Something New Coming

Here's all I know, and it comes from FLW Tour pro Dave Lefebre:

"Something fresh and all new is coming to the fishing world very soon! On this Thursday, Jan 2, a brand new company will launch what it is calling a win-win-win for everyone involved and long overdue. A win for the pro anglers, a win for the angler's sponsors, and a huge win for you, the fans of the sport!" This announcement will involve several of the top professionals from the BASS Elite Series and the Wal-Mart FLW Tours, including current BASS Elite Series AOY, Aaron Martens, the current #1 Ranked Angler, Jason Christie, FLW Tour standouts, Brent Ehrler and Dave Lefebre, BASS sticks, Edwin Evers, Brandon Palaniuk, and Ott DeFoe, not to mention a popular TV personality or two."

I don't even know who is making the announcement, but I suspect you could begin with Dave or any of the other names listed and watch their Facebook pages or Twitter accounts on Thursday, you can stay ahead of the game. I'll share more when there's more to tell, but I may be fishing on Thursday, so I'm guessing you can get the news faster by watching for it directly!

Palaniuk's Plan & Perseverence

Brandon Palaniuk, B.A.S.S. photo by James Overstreet

No contingency plans complicated the thinking of Brandon Palaniuk at the St. Lawrence River. Gunning for a Bassmaster Classic bid, he fished the event as if it was the Classic, with an all-or-nothing style. The bass he believed could set him apart from the field and bring him the victory he needed lived in an area of Lake Ontario that was more than 100 miles from the launch site, and he committed to go after those fish every day, if he could get possibly there, no matter how rough a ride he'd have to endure or how little time he actually would have to fish each day.

The plan worked and worked exceptionally well. Palaniuk's 88-pound, 12-ounce four-day bag brought him victory with a 7 1/2-pound margin over Jonathan VanDam, who himself finished with 2 1/2 more pounds than anyone else in the field. Palaniuk needed only a solid final day because of the lead he had built through the first three days, but instead he put a huge exclamation point on the win with more than 23 pounds of beautiful Lake Ontario bronze.

Palaniuk caught most of his fish on a drop-shot rig, which he fished off steep points inside two major Lake Ontario bays. His primary bait was a green pumpkin Berkley PowerBait Twitchtail Minnow, which he fished on 8-pound-test Fireline Crystal with a 6-pound Berkley Trilene 100 percent fluorocarbon leader. Terminal tackle included a No. 2 Gamakatsu splitshot/dropshot hook and a 3/8-ounce tungsten dropshot weight.

I commend Brandon Palaniuk for crafting a plan he believed in and persisting, ignoring every voice around that said there were too many things that "could happed." He fully understood all those risks -- especially on the third morning when the winds were the worst -- but he also knew that with the quality of the fishery in so much of the river it would be tough to clearly separate himself from the pack without committing to the giant run for to those larger lake fish. He went for it all and got it and will be fishing in Guntersville in February instead of working the show floor. Well played!

Pace Persevered to Prevail in Classic

Today was the toughest day Cliff Pace has ever endured on the water. He began the morning with a commanding lead in the Bassmaster Classic. Not insurmountable, but very impressive, and everyone knew that he would have to stumble somewhat to not get the chance to hoist the trophy at day's end, even if someone else caught them quite well. Fortunately for Pace, none of his nearest competitors put together a true Grand Lake monster bag, because the day was a grind for him, with two very early fish and then absolutely nothing -- NOTHING -- for hours. Of course, he had no way of knowing what anyone else was doing, so as far as he know, the sport's biggest title could have been slipping out of his hands.

Pace ended up catching two more fish very late in the day and brought in four fish that weighed 11 pounds, 8 ounces. As it turned out that was enough to allow him to beat Brandon Palaniuk by 3 pounds. Palaniuk's 15-pound bag got him closer to Pace, but it wasn't enough to overcome Pace's 7-pound lead, which was the result of 21-pound-plus days on Friday and Saturday.

Pace earned a check for $500,000. More importantly in the minds of most pros, he earned designation as a Bassmaster Classic Champion. Congratulations Cliff Pace.

Palaniuk's Plan

Brandon Palaniuk, BASS photo by Gary Tramontina.

Brandon Palaniuk is currently leading the Bassmaster Classic. Well, he's leading based on BASStrakk, which is a live tracking of anglers' estimated catches. That said, he started this morning 7 pounds behind leader Cliff Pace. Palaniuk has a limit already today, while Pace is only showing to have caught two fish. That means Palaniuk, who leads by only a few ounces, can only increase his weight by culling, while Pace gets the full weight of his next three legal fish.

No matter where Palaniuk finishes, his success is largely the product of an cool and ambitious game plan. Palaniuk visited Grand Lake last February, long before he knew if he would even get the opportunity to compete in this classic, to explore February spots and patterns. He said on stage that he has caught fish from all the places where he caught fish last year and that he has spent both days running a pattern that he discovered during his special practice period a year ago. Although he hasn't revealed specifics, he apparently is fishing seven or eight very specific spots, rotating from one to the the next, and throwing two primary lures. The BASS blog revealed this morning that at least two of the fish Palaniuk caught today bit a green Wiggle Wart.

Making Palaniuk's special scouting trip to Grand Lake extra noteworthy, he's no local. He lives in Idaho. His plan definitely worked. We'll find out this afternoon whether it worked well enough to make him the 2013 Bassmaster Classic Champion.

Classic Contenders Converging

Josh Polfer traveled 2,000 miles from Idaho to Louisiana's Re River to compete in the Bassmaster Classic Feb. 24-26. Photo courtesy of B.A.S.S.

For most Bassmaster Classic qualifiers, preparations began long ago, possibly with some pre-cutoff scouting at the Red River. In recent weeks most competitors have picked up, broken in and wrapped new boats and have been busy doing last-minute research while gathering and preparing tackle.

The intensity has risen a big step, though, as contenders are now beginning to arrive in Shreveport. Some didn't have far to travel. Others, like Brandon Palaniuk and Josh Polfer of Idaho, have traveled across the country. Palaniuk and Polfer each had about 2,000 miles to travel, so both left home well ahead of time and did other things in the South, "touring" their way toward the Classic venue.

The competition remains more than a week away, but he official practice begins in less than two days, and all the competitors' schedules will be filled from the time they arrive in Shreveport until the afternoon of Feb. 26, when the 2012 Bassmaster Classic Champion is crowned.