Paul Marks knows a lot about fishing herring lakes, but he doesn’t necessarily know what he doesn’t know.
That includes how tough it is to win an Elite Series tournament. He’s won two of them in two years. He’s made it look remarkably easy.
Brandon Palaniuk, who has three times that many Elite victories, says that “easy” is the last word he’d use to describe the achievement.
“The second one helps you understand that you didn’t get lucky,” he said. “You don’t necessarily take it for granted when you win early, but you don’t always understand how hard they are to win. Go four or five years without winning one and you may realize that you didn’t appreciate it as much as you should.”
That’s what happened to BP. He won in 2012 and 2013, then suffered a four-year Elite win drought until 2017 at Sam Rayburn. Marks might go out and win again before the end of the season. He might make it back to back. But Palaniuk said that only with the benefit of time and a little bit of perspective will he realize that no matter how similar wins might seem, “each one has its own story.”
In some respects, Palaniuk’s path was the reverse of what Marks is experiencing. The Idaho prodigy’s early wins got him labeled as an offshore expert. It wasn’t until he won at Santee in 2020 that he got a true “junk fishing” win, which is what he felt most comfortable doing growing up. By contrast, Marks has won twice in his wheelhouse situation – herring lakes. Only when he wins doing something else entirely will he get the full credit that he deserves, and only when he struggles in a future herring fest will he realize how much had to go right to win this week.
There are relatively few two-time Elite winners. Paul Marks is now one of them. No one can take away the blue trophies, but I’d guess that the foremost thing on his mind right now is how to get at least one closer to Palaniuk’s total.
Here’s what I thought, saw, heard, guesstimated and surmised on a Chamber of Commerce day near South Carolina’s capital city:
The Age Game – Average age among today’s top 10: 28.9. Four in their thirties. Six in their twenties. Drew Benton, celebrating his 38th birthday, is the oldest. Trey McKinney the youngest at 21. Three were born in 2001: champion Paul Marks, Caleb Hudson and Sam Hanggi. Average age among the top five: 26.4.
Twenties – Marks and Robert Gee (4th, 85-11) were the only anglers who caught 20 pounds or more all four days.
From Almost Worst to Almost First – Robert Gee: “Now there’s only 99 guys in the Elite Series. Last tournament I finished 100th.”
Penalties Hurt – Jordan Lee ( 7th, 83-4) had a dead fish that he couldn’t cull on Day 1 that he estimated cost him 2 ½ pounds. Obviously, that’s sometimes the price of doing business, but that additional weight would’ve pushed him up from 7th to 4th.
Heard Repeatedly – “It’s probably a striper. Nope, it’s a bass.”
Random Facts – Lake Murray was impounded by what was then the largest earthen dam in the world. It is named for engineer William Murray, who did not star in Stripes, What About Bob or Meatballs. It is not clear if he was ever asked, “Who you gonna call?”
Sight for Sore Eyes – Conditions seemed to set up perfectly for Drew Benton (9th, 80-6) to capitalize on the dwindling sight fishing bite, but he couldn’t make it happen. “I got hung up on a couple of fish I couldn’t catch,” he recalled. “I just didn’t cover enough water.”
Surging Averages – When Marks won at Hartwell last year, Tucker Smith was 2nd, Emil Wagner was 9th and Andrew Loberg was 15th. That’s an average finish of 6.75.
In this year’s win, they finished 1st, 6th, 8th, and 21st, an average of 9th.
Emil Wagner (6th, 84-2) on his Traveling Partners – “I think it’s pretty safe to say if you give us spotted bass or herring, we’re going to have a good tournament.”
Brandon Cobb (3rd, 86-7), angling to make the Surge Squad a Fab Five – “I wish we had more herring tournaments.”
Personal Best – Sam Hanggi (2nd, 87-5) was the only member of the top 10 who notched his personal best Elite Series finish. He beat his previous best by 61 spots.
Best Supporting Actor – The primary lure Marks used was a Zoom Super Fluke in the Chartreuse Herring color, but today he caught two key fish on an unnamed square bill crankbait.
Bro — Aaron Martens is the only angler with two Elite Series Mother’s Day victories. The decision by Marks to start off the day cranking riprap reminded me of A-Mart’s 2007 victory on the California Delta when he elected not to run to his best areas from the days before, but rather to fish a stretch of riprap close to the launch. Unlike the Hall of Famer, though, Marks did not meow at a local cat.
Other Famous Hanggis — Peter Hänggi, internationally known theoretical physicist from Switzerland, especially famous for work on stochastic resonance, Brownian motion, and statistical physics.
Top to Bottom – This week’s winning weight of 90-14 is greater than Drew Benton’s winning weight of 87-0 from 2023, but less than the 93-15 Patrick Walters tallied in 2024. When Walters won, however, the poundage dropped off pretty quickly. There was only one other bag over 80 and Brock Mosley was 10th with 64-8. When Benton won, the weights stayed high throughout the Day 4 qualifiers, with Kenta Kimura’s 78-10 landing him in 10th. Kimura was the only angler in the top 10 who didn’t top 80. This week provided another episode of “I Love the 80s” as ROY leader Caleb Hudson was the only member of the top 10 who cumulatively weighed under 80 pounds.
Dave Mercer — “I always thought let’s just open a company called ‘Prototype Baits.’”
The Point of it All – Every point matters in an Elite Series season, whether it’s for an AOY title, a Classic qualification, or even just requalifying for the Elites. While there weren’t many points to be gained or lost today, our big movers was Robert Gee, who moved up three spots. Caleb Hudson dropped four spots, while two other anglers dropped three apiece.
Make it a Ringtone – Trey McKinney’s screaming drag.
About that Drag – McKinney had to set it light because he used a 1/0 Gamakatsu fine wire hook. “I would hook one and follow it around,” he said. “If you horse on them, it just pulls out.”
Bests and Worsts – Marks was the only angler in the top 10 who had his best day today. McKinney, Loberg, Benton and Hudson all had their worst days today.
Caleb Hudson (10th, 78-7) on Santee-Cooper, site of the next tournament – “I’ve never even seen it. I did no research. I don’t even know what ramp we’re taking off out of.” It seems to beworking for him. The next tournament will be diametrically opposed to this one: shallower, dirtier water, no FFS. Still, even at this level where preparation is normally paramount, sometimes it’s just best to enter a flow state and keep on rolling.
See you at Santee.
And happy Mother’s Day.
