Elite

Practice with Palaniuk at Chickamauga

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Photography by
Shaye Baker
We roll up to roll out with Brandon Palaniuk as the sun rises on the second day of official practice for the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake.
Brandon’s wife Tiffanie makes her way to the truck …
… as Palaniuk makes his way into the boat.
Cold weather gear is necessary on this second day of practice as the air temps start off in the 30s.
Cold weather gear, and a little coffee, according to Palaniuk.
As he takes a sip and tries to warm up, he scans his graphs …
… and gets them dialed in.
Palaniuk makes his first cast as the sun sneaks over the horizon.
Other competitors regularly blow by, all headed to try to break down this expansive fishery as well.
A lot of rods on the deck for Palaniuk this morning.
Lots and lots. Day 1 of practice was a little slow to put it mildly, according to Palaniuk. He got some bites, but few and far between, and it was hard to get a quality bite. He’s hopeful for a better day today and has a full front deck ready to figure something out.
A lot of Palaniuk’s practice is spent looking down …
Eyeing the three Humminbird graphs he has at the bow of the boat — one running LakeMaster mapping, another running MEGA 360 and the top graph running MEGA Live, Palaniuk points out a tree that appears to have a couple fish sitting near it.
He makes a cast, but no luck this time.
As Palaniuk continues to look down …
… and scan his graphs as they scan the lake …
… we’ll take a quick look around the boat at a few of his sponsors.
Back to the fishing, as Palaniuk fires a cast in the direction of something he likes the looks of.
Snack time. Palaniuk tries to eat as clean as possible, with fruits, nuts, meats and veggies in the cooler. Right now, it’s time for a blackberry or two.
Time to move shallow for a bit.
Palaniuk brings his spinnerbait through a laydown …
… and it gets rocked.
Unfortunately, this one wouldn’t be big enough to keep during the tournament.
And Palaniuk is not at all impressed with the size this morning so far.
This is what he’s really wanting to throw, his signature series Arashi Glide Bait. “This is the kind of lake where you can throw it all day,” Palaniuk said. He’s sampled it a few casts so far, but no takers yet.
Finally starting to warm up, as air temps climb their way into the 60s.
Palaniuk hooks up.
But though the bite felt good, it doesn’t look all that good to Palaniuk as it breaks the surface.
Another small one enters the boat, as Palaniuk continues to wonder aloud where the big ones are.
An odd catch this time.
An extremely swollen swimbait from some other angler along the way. Though this one was likely accidentally broken off, it’s still a good reminder not to toss your used baits into the water.
Time to swap up to something else, as Palaniuk puts down one rod …
… and picks up another. He’s still in full search mode here.
He samples some of the bluff banks …
… as well as some of the flatter banks with laydowns …
… even trying some banks that have a little of both.
But no matter the cover, he’s having a hard time dialing something in that he feels confident in.
Fellow Elite Series angler Matt Robertson passes by and stops to compare notes with Palaniuk. It seems they’re both experiencing the stingier side of Chickamauga so far.
Palaniuk puts another in the boat, but he’s still disappointed in the size.
He decides to try skipping a few docks …
… even sliding the whole boat under one to stay close to the bank and keep his bait in the strikezone.
Another one close to keeper size (15-inches), but again not what Palaniuk is looking for to compete for the win here this week.
This is what Palaniuk really wants to be doing …
… throwing big baits for big bass.
And he finally hooks up with a nice one.
“I want to just put this thing in my hand all day,” said Palaniuk in reference to his glide bait. But so far, he just hasn’t seen enough to be able to commit to it and continues to try to figure something else out.
The sun starts to set on Day 2 of official practice.
And Palaniuk makes his way back to the dock. Having put in a full day, he and the other 93 Elite Series competitors will have one more day to figure something out before the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake starts on Thursday.

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