It’s been a family affair the previous three days at Santee Cooper, and it’s especially so this morning. Carl Jocumsen, who is married to Brandon Palaniuk’s first cousin, Kayla, has led two of the previous three days. He’s at the top of the leaderboard at the noon hour today with four bass weighing an estimated 14-4.
Palaniuk, the leader on Day 2, has 3 bass weighing an estimated 12-12. “Estimated” is the key word there. Palaniuk caught a “6-pounder” at 9:37 that looks to be closer to 8 pounds. If so, they’d be virtually tied with 64 pounds-plus.
But both have some work to do to reach that 20-pound goal for the day.
“I feel like the winner today is going to have 20 pounds,” Jocumsen said. “I’m one big bite away from getting it done.”
Palaniuk said, “Two more 4-pound bites and I feel like I’ve got a really good shot at this today.”
Third-place Cory Johnston is 7-2 behind Jocumsen, according to BASSTrakk. Of course, no one is out of it on Santee Cooper, where a 9-pound, 7-ounce bass has been caught in this tournament along with multiple 7-pounds-plus fish.