Saving the best for last, Bassmaster Elite Series pro Brandon Palaniuk sacked up a late-day limit of 22-06 to rise 49 spots and lead Day 2 of the James River Bassmaster Northern Open.
Hailing from Rathdrum, Idaho, Palaniuk claimed the event’s heaviest bag, which bolstered his day-1 catch of 13-11 to tally 36-01. Heading into the final round, Palaniuk leads Jeff Queen by 13 ounces.
Following a slow start, Palaniuk made a key decision to relocate to a spot he identified on day 1. The results were unquestionable.
“With an hour to go, I had three fish; then I pulled up on a spot and filled my limit and culled three times,” Palaniuk said. “I caught a 5-11 and a 5 1/2 and then I caught one that was pushing 5 in that last hour. It was just incredible.”
Noting that he’s fishing a very specific situation in Chickahominy Creek, Palaniuk was understandably guarded with his details. He did, however, reveal that he accomplished most of his work on a small area where precision was as important as bait selection.
“It’s not big; it’s a one-cast deal,” Palaniuk said of his replicable scenario. “It’s hard cover, but there’s more to it.”
Traveling to Richmond directly from last week’s Bassmaster Elite at Neely Henry Lake, Palaniuk had approximately one full day of James River practice. Given his brief period of preparation, he decided to commit to waters he’s fished during past visits.
“I’ve never fished anywhere else,” he said. “I only had a total of eight hours, coming from Neely Henry, I had to go with what’s familiar to me.”
Timing seems to be the key component to Palaniuk’s success. As he explained, the bass are positioning with obvious feeding intent, so repetitive casting to a specifically defined area is essential for keeping his bait in the strike zone.
“If you hit the timing right, you can catch (a lot of weight),” Palaniuk said. “What I saw today, there’s 25 to 30 pounds there. Those fish are there to eat, for sure. I think there are new fish coming to me.”
Feeding windows are common to tidal fisheries and that definitely contributed to Palaniuk’s big catch. However, his afternoon flurry hinged on a more complex strategy.
“I made a slight adjustment and I think that, along with timing, were the two keys,” he said. “I figured out the angle I needed to get the right bites.”
Palaniuk said he used a mix of reaction baits and slower presentations. Both techniques produced big bites.
“I hope I fish tomorrow because I don’t know what could happen,” he said. “I’ve made the Top 10 here before quite a few times, but I’ve never been able to pull off the win.”
Hailing from Catawba, N.C., Queen is in 2nd place with 35-04. Adding 17-11 to his 8th-place opening-round limit of 17-09, Queen demonstrated impressive consistency that belied a day-2 challenge.
“I caught a couple of fish — including one of my big ones — on the reaction bait I fished on day 1, but I had to go finesse fishing with a wacky-rigged green pumpkin purple flake Senko today,” Queen said. “This afternoon, they did a little better.
“I only had five by about 12 o’clock, but I made an adjustment and caught 11 in the last two hours. I caught those fish on a prototype bladed jig with a straight-tail fluke-style trailer and a squarebill.”
Day-1 leader Greg Alexander of Hebron, Md., is in 3rd place with 34-06. After weighing 21-02 – the event’s second-heaviest bag – on day 1, he added 13-04 Friday.
Alexander caught a couple of his fish on the 1/2-ounce Cheeseburger Jig and chunk trailer that produced his day-1 bag, but he caught most of his fish on an unweighted Texas-rigged Yamamoto Senko.
“Today, I had half the bites that I had yesterday,” Alexander said. “I had 30 bites yesterday and about 15 today. I had a shorter day, but the water didn’t move much today. When the water doesn’t move, they don’t bite."
Tommy Williams of Shepherdsville, Ky., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 8-07.
Here are the totals for the 10 anglers who advanced to the final round:
1. Brandon Palaniuk: 36-01
2. Jeff Queen: 35-04
3. Greg Alexander: 34-06
4. Jonathan kelley: 33-05
5. Nicholas Bodsford: 33-01
6. Bo Boltz Jr.: 31-06
7. Justin Margraves: 31-02
8. Mike Hicks: 31-02
9. Tommy Williams: 30-07
10. Hugh Cosculluela: 30-05
