By Jonathan Manteuffel
Special to BassFan

The southeast winds kicked up at the Lake Champlain Bassmaster Elite Series on day 4 to make things much more challenging for the Top 10 as they duked it out for the win. It was Brandon Palaniuk who fared best, making a huge charge during the afternoon to take the victory with a 4-day total of 80-01.

He topped the field after amassing a day-best 21-06 bag.

“It was amazing, just one of those days where everything worked out,” he said onstage. “I had a really good practice and today’s weather was like practice. I hit a magical time this afternoon. Every boulder I saw on the Humminbird MEGA 360 had fish on them. I literally was laughing as I reeled them in.”

Palaniuk, a pre-tournament favorite and former Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year, was never lower than 11th (actually tied for 10th) place the entire tournament. He rose from 5th place to start the day to claim the win. It’s his fourth big blue trophy, having also won in 2012, 2013 and 2017.

“Every win is so special,” he noted. “Before I got started on my first season (at the tour level) I set a goal to win one every three to four years. My win in 2012 was awesome, but I didn’t realize until later how hard it is to win.

“It’s been an interesting couple of years,” he added. “This feeling today is why I came back to B.A.S.S. (after spending 2019 on the Bass Pro Tour). All the struggles, the ups and downs, the decisions you make and getting your head right – I was in that place today. I just enjoyed it all.”

After two sunny and calm days, Sunday saw completely different weather as frequent 15-mph southeast winds with gusts a good bit higher roiled the lake under overcast skies. The anglers who made a long run had a rough ride back in the afternoon, similar to the last day at the St. Lawrence River event last week.

Seth Feider nailed down 2nd place, having occupied 4th and 2nd place alternately throughout the tournament. His 19-14 was the day’s next-heaviest bag, contributing to his 78-14 total.

“I left it all out there,” he said of his tournament. “I fished really clean this week. I ran my game plan exactly like I wanted to and I was just short one big bite.”

He left more than his best effort “out there," as he lost two of his electronics units to the big waves as he made the run back for the weigh-in.



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

Runner-up Seth Feider finished 1-03 behind Palaniuk.

Jamie Hartman led for the first 3 days, but couldn’t outlast Palaniuk and Feider, falling to 3rd on the final day. He weighed 18-09 for a 78-05 aggregate.

“The bite was slower today and it took me longer to get my target weight,” he said. “I left around 11:45 a.m. to try to find a largemouth at a place I caught two big ones on day 1. I hooked one and it pulled me into the rocks and came off. It nearly shredded my line.

“Then I landed a big one on a dropshot and it was time to go,” he added. “I stopped with 15 minutes to fish on my starting spot and caught one that didn’t help and lost one, and I had to go back in.”

Hartman’s consolation may be that he now leads the Angler of the Year points race. He has a 6-point advantage over Buddy Gross, with defending AOY Scott Canterbury another 3 points back in 3rd.

The rest of the Top 5 were David Mullins in 4th (77-13, 18-02) and Jason Williamson in 5th (76-11, 19-07).

Rounding out the Top 10 were Ed Loughran III in 6th (76-01, 19-01), Koby Kreiger in 7th (75-04, 16-02), Brock Mosely in 8th (74-02, 16-10), Cory Johnston in 9th (73-13, 16-07), and rookie Taku Ito in 10th (73-10, 16-05).

Palaniuk, Mosley, Johnston and Ito also made the Top 10 last week at the St. Lawrence River event.

The wind drives current at Champlain and the shifting direction and strength of the winds on the final day challenged the competitors as they endeavored to keep up with the movement of the fish.

Williamson noted that he had to locate and re-locate his fish several times as they repositioned.

“I could see them on the graph and just drop to them the last 2 days, but today it was too rough and I had to cast more and use the Lowrance LIVE Active Imaging to look around for them,” he said. “I fished pretty clean except for losing a couple the first day, but nothing that cost me the win.”

Mullins benefitted from the wind that activated his shallow fish and turned on the crankbait bite in less than 10 feet of water, but the smallmouths lived up to their feisty reputation.

“I went shallow around 10 a.m. and it was on,” he said. “I should have won by 2 pounds, but I jumped off three good ones. With this warm water and (the fish) being hooked in shallow water, they had nowhere to go but up.

“It was pretty bad today,” he added. “I had a chance to win and just couldn’t keep them on.”

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 10 limits

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Brandon Palaniuk -- Rathdrum, ID -- 20, 80-01 -- 100 -- $100,000
Day 1: 5, 19-12 -- Day 2: 5, 18-10 -- Day 3: 5, 20-05 -- Day 4: 5, 21-06

2. Seth Feider -- New Market, MN -- 20, 78-14 -- 99 -- $28,000
Day 1: 5, 20-01 -- Day 2: 5, 21-07 -- Day 3: 5, 17-08 -- Day 4: 5, 19-14

3. Jamie Hartman -- Newport, NY -- 20, 78-05 -- 98 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 22-01 -- Day 2: 5, 20-03 -- Day 3: 5, 17-08 -- Day 4: 5, 18-09

4. David Mullins -- Mt Carmel, TN -- 20, 77-13 -- 97 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 19-13 -- Day 2: 5, 19-04 -- Day 3: 5, 20-10 -- Day 4: 5, 18-02

5. Jason Williamson -- Wagener, SC -- 20, 76-11 -- 96 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 18-04 -- Day 2: 5, 19-07 -- Day 3: 5, 19-09 -- Day 4: 5, 19-07

6. Ed Loughran III -- Richmond, VA -- 20, 76-01 -- 95 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 19-04 -- Day 2: 5, 19-13 -- Day 3: 5, 17-15 -- Day 4: 5, 19-01

7. Koby Kreiger -- Alva, FL -- 20, 75-04 -- 94 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 18-01 -- Day 2: 5, 22-00 -- Day 3: 5, 19-01 -- Day 4: 5, 16-02

8. Brock Mosley -- Collinsville, MS -- 20, 74-02 -- 93 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 19-13 -- Day 2: 5, 19-02 -- Day 3: 5, 18-09 -- Day 4: 5, 16-10

9. Cory Johnston -- Cavan, ON -- 20, 73-13 -- 92 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 17-03 -- Day 2: 5, 21-08 -- Day 3: 5, 18-11 -- Day 4: 5, 16-07

10. Taku Ito -- Chiba JAPAN -- 20, 73-10 -- 91 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 18-08 -- Day 2: 5, 19-06 -- Day 3: 5, 19-07 -- Day 4: 5, 16-05