Progressive Angler of the Year leader Brandon Palaniuk does not have a marshal in his boat today. But his personal cameraman Kyle Vandiver has reported that, as of noon, Palaniuk has one small keeper for 1- pound, 8- ounces. As Mark Zona pointed out on Bassmaster LIVE, this single factoid depicts better than any other could just how difficult conditions are on Lake Oahe this week.
Palaniuk is a top tier smallmouth specialist. Few others, especially nationally known, can hang with Palaniuk when it comes to knowing how smallmouth feed, think and behave. In addition, he’s one of the least shakeable between the ears of any Elite on the water. For him to struggle this much through two days proves that these aren’t your typical smallmouth. These fish are behaving very, very differently.
We’ve heard anglers talk about how they’ll see fish on their graphs for hours that won’t bite. Then suddenly they’ll go on spree. Then shut down again and suspend around the boat in schools by the dozens. There is simply little to no predictability translating from fish to fish or spot to spot out there right now.
So it has been very difficult for anglers to develop patterns, hard for them to settle into a groove and nearly impossible for them to keep their composure once a good bite does finally come, seemingly at random. These unexpected and rare bites have led to several lost fish, as angler repeatedly say things like, “I’m not going to rush you”, all the while knowing they are in fact rushing the fish in and they’re actually trying their best to talk themselves into stopping it.
The biggest challenge has been getting bit consistently, but second to that has definitely been maintaining composure when those bites come. This is understandably difficult enough in calm conditions, with the kind of pressure these anglers are under. Not only are this week’s paychecks on the line, we’re also on the home stretch as it pertains to Angler of the Year points, Bassmaster Classic berths and requalification for the 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series. Throw on top of that 3-foot waves and 70 mile runs and you couldn’t come up with a better nerve cracking set of circumstances.
But, one of these guys is about to cash a hundred thousand dollar check for presumably catching 20 bass across four days of fishing. It’s just that the game is being decided between the ears even more than usual this week. So, from a sport psychology standpoint, this is a fun one to follow. And like always, the cream will rise to the top.
