Dude Wipes Dude and Brandon Palaniuk Returning To The Elites

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After one year on the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour two of the biggest names in bass fishing are going back to B.A.S.S..  This may or may not be an ominous sign for Boyd Duckett and the boys over at MLF.  Who knows how the MLF FLW take over is going to work out in the long run.  I think going back to B.A.S.S. is the smart bet.  When I lost Outdoor Channel last Spring when we switched to Direct TV my interest level in MLF nose-dived.  In fact, it wasn't until I was doing this post that I looked up The Bass Pro Tour on Discovery Channel which we do have.  I now have the DVR set to record.  I got to do something with my time this winter because with these back to back Thanksgiving week snowstorms it looks like my ice fishing got done before I could even get started.

Elite's At Mille Lacs

6AM at Eddy's

6:00-8:00AM Eddy's Jetty Mille Lacs
Conditions: 65-59 degrees, Wind Sw, Partly cloudy

I didn't get bit.

First Elite to arrive was Chris Lane

Chris Lane

I welcomed Chris to MN when he came by on the trolling motor.

Second guy to launch was Randall Tharp.

Randall Tharp

Third guy to launch was Bradley Roy.  I didn't get a picture of him.  Then came Keith Poche.

Keith Poche

After the sunrise the first one to come through was Dean Rojas.

Dean Rojas

Elites that I didn't take pictures of were Brandon Palaniuk, Adrian Avena, Andy Montgomery, Shaw Grigsby, Bobby Lane, Justin Lucas, and Brett Hite.

Great Point By Kumar on Palaniuk DQ

If I'm Rapala – a MN company – I'm going to chew out MN's head of fisheries because my guy missed out on potentially millions of dollars worth of exposure due to a rule that should've died round about the time T Rex did. Sheesh.

Apology To Brandon Palaniuk On His Disqualification

PHOTO: B.A.S.S./SEIGO SAITO

Brandon I am so sorry that my state and it's idiotic rules on culling on the Mississippi River caused you to be DQ'ed from the Mississippi River Rumble.  I know it was a tough one to swallow as it looked like you were on your way to winning and getting to the Bassmaster Classic next year.  Minnesota and it's rules and regulations regarding bass fishing are a never ending source frustration for me.  Unfortunately I don't see things changing, but who knows maybe some good will come out of this.  Our state just got a huge black eye.

I encourage everyone reading this to send the MN DNR an Email voicing your displeasure. info@dnr.state.mn.us

Updated: MN finally got rid of the no culling rule for the 2017 Season

Jersey's For St. Jude's Auction

Brandon Palaniuk, Chris Lane, A-Mart, Luke Clausen, Ott Defoe, Brent Ehrler, Paul Elias, Randall Tharp, Scott Martin, Dave Lefebre and Dave Dudley all have Jersey's up for auction this year.  Be sure to check it out the auctions all end on Sunday.  I'm not sure if there is going to be a second round of auctions or not.

Don't got the cha-ching to put down on a jersey, but want to give to St. Jude's.  I recommend giving to either
Jason Holmer or Glenn Walker who are both giving away prizes to their contributors this year.  Or also Paul Strege who puts together the auctions.

Holmer is giving away one big prize.

While Walker is giving away several small prizes.

Excellent Interview With Classic Champ Cliff Pace at Wired2Fish

Listen Here

He talks in depth about his lack of celebration, what he said to Brandon Palaniuk, his relationship with Gary Klein and more.  It's worth listening to the whole thing.

Bassmaster Classic Day 2

Cliff Pace is in it, to win it!!!  He takes a 7lb lead into the final day.  However it is very possible he could stumble or someone beneath him could bust a super huge sack.  At this point I think it's down to a 6 horse race with Brandon Palaniuk having and Ike having the most realistic shot.  I don't wish Cliff ill, but if he stumbles I hope Brandon takes it.

Tomorrow may or may not be interesting.

Is It Bassmaster Classic Time?

Well you wouldn't know it from my blogging.  I just don't have enthusiasm for blogging about stuff right now. Maybe I will get in the swing of things this week.  I don't plan on Liveblogging any of the Classic weigh in's this year.  Maybe the last one, who knows.

If you want help putting together your Fantasy Team be sure to listen to the Fantasy Fishing Insider pod-cast.  They have interviews with Ott Defoe and Chris Lane.

Update:  Here is a new Podcast with Ike, Palaniuk, Zona, and Kumar

Brandon Palaniuk Elite Series Bull Shoals Champion!!!

Congratulations Brandon on the Win and Classic Birth!!!

Elite Series Bull Shoals Day Final

I'm listening to the coverage today on the war room.

Great stuff by J. Todd talking about expanding his fan base and growing the sport through social media.

Go Brandon Palaniuk!!!

Go Remitz!!!

