Palaniuk fired up early

Brandon Palaniuk knows what it takes to close out a victory on Day 4 of an Elite Series tournament. That’s why he’s got four of the treasured blue Elite Series championship trophies, including one this year at Lake Champlain. When asked yesterday what it would take today, he quickly answered, “Twenty pounds. Somebody’s going to catch 20 pounds and win this thing.”

Nobody caught 20 pounds yesterday. But Palaniuk made a dent in it early this morning. He caught a 3-12 at 7:36 and 3-0 at 7:36 to take the early lead. He started the day in third place, 1-3 behind leader Carl Jocumsen.