By BassFan Staff

This was definitely the year of the 20-somethings in professional bass fishing.

Brandon Palaniuk became the youngest competitor to capture the Angler of the Year title in the 12-year history of the Bassmaster Elite Series on Sunday with a 20th-place finish in the AOY Championship event at Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota. The 29-year-old from Idaho joined Bassmaster Classic champion Jordan Lee (26) and Forrest Cup winner Justin Atkins (27) as holders of three of the sport's four major titles.

Palaniuk overcame an extremely slow morning to weigh a 19-14 stringer, giving him a 3-day total of 62-03. His aggregate was identical to the number posted by Jason Christie, one of only two anglers who entered the event with a mathematical chance of catching him, and he prevailed by 14 points.

"I feel a little bit of relief, but I'm also thankful and excited," said Palaniuk, who's the youngest B.A.S.S. AOY since Tim Horton copped the title at age 27 in 2000. "I'm really excited to experience everything that comes with it."

Keith Combs closed out a wire-to-wire victory in the event by boxing a 22-07 stringer that gave him a 3-day total of 72-05 and earned him an extra $25,000 in addition to the money that was distributed from the AOY purse. Combs finished 1-10 in front of runner-up James Elam, who topped the 23-pound mark on each day of the event.

Here are the final tournament totals for the top 12:

1. Keith Combs: 72-05
2. James Elam: 70-11
3. Skeet Reese: 69-14
4. Jacob Wheeler: 69-06
5. Luke Clausen: 68-03
6. Russ Lane: 68-03
7. Clifford Pirch: 67-12
8. Jonathon VanDam: 67-02
9. Jordan Lee: 67-00
10. Mark Daniels Jr.: 66-08
11. Mike Iaconelli: 66-03
12. Josh Bertrand: 65-12

Dustin Connell, who won the event at Ross Barnett Reservoir earlier this season, snatched the Rookie of the Year award (which carries no monetary remuneration) by a single point over Jamie Hartman. The latter had a 23-point lead coming into the event, but struggled badly on 2 of the 3 days and finished 48th in the 50-angler field. Connell caught 60-13 to finish 24th in the derby and the two first-year pros landed at Nos. 12 and 13 on the final AOY list.

Jesse Wiggins, another rookie, became a double-qualifier for the 2018 Classic when he ended up at No. 37 in the points. That gave a Classic berth to No. 39 Jason Williamson and left Nos. 40 through 47 to duel for one berth in this week's Classic Bracket competition at Lake Pokegama out of Grand Rapids, Minn. The opening-round matchups will be Kelley Jaye vs. Dave Lefebre, Jonathon VanDam vs. Ish Monroe, Mike Iaconelli vs. Adrian Avena and Steve Kennedy vs. Jacob Powroznik.



B.A.S.S./Seigo Saito
Photo: B.A.S.S./Seigo Saito

Keith Combs captured the tournament victory with a 72-05 total.

Skeet Reese, the 2009 Classic winner who was outside the cutoff (41st) when the Mille Lacs event began, fished his way into a spot at Lake Hartwell next March with a 3rd-place finish in the tournament. Williamson (32nd in the derby) was the only other competitor who battled his way into the Classic as that duo bumped Kennedy and Monroe into the bracket competition.

Kennedy and Monroe each caught only three fish on Sunday en route to finishing 41st and 49th, respectively, in the tournament standings.

Palaniuk had Slow Start

> Day 3: 5, 19-14 (15, 62-03)

Palaniuk, a two-time state champion wrestler in high school and a former heavy-equipment operator who worked his way to the Elite Series through the B.A.S.S. Nation, became the only competitor in the Elite Series era to win the points crown with a finish of 100 or lower on his ledger for that season (he was 105th at Lake Okeechobee). He had no other placement outside the top 30.

He had just a single 3-pounder in his livewell at 10:30 a.m. Sunday when he pulled up on a submerged boulder that had held fish during the 3-day practice period, but had given him nothing during the tournament despite multiple visits on both preceding days.

This time, it was magical. He caught a small keeper on his first drop and then boated 11 more fish over the next hour to give him about 16 1/2 pounds. He then moved to another local and culled up with 4-pounders on back-to-back drops.

"The crazy thing is I should've been freaking out at 10:30, but I wasn't," he said. "I just had some part of me that told me when I woke up this morning that it was going to happen and I was super-calm and just ready to make it happen.

"I knew I was going to hit one of those (fish-catching) flurries somewhere – I just didn't know what time or where. I caught fish in different places every day, so I had the same amount of confidence in all of them. That's the way I like to fish – roll up, look at my (Humminbird electronics) and make a precise cast. When I can do that I know I'm being 100-percent efficient."

His primary offering for the week was a Zoom Super Fluke (purple smoke) on a dropshot rig.

Combs Caught Plenty

> Day 3: 5, 22-07 (15, 72-05)

Combs' bag was 2 1/2 pounds lighter than the 24-15 he caught on each of the first 2 days, but it contained plenty of weight to close out the win.

"It was similar to the other days, but I just didn't get the 5-pound bites I'd been getting," said the Texan, who ended up 9th in the points race. "The places where I'd been catching the big ones, I got just as many bites, but they were 3-pounders and 3 1/2s and I hadn't seen that all week. I think I just beat them to death."

He had all of his weight by 11 o'clock and his bag was topped by a 4 3/4-pounder. He fished the southeastern portion of the lake, which was hammered by a southwest wind that topped 20 mph.

B.A.S.S./Seigo Saito
Photo: B.A.S.S./Seigo Saito

Dustin Connell edged Jamie Hartman by one point for the Rookie of the Year crown.

"I lost a couple fish, but I didn't really get to feel them. It was so stinking rough that when you set the hook, you might be going up or down (on a wave). I had them coming over the bow and hitting me in the knees.

"I fished that way until noon and then I went over to the west side. It was like a different lake over there. It was so much calmer."

He caught all 15 of his weigh-in fish on a 1-ounce Strike King Tour Grade football jig with a Strike King Rage Bug trailer.

Consolation for Connell

> Day 3: 5, 18-04 (15, 60-13)

Connell, who possesses no shortage of confidence, admitted that he had aspirations of duplicating Horton's feat of 17 years ago by winning the AOY in his first year on the big tour. He made a pretty good run at it, but had to settle for the ROY.

"My main goals were to make it into this tournament, make the Classic and win the Rookie of the Year," he said. "Everybody wants to win the AOY, but I can't complain about this. It's a big accomplishment.

"I knew that if I put my work and my time in and left everything out there, I'd have a successful season. This tournament was a blast and this (fishery) is unreal. It's been a great week and I'm definitely happy to get that trophy."

He fished shallower than most competitors – in the 8- to 10-foot range – and caught a lot of his fish on a 6th Sense jerkbait.

Now he'll begin looking ahead to next year's Classic.

"I live about 5 hours from Hartwell and I'll be spending a lot of time there before the cutoff. I've been there 15 or 20 times and I really like it at that time of year. You can mix it up and catch spotted bass or laregmouths, and I love catching spots.

"It's going to be a slugfest."

Notable

> For full tournament standings, click here.