The Hook'ed Up before weigh in was really well done.

The video is getting worse and worse a we go along.

Bass Pundit Endorsements for B.A.S.S. All-Star Voting

Region 1: Shaw Grigsby- Truth be told I have never been a real Shaw Grigsby guy. He gets the endorsement for 2 reasons. 1. I used his jersey as a template for my own. 2. The contrast between how Shaw handled sharing water with Grant Goldbeck vs how Denny Brauer mishandled sharing water with JVD.

Region 2: Brent Chapman- Brent is a bass fishing blogger who I follow. Brent is a great guy who struggled some this season, but finished strong and made his way back to the Classic. Don "DB" Barone wrote an article titled "How fragile, we..." at the end of the year that featured Brent and his wife Bobbi (who also blogs) that chronicled the stress of a season not going well. Brent is guy who has paid his dues and is a true professional.

Region 3: David Walker- I not exactly sure why but David Walker is one of my favorite Pro anglers. He has a blog at his website and also does with The Evinrude Blog. It was cool see Dave pick up his first win ever this season and make his goal of getting back to Classic, which is the reason he left FLW.
Updated- I just found out from facebook that David is actually a Northern Boy originally from Michigan. Just another reason to like him.

Region 4: Brandon Palaniuk- This Federation Angler from Idaho turned Elite Series Pro living his dream has been fun to watch. He had a great season, that in some ways was overshadowed because this years crop of veteran rookies was so strong. He would have been Rookie of the Year last year going away. It's highly impressive that Brandon made it back to the Classic, especially having to deal with a couple of difficult circumstances that had to be overcome (The manatee zone incident and the selfish Denny Brauer). I hope Brandon makes it in the sport and he is going to need sponsors for next year, making it as an All-Star would be huge for Brandon in terms of selling himself to potential sponsors.

All 4 of these guys are on Facebook.

So go to All-Star Week Voting Page and vote for these guys. You could win a boat.

Current 2011 BassFan.com Money Rankings

One thing that is cool about BassFan is that they count the cash and rank the anglers by it. You hear about the $ rankings in golf all the time, but not so much in Pro Bass Fishing. That could be due to the fact that the sums really are not mind blowing and on the lower end, there is obviously has to be a pain factor for guys that aren't coming anywhere close to meeting expenses in an expensive sport.

At this point I think the number tend to skew in favor of the Elite Series guys because their season is over and the big money Bassmaster Classic starts the year. The Lucky FLW Angler that wins the Forrest Wood Cup will join KVD at the top.
Cool to see Brandon Palaniuk in 25th.

The Brianna (Bri) Palaniuk Bandwagon- All Aboard!

Brianna or Bri Palaniuk is the little sister of B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Champion and Elite Series Rookie Brandon Palaniuk. Her sparkling personality has gotten her noticed. It all started at the Bassmaster Classic when she was interviewed by Anglers Channel.com for some insight into how Brandon was doing. The people at Anglers Channel.com were obviously impressed and asked Bri to film a shoot with them down in Florida at the Citrus Slam. Also while in Florida Brianna got to do a Hook'd Up segment with Dave Mercer. The people with B.A.S.S were obviously impressed because they asked her to do some BassCam interviews at the Alabama Charge at Pickwick Lake. As Bass Parade blog reported her interviews were quite popular with the Internet audience. Brianna told me, "Being a correspondent of some sort has been my dream since I was a little girl." She also did an interview with Brandon for BassFIRST.com

Brandon has asked Brianna to stay and help him for the rest of the tour as a personal assistant and she is more than happy to do it. I kind of think she is having as much fun on tour as Brandon. She is hoping to do more stuff with B.A.S.S. but said at this point "nothing is in stone."

I highly encourage Bass Pundit readers to use Facebook to let the powers that be at B.A.S.S. (Jerry McKinnis, Angie Thompson, Dave Mercer, Zona, and the official B.A.S.S. Fan Page) know you would like to see more Bri.

Note- I have sent a link to this post on Facebook to Jerry McKinnis,Angie Thompson, Dave Mercer, Zona's Awesome Fishing Show, and B.A.S.S.., also sent a link to Don Barone.

Elite Series Pickwick Lake

(Photo: B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina)

I haven't had anything to say about this one, so I haven't. My fantasy performance was even worse than usual.
B.A.S.S.
Herren 21st
Kvd 22nd
Chapman 55th
Vinson 64th
Walker 66th

Advanced Anglers
Kvd 22nd
Skeet 37th
Short 45th
Kennedy 59th
Biffle 71st

Hopefully we will see more of Brianna Palaniuk. Her brother Brandon now has a Facebook page. Unfortunately I missed Brianna's interview with Mercer.
Update: Apparently the interview with Mercer was done at one of the Florida stops.

Congratulations to Davy Hite on his big win!!!