Family advantage
Sons’ advice, Player’s Advantage have Terry Moberly halfway home to a million
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Editor’s note: Terry Moberly dropped to second place in the overall, worldwide FLW Fantasy Fishing standings after the Beaver Lake contest.
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An avid recreational fisherman, Terry Moberly taught his sons to fish. They returned the favor by teaching him about FLW Fantasy Fishing. Now he’s $100,000 richer and angling to become a millionaire.
After winning $100,000 at Lake Guntersville, 2009’s first stop on the Walmart FLW Tour, Moberly led the overall FLW Fantasy Fishing standings. At the conclusion of tournament No. 2 on Table Rock Lake, Moberly slipped to second. At the season’s halfway point, Moberly returned to the top spot and has his sights set on the $1 million grand-prize purse.
This is Moberly’s first season playing FLW Fantasy Fishing. In fact, he didn’t register for the first contest until hours before the closing bell. Had it not been for the encouragement he received from his two sons, the Berea, Ky., native never would have played. Now $100,000 richer and leading the race for the $1 million grand prize, Moberly is glad he took the fantasy plunge, to say the least.
“This is the only (fantasy sport) I’ve ever played so far … I’m hooked,” Moberly, an auto parts production worker, said. “Now people see me and say, `Hey, you’re the guy who won that $100,000.’ I tell everybody I see to sign up … I mean, it’s fun and it’s free to play, so why not?”
Moberly joked that he’s less inclined to clue people in on Player’s Advantage, FLW Fantasy Fishing’s $10 premium service that gives subscribers a whole slew of tools to help them create their fantasy teams. He said it’s been an indispensable part of his picking process.
“I almost don’t want to tell people about it,” Moberly said with a laugh, “but that is a good tool – seriously.”
A winner’s system
Just moments before heading to Kentucky’s Lake Cumberland for some camping and fishing, Moberly divulged some – but, of course, not all – of the secrets of his prognostication skills during a quick telephone interview.
For starters, he sits down at his computer for three or four research sessions, each lasting from half an hour to 45 minutes, before each tournament to do the preliminary work in setting up his fantasy pro team. Using the various functions in Player’s Advantage, he starts to study different pros and try to line them up with upcoming tournament fisheries based on their preferences and strengths.
“All I’ve ever done is watch each angler closely and try to learn all that I can about them,” he said.
Though Moberly doesn’t procrastinate when it comes to doing his FLW Fantasy Fishing homework, he said it’s the cramming he does just before test time that really makes the difference. In the two or three days leading up to a tournament, he said he’ll round out his team and frequently make changes in his roster.
“When they’re prefishing, I really start paying attention to the podcasts and videos,” Moberly said of the on-site interviews with pros posted at FantasyFishing.com in the days leading up to the event. “I listen to them … and watch to look at the reactions on their faces.”
It’s those close encounters with the pros that let Moberly zero in on who he thinks is confident about their chances in the tournament. Armed with that knowledge, the research he’s done beforehand and some “gut feelings,” Moberly locks in his team.
Clearly this system works – at least for Moberly. FLW Fantasy Fishing is only in its second season, but this maintained level of success in the game is unprecedented. But Moberly does have one more ace up his sleeve: his sons.
Fishing family in fantasy and reality
Tyler, 21, and Brandon, 19, grew up in a fishing family, and now they both fish competitively, including in Walmart Bass Fishing League events administered by FLW Outdoors.
“Basically, we all grew up fishing; my dad had us out fishing real early,” Tyler said this week while preparing to represent East Kentucky University in the National Guard FLW College Fishing event to be held on Kentucky and Barkley lakes over the weekend. “I’ve got tournaments lined up every weekend.”
The family shares a Ranger boat they bought a few years ago for both tournament and pleasure fishing. While Tyler and Brandon take turns using the boat to either compete in, or practice for, regional bass tournaments, Terry Moberly said he fishes almost exclusively for fun, save one or two local events each year.
“I fish quite a few lakes around here,” Moberly said. “We like to pleasure fish, my wife, Debbie, and family … and we love the outdoors.”
Instilling in his children a love for nature and the bountiful fisheries of Kentucky, Moberly would have had a hard time guessing in his sons’ formative years that encouraging such pastimes would eventually lead them to a new kind of fishing – indoors and online.
“I had to make him sit down and create a team,” Tyler said of his father’s $100,000 FLW Fantasy Fishing debut. “I threw him a few names, and then he finished his team … he ended up winning that one.”
Tyler said he’s impressed with his dad’s incredible success this season, but he’s not the only one in the family plugged in to the game. Debbie and Brandon also play, but Tyler, who just earned a prize in the last Fantasy Fishing contest after placing 124th, is into it big time.
“Last year I didn’t have Player’s Advantage, and I didn’t do any good at all,” Tyler said. “This year I spend an hour or two a day using it before tournaments … it’s ridiculous, but it works. If it wasn’t for Player’s Advantage, Dad never would have won.”
Even though Tyler spends a lot of time researching for each fantasy event, he concurs with his father that the last few days before an FLW Tour event are critical in terms of solidifying a fantasy team.
“That’s really when you need to get on there a lot. The podcasts and videos are really important,” Tyler said, adding some additional advice for new players. “I’d say, Do a lot of practicing, learning about the anglers – what they like to do and how they excel fishing – and just spend lots of time.”
Beaver Lake hurdle
Moberly is already a big FLW Fantasy Fishing winner and leads all players worldwide in the quest for the season-ending $1 million grand prize. But he knows there are many great players out there, including his own family, and lots of great guesswork to be done to stay in the lead.
“I feel pretty good (about my chances), if I can get past this next tournament,” he said. “I think it could be tough to pick.”
Though Beaver Lake is a perennial stop on the FLW Tour, fluctuating water levels in recent years have made it difficult to predict who will come out on top based on past performances. Moberly has already logged a few hours contemplating his team, but it’s a sure bet he’ll spend more time watching videos and listening to podcasts next week after he returns from his Lake Cumberland trip.
“One pick for sure is (Greg) Bohannan, the home guy,” he said. “He’s the only pick I’m going to give out so far.”
A cool million is a tantalizing figure to put before any fantasy player, but Moberly said his unexpected success in the game is already something for which he is thankful.
“If I don’t make (the grand prize), I’ve had a blessed year so far … and am fortunate in what I’ve already gotten,” he said. “With the economy, how bad it is … and our oldest son in college … (the $100,000) has put our hearts at ease a little. We’re laid back and kind of taking it easy.”