When it comes to crafting fantasy fishing teams, chasing your tail can leave you dizzy and disillusioned. It has been my experience that nothing can kill a hot streak faster than a bandwagon pick.
A classic example: Pro Brett Hite of Phoenix kicked off 2008 by winning the FLW Tour season opener on Lake Toho; two weeks later, he picked up his second tour-level win by ruling the FLW Series event on the California Delta. Believe me, this stunning feat got my attention – and turned the heads of thousands of other FLW Fantasy Fishing players.
We flocked to Hite in droves for the Tour’s second stop of the season, thinking we’d cash in on his great fortune. But remember how your mom was always asking if you’d follow your friends off a cliff? Well, we all fell together – and hard – when Hite posted a tragic 130th-place finish at Lewis Smith Lake.
And that’s certainly not to say pro bass anglers don’t get in the zone – most of the best will tell you it seems as though they are being guided by unseen forces, that their winning ways felt effortless as they were cruising toward victory in a four-day tournament through which most of the rest of the field was toiling.
So many of the top performers on the Tour have been in the zone; it’s just staying there that can be problematic. That’s why a third of the way into the 2009 FLW Fantasy Fishing season, it may be prudent to at least check the tires before jumping on a bandwagon.
Michael Bennett looks good for 2009’s stop No. 3 at Lake Norman for a number of reasons that actually have to do with fishing, and 80 percent of us FLW Fantasy Fishing pundits have him on our teams. Besides, he’s fresh off a top-10 finish at Table Rock, so why even give the pick a second thought, right?
If there’s anyone who can sustain a streak, it’s probably Bennett, arguably the best young pro fishing the Tour today, and certainly much more than a flavor of the week. Just look at his 2008 stats: nearly $1.2 million in prize money with three top-10 finishes on the Tour alone, including two wins, one of which was the pinnacle of professional bass fishing – the Forrest Wood Cup. But despite his championship win and ending the season ranked No. 9 among all pros, there were back-to-back missteps in the middle of the season where he finished closer to last than first.
From the fantasy side of things, that’s the problem with anglers who fish to win: They tend to be spectacular in their finishes, whether to the good or bad. I’m not saying hot streaks inevitably leave you cold, but you may want to approach them like your investment strategy – either cautiously or with full knowledge that valleys tend to follow peaks.