Needing 8 pounds and change, Pace only had 4 fish to weigh. They weighed 11-8.

He ran a pattern, something other anglers wish they had done more of. “I got caught up fishing history,” said local favorite Jason Christie. Mike McClelland also lamented the fact that he focussed more on specific spots than on a pattern that could be duplicated around a section of the lake.

For his part, Palaniuk defined his pattern to a razor’s edge. The only problem, there weren’t enough similar spots in the part of the lake he chose to focus on. “I only had 7 or 8 spots. They were all 25-to-30 yards long. The good thing about it is that I didn’t waste a lot time running around.”

Specifically, Palaniuk keyed on transition areas where channel bend structure shifted from a 45-degree angle to roughly a 70-degree angle. And the structure had to be connected to a big spawning flat. Palaniuk found the pattern last February when he took 3 days to visit Grand Lake in anticipation of the 2013 Classic.

Palaniuk will get his chance again. Today he congratulated Pace, a deserving champion. photos courtesy James Overstreet/B.A.S.S.

Pace similarly keyed on prespawn areas adjacent to spawning pockets. His fish weren’t way back in the pockets, but they were off the main lake for the most part. Pace used a football jig and dyed the tips of the trailer orange. You can see his break-down of the pattern and technique that won the 2013 Classic in video section of AnglersChannel.com. You can also watch Pace drag that jig in Horse Creek on an upcoming episode of the Progessive Weekend Bass Wrap Up TV Show on NBC Sports.

Hank Cherry of Maiden, NC placed 3rd in his first Classic. Cherry totaled 49 pounds on the week. Video on the jumbo TV at the weigh in showed him losing a 7-pounder at the boat after a prolonged fight. The crowd hurt for the young man who will almost certainly be abck to fish another Classic another day. He relied on experience on Carolina’s Lake Norman, which Cherry says fishes similarly to Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees.

Mike Iaconelli used the Berkley Havoc Beat Shad, which he showed us in an AnglersChannel.com video from Media Day earlier this week, to finish 4th with 48-5.

Mike McClelland placed 5th with a total weight of 45-5 that included a strong finish with 17–14 today.