I know it’s apples and oranges, but at least numerically this event is shaping up a lot like last year’s Elite Series derby on Pickwick. In 2021, there were six bags over 20 pounds on Day 1. It took 18-12 to make the Top 10, and 13-05 to make the Top 47. This year’s tale of the tape? Six bags over 20, 18-06 to make the Top 10, and 13-12 to make the Top 47.
But that’s where the similarities end. Last year the Elites visited in March, not June, the fish were prespawn, not post, and flood conditions boogered up just about everyone’s best-laid plans. That may explain part of why none of last year’s Day 1 Top 10 finds themselves in that orbit again. That too could change by the weekend – indeed, with crowded conditions and timing being of the essence, expect at least some form of flip-flopping on the leaderboard.
On ‘Em, it seems, is on em, but so are a lot of other people. The word of the day was “survival” – everyone just wants to have enough to keep moving forward, both in the tournament and in their careers. Brandon Palaniuk and Brandon Lester kept their magical seasons going, while others like Justin Atkins talked openly about the stress of requalifying.
Here are a few notes that stood out to me:
If you’re not first, you’re last – Or is it the other way around? Day 1 of any multi-day tournament is a critical time not only for refining a pattern and possibly establishing a milk run but also for staking out turf. Anglers want to be on their best stuff at the best times and have a “claim” to it on subsequent days. All things being equal, that may weigh in favor of wanting an early boat draw, especially when multiple anglers are going to vie for “the juice” as they did today. At the same time, the field knew that the bite was likely going to get better later in the day. As former Classic Qualifier John Garrett said, “We’re going to see a lot of fish caught between noon and check-in.” That would seem to weigh in favor of wanting a later boat number and a longer day. So which is it? It might be two sides of the same coin. Remember that the early bird gets the worm, but the early worm gets eaten.
This week’s sign of the apocalypse – I grabbed a cup of coffee and turned on Bassmaster LIVE only to assume I’d entered some sort of bass fishing Bizzaro World when my screen filled up with a picture of Bill Lowen far off the bank, neck craned down to watch a sonar unit that may sometimes not even get turned on. “This is why I hate fishing out here,” he said. “I just don’t do well in a crowd.” Davy Hite made a perceptive observation about what that view might mean about how Pickwick is fishing. “When you see Bill Lowen offshore, you know there’s not a really good shallow water bite going on.” The next time we saw him, however, order was restored as Lowen was fishing a giant shallow root wad, and later we saw him amidst some shallow shoreline grass. He finished the day in 52nd with 12-15, less than a pound out of the cut.
BP stands for “Beep” – The first live view of Brandon Palaniuk showed him winching one fish after another – keepers and non-keepers alike – into the boat at a superhuman speed, as if he were trying to catch four limits of scorable fish on a single day. His need for speed this week has been amply documented, as has his commitment to be back in Idaho for the birth of his first child. With 21-13, he sits in 4th place and hung onto the top spot on the AOY leaderboard. If he has to leave tonight or first thing tomorrow, I assume that’ll provide him with at least some points toward the title. I was reminded of Timmy Horton’s rookie season, where he won the AOY award. Back then, anglers were entitled to “drop” a tournament, and Horton technically didn’t need to show up at the final event to claim the crown. Is that possible today? Last year AOY Seth Feider beat his nearest competitor by 61 points. When Palaniuk won AOY in 2017, he essentially cashed in a mulligan, finishing 105th in the season-opener on Okeechobee. When Aaron Martens won in 2015, he beat second-place finisher Justin Lucas by 112 points. So yes, it’s possible but not necessarily likely.
Spin to Win – Speaking of Martens, in addition to the obvious refinements and advances in electronics, one of the biggest changes in top-tier tournament fishing in the past decade is the heavy reliance on spinning gear. A generation ago a Denny Brauer or Tommy Biffle might’ve shunned it all together, but now just about everyone can and will use it readily. I was reminded of that when I saw the scoreboard light up early for Carl Jocumsen as I watched Palaniuk throw a swimbait. I figured Carl must’ve had the glider going on, but when the camera turned to him he had the old eggbeater in hand. When we moved onto Brock Mosely I expected he’d be throwing a vibrating jig, but he too had the finesse gear on point.
When is Taku Time? – Apparently, it’s around noon. For much of the morning, Brandon Lester held a lead with a reported 19 pounds 10 ounces of bass that he’d compiled by shortly after 8 am. He finally gave up that position at 1-01, when Taku Ito added his best fish of the day to the livewell, a solid 5-05. Per Bass Trakk at least, that made him the first pro over 20. He eventually weighed in 22-01, just 5 ounces off the lead and an ounce behind Jason Christie. If Ito holds that spot, it’ll be his first regular-season Elite Series Top 10 of 2022. He finished 7th at the Classic, but other than that his best was 11th at St. Johns. In 2021 he made Top 10s at St. Lawrence, Fork, and the Sabine. In 2020, he made Top 10 at St. Lawrence, Champlain and St. Clair.
Spoon Man – I first became intrigued by flutter spoons watching a video that Brandon Palaniuk and Brandon Cobb made with them at Lake El Salto. Later I got onto my first epic spoon bite on that same lake, in the same spot, with the same guide, and I haven’t been the same ever since. Today I got another clinic from BP, watching how he worked the lure. I’ve always stroked the spoon steadily, albeit with different length pulls. Today, he twitched and danced and dropped and stopped it. Most importantly, he got multiple bites on a single cast and never removed the lure from the strike zone until he finally hooked up.
