LAKE MILLE LACS – At 10:30 Sunday morning, Brandon Palaniuk had just one smallmouth bass in his boat. He had dreamed of becoming a professional angler since he was 8 years old, and now, on this most important day of his fishing career, his livewell was nearly empty.
Palaniuk, of Hayden, Idaho, had entered the third and final day of the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship as the season-long points leader among 108 Elite Series fishermen.
A $100,000 paycheck awaited him if he could put together a five-bass limit that weighed about 20 pounds Sunday. But he held only a slim, 12-point lead over Oklahoma angler Jason Christie, and Palaniuk knew he needed a productive third day on Mille Lacs to win.
"The next spot I fished I had fished twice each day the first two days of the tournament, and hadn't caught a fish either day,'' Palaniuk said. "This time I caught 12.''
Palaniuk, 29, had been "drop-shotting'' plastic baits just off the bottom in water 8 to 22 feet deep the entire tournament, and on Sunday he stayed with that technique.
"After I caught those 12, three of which I weighed at the end of the day, I went to my next spot and on two successive drops caught two 4-pounders,'' he said.
At a campground near Mille Lacs, Palaniuk's girlfriend, Tiffanie McCall, along with his mother, stepfather and a handful of other family members were gathered in the 43-foot fifth-wheel trailer Palaniuk and McCall have used this year to travel the Elite Series circuit that began in Tennessee in February and ended last month in Michigan.
Palaniuk's mother had warned him years ago his dream of becoming a bass pro might not work out, and that he should have a Plan B.
