OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — Big Florida bass are notorious for making you wait for their feeding windows. Brandon Palaniuk knows the game, and his patience paid huge dividends with a phenomenal day that moved him atop the leaderboard for the Champion Power Equipment Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee with a two-day total of 58 pounds, 1 ounce.
Palaniuk, the five-time Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series winner and two-time Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year from Rathdrum, Idaho, placed third on Day 1 with 23-7. Following a 90-minute Day 2 fog delay, Palaniuk returned to the canal spillway he fished a day earlier and sacked up 34-10 — his personal best and the heaviest bag weighed in a Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee.
Palaniuk heads into Semifinal Saturday with a lead of 9-12 over Day 1 leader Greg DiPalma.
“This is the most epic day I’ve ever had — pure insanity,” Palaniuk said. “I caught seven bass today.”
Palaniuk’s mega sack comprised two bass over 9 pounds, along with a 7 1/2, a 4-0, and one nearly 3 1/2.
“It was an absolute incredible day,” Palaniuk said. “It’s not like I caught a bunch. I had seven bites all day; I just had the right ones. All week I’ve been saying, ‘High hopes, low expectations.’
“That’s kinda carried me through, and I may live and die by that this week. Tomorrow, it’ll be the same thing. I’m in an area that has big ones, but it depends on if they show up or not.”
Returning to a Day 1 hotspot is nothing new, but Palaniuk’s tale defined persistence and confidence. Repeating the first day’s scenario, Palaniuk shared a key stretch with DiPalma, Will Davis Jr and Tim Dube.
The difference — a much slower start. Palaniuk caught a 4-pounder at 9 a.m. on a Megabass Kanata jerkbait, but the next two hours were lean.
Late morning found Palaniuk’s neighbors exploring other sections of the spillway canal and ultimately relocating, but he was too impressed with what he saw on his sonar screen. All alone when the late-morning light switch flipped, Palaniuk amassed the majority of his weight in about an hour and a half.
“Patience was a big thing,” Palaniuk said. “I knew I was inside the (Top 50) cut and I didn’t have anything else on this body of water that compared to that.
“I think having as tough of a practice as I did made it easier to stay. What else am I gonna do? I stuck it out and I was able to cycle through baits and figure out some different things that I didn’t figure out yesterday.”
On a day when many anglers opted for slower, coaxing techniques, Palaniuk stepped on the gas and challenged the fish to catch his moving baits. Going big and bold, he also caught fish on a prototype Megabass crankbait and a Megabass Big M 4.0.
Coming off the worst season of his professional career, in which he missed the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour cut, Palaniuk said this week’s success has brought much-needed encouragement.
“The thing I’ve learned in life is that a lot of my greatest moments come after my hardest times,” said Palaniuk. “The hardest times are usually followed by the greatest moments if you’re willing to push through.
“When I won my first Angler of the Year title in 2017, I finished 105th on (Lake Okeechobee), so to have the first two days that I’ve had now is pretty special. There’s definitely a little fire to make it happen this week.”
DiPalma, who hails from Millville, N.J., is in second place with 48-5. After topping the Day 1 standings with 29-12 — the event’s second largest bag — he added a Day 2 bag of 18-9.
DiPalma caught a 5-pounder on the spillway spot around 10 a.m. and, after enduring a dry spell, he relocated to a spot on the lake’s southwest side. Targeting hyacinth mats, he flipped a Texas-rigged Senko with a 1/4-ounce weight.
“Around 12:30, I had hardly anything, and I decided to make a 30-mile run and I caught (most of my weight),” DiPalma said. “I decided, ‘It’s really important to get a limit.’
“It’s funny, the area I ran to, all I caught in practice was 12-inchers, but today, every one I caught was 3 to 3 1/2 pounds. It’s like the females pulled in. I’m super excited to have what I had, but tomorrow, I’m digging in and locking down in that area.”
Davis, of Sylacauga, Ala., is in third place with 39-5. His daily weights were 26-2 and 13-3.
After catching only a 2-pound, 4-ounce bass on the spillway spot, Davis left and fished a creek mouth not far from his starting area. On that second location, Davis caught two of his keepers on a swim jig and a jerkbait.
Returning to the spillway around 1 p.m., he added three more keepers — two on a jerkbait and one on a large crankbait. Looking ahead to Day 3, Davis said he may look at other areas of the spillway, but he may leave the main spot to Palaniuk.
“If I had caught 20 pounds there today, it would be different, but I’m going to respect the leaders,” he said. “If the roles were reversed, they would do the same for me.”
David Gaston of Sylacauga, Ala., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with an 11-8. Gaston’s catch is the largest fish caught at Lake Okeechobee in Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series history. That fish also ranks as the 10th biggest and the 75th double-digit bass in Elite Series history.
John Cox of Debary, Fla., leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 196 points. John Garrett of Union City, Tenn., is in second with 194, followed by Bill Lowen of Brookville, Ind., with 190, Gaston with 184 and Davis with 183.
Beau Browning of Hot Springs National Park, Ark., leads the Dakota Lithium Elite Series Rookie of the Year standings with 152 points.
Saturday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7 a.m. ET at C. Scott Driver Park. The weigh-in will be held at the park at 3 p.m.
Bassmaster LIVE will be streaming on Bassmaster.com, and coverage will also be available on FS1 on Saturday from 8-11 a.m. and Sunday from 8-10 a.m. Stay up-to-date on all tournament coverage at Bassmaster.com/how-to-
Visit Florida is hosting the event.
