Brandon Palaniuk’s “Welcome to the Big Leagues” Moment with Zell Rowland

Two-time Elite Series Angler of the Year Brandon Palaniuk says he was never hazed during the 2011 Elite Series season, when he finished 37th in the points as a rookie. In fact, he said everyone was friendly, bordering on encouraging. Even when they played the “veteran card” on him, it was to help him be more efficient – as evidenced by this story he recently recalled about Zell Rowland.

Both Rowland and Palaniuk were/are longtime members of the Skeeter Boats pro staff. Palaniuk has six Bassmaster wins so far to Rowland’s five, but Rowland qualified for 16 Bassmaster Classics to Palaniuk’s 13 to date.

While BP is known as “The Prodigy,” and fished his first Classic a few months after his 23rd birthday, that’s one place where the Pop-R master had him beat – Zell fished his first B.A.S.S. event at 13, leading the circuit to subsequently impose a minimum age for competitors.