Brandon Palaniuk was looking forward to getting back to the scene of his Day 3 accident. And apparently that anticipation was well-founded, as Palaniuk has jumped into the lead with an early – very early – limit.
In the excitement of a flurry of fish catches yesterday, Palaniuk made a cast with six fish in his livewell. B.A.S.S. rules require a 2-pound penalty for anyone who makes a cast without culling down to the 5-bass limit. It’s the second time in his career that Palaniuk has made this mistake.
“The first time I did that, it was about halfway through the cast (when he realized the error),” Palaniuk recalled. “This time it was about halfway back through the retrieve. It was really a bad deal because I had a lot of momentum going. I was catching ’em good.
“I started in an area where I thought I could catch 10 to 12 pounds. I caught a limit, a 4 and a 5 1/2-pounder. I was on a pretty big high and just hit rock bottom. It’s such a huge thing – where the weights are so tight – to give up two pounds on something I can control.”
That’s something to keep in mind today, and you know it won’t leave Palaniuk’s thoughts – the fact that he started today in 5th place, 6-6 behind leader Jamie Hartman, instead of 4-6 back.
But the good thing is Palaniuk discovered this spot he’d found in practice has bigger fish than he initially thought.
“I started there the first day of practice and had about 12 bites,” Palaniuk said. “But I thought they were all two-pounders. I hadn’t looked at it all week. I’m looking forward to getting back there.”
It hasn’t taken long this morning for everyone to understand his anticipation.