California man leads race to $1 million fantasy fishing prize
New father from Lodi, Calif., dreams of becoming a pro bass angler
MINNEAPOLIS – Better known as the “Zinfandel Capital of the World” and the birthplace of winemaker Robert Mondavi, Lodi, Calif., may soon be gaining attention for another reason – home of the world’s FLW Fantasy Fishing champ.
After four tournaments in FLW Fantasy Fishing (www.fantasyfishing.com), James Brown, 26, a resident of Lodi, Calif., is leading the worldwide online fantasy game with 18,386 points. At stake is a $1 million grand prize and bragging rights as the champion of the most lucrative fantasy sports game in the world.
For those wondering exactly what fantasy fishing is, think fantasy football … but with fish – bass fishing, to be exact (not to be confused with fly-fishing). Virtual players select a team of 10 pro bass anglers from among 200 pros participating in the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, a seven-tournament series offering the richest payouts in pro fishing.
Brown gained first place in the overall FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament series after knocking out Rick Persyn, a resident of Spencerville, Ind., located near Fort Wayne, Ind., thanks to an outstanding performance in the fourth FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament. Based on the Wal-Mart Open, the fourth FLW Tour tournament was conducted on Beaver Lake near Rogers, Ark., after which Persyn dropped from first place to 11th place in the overall race for the FLW Fantasy Fishing championship.
Brown came in second place for the Wal-Mart Open, winning a $5,000 Wal-Mart gift card, missing first place by 157 points and the opportunity to claim the tournament’s $100,000 prize. Interestingly, Brown has participated in all four FLW Fantasy Fishing events and only now just won a prize. For the season-opening Lake Toho tournament, he placed 6,689th, for the Lewis-Smith tournament, he placed 870th and for the Lake Norman tournament, he came in 968th place.
“It really seems hard to believe,” said Brown, an avid bass angler who dreams of going pro someday. “With three more tournaments to go, a lot could happen, but a million dollars would go a long way toward helping me start a pro bass fishing career, not to mention buying lots of diapers and baby supplies for our new baby.”
Brown and his wife, Tessa, were recently blessed with their first child, Taitam, the name that Brown chose for his FLW Fantasy Fishing team. A foreman with Central Valley Septic, the longtime Lodi resident can often be found fishing the Sacramento Delta for bass in his Ranger Z20 bass fishing boat.
“I’d also buy another wedding band for my wife’s wedding ring and take her to Jamaica, where we spent our first honeymoon,” added Brown.
Going into the fifth FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament, the current leader board stands as follows:
1. James Brown, Lodi, Calif., 18,386 points
2. Eric Naig, Spirit Lake, Iowa, 17,059 points
3. Eugene Syring, Roscoe, Ill., 16,294 points
4. Gregg Pigg, Brookville, Ohio, 16,263 points
5. Rob Russow, Brookfield, Ill., 15,977 points
6. Robert Moberly, Winchester, Ky., 15,934 points
7. Matt Schell, Newport News, Va., 15,782 points
8. Lorie Key, Phoenix, 15,451 points
9. Mark DeLuca, Missassauga, Ont., 15,307 points
10. Erin Brown, Nicholasville, Ky., 15,145 points
Like the fourth FLW Fantasy Fishing tournament, the upcoming fifth tournament is expected to offer lots of excitement, whether a player has entered all of the FLW Fantasy Fishing tournaments so far, as Brown has, or will be entering their first tournament. Because the last tournament offers triple bonus points, a player who has never entered or has not been as successful in accumulating as many points as other players can suddenly rocket to the front of the pack.
That’s exactly what happened with the winner of FLW Fantasy Fishing’s third tournament. John Yandell, an 18-year-old high school senior attending De La Salle High School in the San Francisco Bay Area, entered FLW Fantasy Fishing (www.fantasyfishing.com) for the first time just over a month ago and won the Lake Norman fantasy bass fishing tournament, claiming the tournament’s $100,000 prize. More importantly, the win instantly catapulted Yandell to 973rd place, putting him within striking distance for the $1 million grand prize and the 2008 FLW Fantasy Fishing championship.
While virtual anglers like Brown enjoy the intensity of doing their own research to select their fantasy fishing teams, other players are turning to Player’s Advantage, a season-long subscription to an online tool that helps FLW Fantasy Fishing players obtain insight and information to give them an edge in picking their pro anglers. In fact, according to FLW Fantasy Fishing, Player’s Advantage subscribers are achieving a 50 percent higher success rate over non-members in winning one of 585 prizes offered for each of the seven FLW Fantasy Fishing tournaments.
“This is when it gets really exciting,” said Irwin Jacobs, chairman of FLW Outdoors® and creator of FLW Fantasy Fishing. “Statistically, with another triple-point tournaments still to come, anyone has a chance to win not only the $1 million grand prize, but to claim a tournament win, good for $100,000, or any of our other great prizes.
“Each tournament offers its own surprises – players who enter for the first time and score big or players who come out of nowhere to take the lead from someone else,” Jacobs added. “It’s just like fishing – you never know if your next cast could hook the big one.”
How FLW Fantasy Fishing works
FLW Fantasy Fishing is free to play and is open to adults, ages 18 and up, throughout the world, wherever it is legal to play. Participants log onto fantasyfishing.com and register to enter the game. Players can sign up any time during the season, up until Aug. 13, 2008, the day before the Forrest Wood Cup championship tournament.
Prior to each Wal-Mart FLW Tour tournament, FLW Fantasy Fishing participants select a fantasy team of 10 FLW pro bass anglers. Participants earn points for each tournament, based on the performance (placement in the designated tournament) of their fantasy team pro anglers. Participants can win prizes for an individual tournament as well as accumulate points over seven designated tournaments to be eligible for a $1 million cash prize, which will be awarded to the participant with the highest overall points for the season. Seven $100,000 first-place prizes go to the participants who earn the most points for each tournament. A $5 million bonus will be paid to the first player to correctly rank the top seven finishers in a tournament. Participants can subscribe to Player’s Advantage to get the edge when selecting their team by accessing expert advice, inside information and cutting-edge statistical tools.
The Wal-Mart FLW Tour consists of seven tournaments, including:
• Lake Toho (Kissimmee, Fla.): Feb. 28-March 2, 2008
• Lewis Smith Lake (Jasper, Ala.): April 3-6, 2008
• National Guard Open — Lake Norman (Charlotte, N.C.): April 24-27, 2008
• Wal-Mart Open — Beaver Lake (Rogers, Ark.): May 15-18, 2008
• NEXT: Fort Loudoun-Tellico Lakes (Knoxville, Tenn.): June 19-22, 2008
• Chevy Open — Detroit River (Detroit, Mich.): July 10-13, 2008
• Forrest Wood Cup at Lake Murray (Columbia, S.C.): Aug. 14-17, 2008
About FLW Outdoors
FLW Outdoors is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, and it conducts the following tournament circuits:
• Wal-Mart FLW Tour
• Wal-Mart FLW Series
• Stren Series
• Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League
• Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour
• Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League
• Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour
• Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series
• Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series
• Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series
These circuits offer combined purses of more than $40 million through 230 events in 2008.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Walmart.com. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.