Lake Okeechobee was on fire for the Champion Power Equipment Bassmaster Elite tournament event last week. Brandon Palaniuk had already made the tour stop a memorable one with his 34-10 bag on Day 2, a personal best for the rising pro-fishing star that won him the $2,000 Rapala Crush City Monster Bag award — it was also the heaviest bag weighed at any Bassmaster Elite event on that lake. But he wasn’t done, nor was the lake.
He started Day 3 with a 9-12 lead over Greg DiPalma, who was the leader on Day 1. Palaniuk pulled 23 pounds of bass from Okeechobee, and despite a thin Day 4 total of 14-3, he rocketed to another victory for his personal scoreboard with four-day total of 95 pounds, 4 ounces!
That total beat out second-place John Garrett’s 79-7 by a whopping 15-13, that’s the fourth-largest winning margin in Bassmaster Elite history. It’s also Palaniuk’s second double-digit win. He took home $102,000 in prize money and another blue trophy to join the other five he has at home.
Palaniuk told Bassmaster that he camped in a small stretch of the C-41A Canal that flows southeast from Lake Istokpoga, focusing on a ridge with an adjacent trench passing between the high spot and the riprap bank.
“I think the biggest thing was this spot had deep water and spawning areas nearby and it allowed those fish to funnel through and replenish every day,” Palaniuk said. “The structure set up right for them to position and funnel into there.
“In the back of that trough was a flat that came off the bank. That created an area where those big females could get sun, and there was tons of bait that they could feed on.”
After Day 1, Palaniuk said he cycled through a bunch of baits to figure out what fish were responding to. Through the week, he found success with the Megabass Kanata jerkbait, a prototype Megabass crankbait, and the aptly named Megabass Big M 4.0.
He also leaned on the KGB glidebait, a Neko-rigged green-pumpkin Zoom Magnum Finesse Worm, and a XZone Lures Muscle Back Craw punched through a hyacinth mat.
“We’re not done yet,” Palaniuk said after his victory. “I’m 15 years into it; I figure I have at least that many more. I feel like we’re just getting started.”
Also of note, David Gaston of Alabama caught the largest fish in Lake Okeechobee in Bassmaster Elite history with an 11-8 fish, which earned him the $2,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award. The fish is also the 10th biggest in Elite Series history and only the 75th double-digit bass.
Garrett got off to a rough start, tying Chris Zaldain for 62nd place on Day 1 with 10-8. He shot up to 12th place after Day 2 with 22-7, tacked on 23-3 the following day, and then rose to fourth place before closing out with a 23-5 bag on Day 4 for a 79-7 second-place total.
“This Florida swing has been absolutely unbelievable,” Garrett said. “Most of the time when I’m in Florida I take a righthand turn, and I was supposed to take a left, but every decision I’ve made the past two weeks has been the right one.”
He leaned on a black-and-blue Strike King Hack Attack Swim Jig with a Strike King Rage Scounbug trailer in shallow water to find aggressive fish, and a Texas-rigged black-and-blue Strike King Rage Bug for flipping in deeper spots.
In third place was Kyoya Fujita of Yamanashi, Japan, with a 77-4 score and daily totals of 18-0, 11-15, 25-13, and 21-8.
Fujita mostly stuck to the Rim Canal; on Day 4, he stayed east of the Taylor Creek area.
“I fished the canal because I practiced in the lake and everything had changed (from his previous visit in 2023),” Fujita said. “I found my fish on Livescope and fished a jighead minnow with a Jackall Driftfry and Deps Sakamata Shad.”
