Haley wins FLW Fantasy Fishing for Red River

Fantasy sports fanatic reels in $15,000 prize from fishing tournament

MINNEAPOLIS – Kevin Haley of Syracuse, N.Y., correctly picked Walmart FLW Tour pro John Cox of DeBary, Fla., to win last week’s Walmart FLW Tour on the Red River presented by OFF! For his picks, Haley won $15,000 playing FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, held in conjunction with the FLW Tour fishing tournament.

“Are you kidding me,” said Haley. “This is unbelievable! I am closing on a house in two weeks, and this just made my day. Actually this may make my year!

“This is the first year I have played Fantasy Fishing. I play all the other fantasy sports games out there – football, baseball, you know…” Haley went on to say. “I have been fishing since I was three, so Fantasy Fishing just seemed like a natural fit.

“I picked Cox to win because I researched how he did at previous tournaments, and he looked like a good pick,” added Haley.

Cox, the 2010 FLW Series Eastern Angler of the Year, won his first Walmart FLW Tour event last week on the Red River with a four-day total of 20 bass that weighed 48 pounds, 8 ounces. This is his rookie year on the FLW Tour.

Haley’s Fantasy Fishing team was led by Cox and earned him 2,172 valuable points that will continue to accumulate throughout the season, putting himself in position to contend for the $100,000 grand prize.

Fantasy Fishing is free to play, but fans can gain a valuable edge with Player’s Advantage. Player’s Advantage is a unique tool that offers additional resources and information, and those with Player’s Advantage have won at a rate of four-to-one. An added benefit to purchasing Player’s Advantage is receiving access to the FLW Outdoors Magazine e-Edition.

Finishing in second place on the fantasy side for the Red River event was James Cox of DeBary, Fla., who won $5,000, and in third was Francis Broome of White Plains, Md., who won $1,000. Several other winners from California to West Virginia to Ontario took home prizes ranging from $500 cash to $10 Walmart gift cards.

The 2011 Fantasy Fishing season consists of 10 tournaments surrounding the Walmart FLW Tour with cumulative and individual tournament prizes. Fans compete for more than $25,000 in cash and prizes from each of the 10 tournaments and a top prize of $15,000. The cumulative grand prize is $100,000 with the overall runner-up winning a Ranger Z-520 boat with a Ranger Trail Trailer, 250 Mercury outboard, Minn Kota Maxxum 80 trolling motor, Lowrance electronics and trolling motor batteries – all valued at $54,000.

The third-place overall winner will win a Chevy 1500 Silverado valued at $38,000, and fourth place will take home a FinCraft 17 Dual Console boat with a 115 Evinrude outboard valued at $27,000. A BRP Can-Am Outlander 400 All-Terrain vehicle, valued at $8,000, will be awarded to the fifth-place finisher; while sixth- through 10th-place finishers will win Walmart gift cards ranging in value from $9,000 to $5,000.

To begin playing, visit FantasyFishing.com and sign up. A team will automatically be selected for you, but you can edit that team and choose the 10 anglers you think will place the highest in the next Tour event. You must then select the angler you think will win the tournament and predict that angler’s cumulative winning weight, which will serve as the tiebreaker. Player’s modifications to their teams must be finalized by 11:59 p.m. ET the night prior to the tournament.

TracFone Wireless, America’s largest “no-contract” cellular service provider is the official and exclusive mobile phone service provider of FLW Outdoors. Supporting a two-member professional fishing team, Team Straight Talk’s Scott Canterbury and JT Kenney will compete in internationally televised events on the 2011 Walmart FLW Tour.

For updates, insider tips, tournament news and more, follow FLW Fantasy Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FantasyFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWOutdoors.

About FLW Outdoors

FLW Outdoors is the largest tournament-fishing organization in the world, offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world’s richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing at FantasyFishing.com, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player’s Advantage to gain an edge.