So how exactly do you win Fantasy Fishing? It’s a questions those new to game often ask.
Sure, you pick 10 pros before each FLW Tour tournament begins, wait for the weigh-in and then see where you wind up in the points, right? Well, it’s actually a little more sophisticated than that and understanding how points are awarded can give you an advantage.
In order to win, you have to accumulate the most points and in order to accumulate the most points you must land your picks in the top 10. And here’s why: Picking a pro, or better yet, several pros, who end up in the top 10 is worth a cache of bonus points. What’s more, if you pick a pro’s exact finish within the top 10 (dubbed an “exacta” in Fantasy Fishing) you get even more bonus points. For example, if you picked David Dudley to finish fourth and he actually finishes fourth – bingo you have scored an exacta. The granddaddy of them all, however, if you should pick the winner of the tournament, you get almost triple bonus points.
So exactly how many bonus points are we talking, here? Well, here’s the run down for each event.
For any pro you pick who finishes outside the top 10, you will only be awarded that pro’s Angler of the Year points he received for that tournament. Since Angler of the Year points start at 200 points for the winner of the event, 199 for second and so on, the most points you can get for a pro finishing outside the top-10 is 190 points for the 11th place pro – so keep that in mind as we run through the bonus point values below.
Bonus points vary depending on the FLW Tour event. For instance at the Table Rock and Kentucky Lake Tour stops, landing a pro in the top 10 is worth 500 points, matching an exacta is worth 750 points, and picking the winner is worth 2000 points.
At FLW Tour “Open” events, which include Guntersville, Beaver and Norman, bonus point values double. Landing a pro in the top 10 is 1000 points, hitting an exacta is worth 1500 points and picking the winner is worth 4000 points.
Finally, at Lake Champlain – the last regular season event of the year – points triple in value. That’s 1500 for a top 10, 2250 for an exacta and an unbelievable 6000 points if you pick the winner.
So, as you can see, picking pros who make the top 10 is worth way more than those who finish farther down in the field.
As an example, those Fantasy Fishers who won or placed high last year averaged about 4 to 5 pros inside the top 10, with some being exactas or even the winner.
The overall point here is that Fantasy Fishing is not won with a defensive or survivalist strategy: Being the last player standing, so to speak, is not the goal.
Instead of picking a stable of pros and playing that same team over and over again at each event in hopes of being consistent, a better strategy is to change your picks drastically tournament to tournament.
As was proven during the 2008 Fantasy Fishing season it takes top 10’s and exactas to win. Consistently landing pros in the 11th to 30th place spots all season is great, but without top 10’s you can’t win.