The thing about springtime bass fishing on Lake Hartwell is that it changes faster than a wind shift on a bluff wall. Just ask Team Toyota pro Brandon Palaniuk, who rolled into Day 1 of the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at lake Hartwell with a bed fish in mind and found nothing but clear water and empty promises.
“I started on a bed fish this morning and she was gone when I got there,” Palaniuk said at weigh-in, a wry smile breaking beneath his ball cap. “I’ve never seen a lake where they spawn and disappear so fast. At 5:30 p.m. last night they were rolling and rubbing, and then she was just gone this morning.”
Still, the seasoned Idaho native and two-time Angler of the Year didn’t panic. Palaniuk did what he’s made a career of doing: he adjusted on the fly.
With a veteran's poise and a deep tacklebox of techniques, Palaniuk put together a mixed-bag limit of three largemouth and two spotted bass. His fish came from just about everywhere—and everything.
“I caught ‘em in a foot of water to 20 feet of water,” he said. “It really was a combination of things. The fish are in every possible stage on Hartwell right now.”
That’s the nature of Lake Hartwell in April. Prespawn, spawn and postspawn fish can all be found in the same stretch of shoreline if you look close enough. The Elite field is forced to stay nimble and perhaps nobody in the game embodies versatility more than Palaniuk.
Over a career spanning more than a decade, Palaniuk has banked millions in tournament winnings. But his reputation goes beyond the stats. Whether he’s skipping docks, watching forward-facing sonar or pulling smallmouth from current breaks, his style is rooted in intuition, adaptability and a quiet confidence that comes from years of grinding it out on the nation’s top waters.
Day 1 at Hartwell was no different.
“I’ve been doing a mix of sight fishing and forward-facing sonar fishing,” Palaniuk explained. “I don’t think one style of fishing is going to dominate this tournament. You’re going to have to show your versatility.”
The 2025 Elite schedule has already featured a wide range of fisheries—from river systems to deep reservoirs—and Hartwell is another puzzle to piece together. This week’s conditions are typical of spring in the Southeast: warm mornings, scattered clouds and pop-up thunderstorms that build heat and tension both on the water and in the weigh-in line.
“The weather won’t really change much for me,” Palaniuk said. “I think we might have a little more sun tomorrow which should make it better. Just afternoon thunderstorms that can pop up out of nowhere. It’s up to me to adapt to the changing conditions and I’m totally prepared to do so.”
It’s not just the fishing that keeps Palaniuk grounded—it’s his family. That’s been the mission since day one.
“I’ve got my family here with me,” he said. “If I couldn’t have my family here with me, I don’t think the career would even be worth it. I always had it in my mind as I was coming up before I started my career, that I wanted to have a good enough career to where my family could travel with me. That has always been part of the plan.”
That plan has led him from a backseat co-angler to an Elite Series mainstay, to a father and husband, all while maintaining his status as one of the most consistent and respected anglers on tour.
His career arc is the kind young anglers dream of—starting on the Federation Nation trail, making a splash at the 2011 Bassmaster Classic and steadily building a legacy not with flashy finishes, but with workmanlike performances and unshakable resilience.
Despite a modest practice, Palaniuk made the most of Day 1, though he admits his weight may not stack up to the leaderboard.
“My practice was not great,” he said. “I was pretty happy with my weight today… until I saw the other weights. Then I figured I probably didn’t do as well as originally thought. But this lake has ‘em and I can’t wait to get out there on Friday.”
That kind of response says a lot about Palaniuk.
Never rattled. Never content. Always fishing forward.
As for the rest of the field, the bite was mixed. Some pros leaned on offshore spotted bass using live sonar, while others targeted isolated bedding fish tucked into wind-protected pockets. Palaniuk, as always, straddled the line between patterns—sight fishing when he could see and scanning when he couldn’t.
“I’m around a few other anglers but nobody’s close enough to mess me up and vice versa,” he said. “Hartwell is a place that when you stop your boat, if you’re within a few feet of the bank, you’re around the bass. I don’t feel like there’s one section of the lake that’s better than the rest. It’s a lot of running around but they sure do live here.”
It’s that kind of lake; one where persistence pays off and the difference between a decent day and a game-changer is often one cast, one adjustment, one instinctive twitch of a rod tip.
Palaniuk has built a career on instincts and there’s every reason to believe his adjustments on Day 2 will lead to something special. And on Hartwell, he’s right in the mix.
