In August 2008, California student Steve Reed found himself in a rather amazing position – standing alongside 14 of the nation’s top fantasy-fishing contestants at the Colonial Center in Columbia, S.C. Only days prior, the entire group was flown to South Carolina to square off in the finals of the yearlong FLW Fantasy Fishing contest, which featured a top prize of $1 million. While Reed – an avid fisherman in his own right – didn’t ultimately walk away with the grand prize, his stellar third-place finish was enough to net him a brand new Chevy Silverado pickup truck valued at just under $40,000.
However, Reed’s good fortune did not end there.
On March 7, 2009, Reed swapped his fantasy-fishing punditry skills for some real-life fishing tackle. On that day, Reed teamed up with fellow UC-Davis fishing-club member Ken Gunderson to record an amazing first-place finish at the inaugural Western Division FLW College Fishing event at Clear Lake. Reed’s bounty this time was a $10,000 first-place scholarship, part of which went toward the funding of new gear for Reed’s 10-member fishing club.
Not surprisingly, Reed is enjoying every minute of his latest two ventures.
“I follow all the bass circuits real close,” said Reed, who’s majoring in textiles and clothing marketing. “Competitive bass fishing is one of the most fun things there is.”
The evolution from pundit to competitor
During the 2008 fantasy competition, Reed combed over the results of past Walmart FLW Tour events (the only fishing circuit applicable to the FLW Fantasy Fishing challenge), learning which pros lived closest to the tournament lakes and which pros guided on those lakes. In addition, Reed turned to Player’s Advantage – an online tool available at FantasyFishing.com that provides members with a plethora of stats, expert advice and myriad other tips for picking successful Fantasy Fishing teams – to help finalize his picks for each contest.
However, it wasn’t until last year’s Forrest Wood Cup – one of the premier bass-fishing championships in the nation – that Reed met Charlie Evans, FLW Outdoors president and CEO, who told him about the new college fishing tournaments.
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Reed said. “There are other college circuits out there, but none give you a boat; none were close enough; and none offer the prizes that FLW does.”
Through ads on Facebook, Reed met Gunderson, who wanted to give competitive fishing a try.
“He’s not really a bass fisherman,” Reed said, “but he has a good knowledge of fishing in general. We met the day before the (Clear Lake) tournament and planned a strategy and went from there.”
That strategy included drop-shot rigging over deep rocks, which netted the duo their winning weight of 23 pounds, 9 ounces.
A conflicting event at school will prevent Reed from competing in the second Western Division tournament April 18 at Lake Roosevelt in Arizona, but look for him to compete as a co-angler in an upcoming Stren Series tournament.
“The more I look at it,” Reed said, “FLW has you covered every step of the way. You can start out in college, then move up to a co-angler on the Stren Series, and then go from there.”
Although Reed isn’t certain what the future holds, the rookie pundit does plan on making tournament fishing a big part of his post-college future. And that’s no fantasy.