  Before off limits, I went and drove around, but didn’t do much fishing because I figured the high waters would stabilize.  That never did happen and we were greeted with record high water levels.  I focused on clear water pockets way up the Red River which ended up being a good decision.  After the second day I was sitting in fourth place.

Before the third day the wind switched directions and changed the current around muddying up some of my areas.  I adjusted and fished areas where I believed they were going.  Unfortunately, I think I was a little too far ahead.  I dropped from fourth to forty second.  I think a good portion of the guys who did catch them caught them from the same areas they had been, but slowed way down and picked them apart more thoroughly.  In hindsight, this is what I should’ve done in my areas.  It was a lesson learned.  The positive was that I got out with a check and some decent points.

From Texoma we made our way up to New York.  Cayuga Lake fished a little differently than the past few years because there were a lot of fish on bed.  After practice I really didn’t feel like I was on anything so I had to scramble during the event.  I had some bedding fish the first day pegged, but being boat forty two, most were picked off already by the time I got there.  I went to catching ones that I knew where in areas and also found others that I didn’t know were there in the process.  The second and third days I covered a lot of new water.  If it looked good I would slow down in an area.

I had a two pronged drop shot approach for catching both smallmouth and largemouth.  The first was for more open, rocky banks which consisted of a 3” Berkley Twitchtail Minnow and a 3/16 oz Eco Pro Tungsten Pro Drop Shot Weight.  The largemouth seemed to be spawning slightly deeper in the five to eight foot range, so I threw a 6.25” Berkley Havoc Bottom Hopper in Watermelon Red with a ¼ oz version of the same drop shot weight.  Whatever cover I was faced with determined which rig I would use.

After Cayuga I headed right to Oneida for the first Bassmaster Northern Open of the season.  Being at Cayuga was a good way to get back in northern smallmouth fishing mode.  I went into the Open without much pressure.  I’ve been to Oneida quite a few times already and have learned a lot about the lake in years past.  The fishery is changing with the smallmouth growing much bigger.  They will be an even bigger factor in tournaments to come.

In practice, I drove around looking for small off the wall type stuff.  Not being in an Elite event allows you to take a lot more risks with your practice time because I’m not fishing for points.  I identified some areas that showed some promise and went out day one and caught a little over sixteen pounds.  Every fish I had were cookie cutter clones of each other in that three and a quarter pounder category.

Day two, we had the wind change from West to East and it kicked up.  It really changed them up.  The big factor with the increased wind was being able to read the sonar well when your trolling motor would come completely out of the water.  It was keying on little isolated rock and it became difficult to stay on it.  Just like Cayuga, I had to fish new water as I didn’t have anything that I would consider to be loaded.  I lost some good fish day two and came in with one shy of a limit for 9-12.

I got down to the Potomac a few days ago and had a productive time looking around.  Although we are off from the Elites for awhile, I’m still busy as ever.  Next stop is ICast in Orlando next week and then from there we have a Major League Fishing event.  Then, the week before our Potomac event, I’ll be heading to the Delaware River to fish the Ike Foundation Charity event.  We’ve got a full plate coming up this month and I’m looking forward to the short “break” from the Elites to recharge and get ready for the Potomac.