The 2025 tournament season is nearly here. For fans, that not only means it’s time to tune in for a new slate of compelling tournaments; it’s your chance to compete, too.
Phoenix Boats Fantasy Fishing is back for another year, offering players multiple different ways to win prize packages from Tackle Warehouse. Fantasy Fishing players will be able to select lineups prior to all seven Bass Pro Tour regular-season events plus Bass Pro Shops REDCREST and Heavy Hitters, as well as all six Tackle Warehouse Invitationals events and the new Invitationals Championship. The top finisher for each Bass Pro Tour and Invitationals event will win a prize, while the top season-long finishers for both circuits will all earn even bigger prize packages.
Sound like something you’re interested in? Then it’s time to start thinking about strategy. Here are a few guidelines to follow and key names to know ahead of the Bass Pro Tour season.
Don’t shy away from the stalwarts
It’s always a good idea to include eight-time BPT winner Jacob Wheeler on your Fantasy Fishing team. Photo by Garrick Dixon
A big part of the fun of Fantasy Fishing is tailoring your 10-angler team to each event and fishery. But leaning on a handful of anglers throughout the season not only simplifies the selection process, it can pay off – these pros simply catch them everywhere. Here are four anglers you could roster for just about any event and not go wrong.
Jacob Wheeler: The No. 1 ranked angler in the world by BassFan for six years running, all Wheeler has done over the past four seasons is win the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year award three times, hoist six Bass Pro Tour trophies and finish among the Top 10 24 times in 36 events. Enough said.
Dustin Connell: Wheeler’s running mate might not have quite the same level of consistency, but he knows how to win. Connell’s six career BPT victories are second only to Wheeler and include two REDCREST triumphs.
Alton Jones Jr.: Jones has really come into his own lately, racking up 11 Top 10s and two wins over the past three seasons. He’s been especially strong in the big-money events, winning Heavy Hitters in 2023 and finishing among the Top 10 in both 2022 and 2024 while finishing second at REDCREST two years in a row.
Drew Gill: As a rookie in 2024, Gill caught more total weight (and thus scored more Fantasy Fishing points) than any other BPT angler en route to a runner-up AOY finish. While the new forward-facing sonar restrictions (more on that shortly) will force him to adjust his style, count him out at your own peril.
Jesse Wiggins has been a Top 10 machine in recent years, and he could stand to benefit from the Bass Pro Tour’s new forward-facing sonar rules. Photo by Phoenix Moore
This year, the Bass Pro Tour is limiting anglers to one period per competition day during which they can employ forward-facing sonar. That could have major ramifications both in the BPT and Fantasy Fishing standings.
Last year, there were several events that were (predictably) dominated by forward-facing sonar: Toledo Bend, Dale Hollow, and, to a slightly lesser extent, the St. Lawrence River and REDCREST at Lay Lake. The pros who were dialed in at those events racked up so much weight that if you didn’t have seven or eight of the Top 10 anglers on your team, you fell way behind.
Given the schedule and the new restrictions, shootouts like that feel less likely in 2025. Additionally, while we just talked about the wisdom in selecting a few anglers for most or all events, we’ll likely see a bit more volatility from one event to the next than in years past.
All that said, here are four anglers who should be poised to benefit from the new regulations – guys who have shown an ability to succeed both before and during the FFS era.
Ott DeFoe: DeFoe probably deserved a spot in the above group. He’s finished in the top three of the AOY standings in three of the past five seasons and won four BPT events. Given his fishing style, which rarely sees him leave the shallows, he should especially benefit from the new FFS rules.
Nick LeBrun: LeBrun had a breakout second BPT season in 2024, finishing eighth in the points. He never missed a check, and his two best finishes came when he was able to wind around the shallows on Lake Eufaula and the James River.
Jeff Sprague: Sprague has the second-most Top 10s (13) without a win in BPT competition, so it feels like he’s due to break through. He’s finished in the Top 10 of the AOY standings in five of six years and is another angler who has shown versatility but who, given his choice, would prefer to power fish.
Jesse Wiggins: Wiggins has three Top 10s in each of the past three seasons. He’s adept with FFS, as he showed at Toledo Bend last year, but he’s even more comfortable winding or dragging a shaky head around the bank.
Local locks
No one knows the resurgent Kentucky Lake better than Jake Lawrence. Photo by Matt Pace
Just like tournament fishing, putting in a little research before an event can pay off big in Fantasy Fishing. You don’t want to leave an angler off your roster who lives on a fishery or has a strong track record there.
Luckily, the MLF staff makes that easy with our FantasyFishing.com Insider breakdowns, which will provide all that information and more prior to each event. So, be sure to read up before you submit your selections.
In the meantime, here are a few names to jot down of anglers you absolutely need in your lineups when the BPT visits their home fisheries in 2025.
Anthony Gagliardi on Lake Murray: Not only does Gagliardi live on the lake, he won when the BPT last visited in 2023. That marked his third national win on the fishery, bringing his earnings total to more than $800,000 on Murray alone. He’ll look to continue running up that tab when the tour returns for Stage 3.
Jake Lawrence on Kentucky Lake: Lawrence has won four times on Kentucky/Barkley in the past two years. He’s spent a ton of time on the fishery as a guide, too, which should be an advantage given how much it’s changed since most of the field last fished there.
Adrian Avena on the Potomac River: Avena really doesn’t live all that close to the Potomac, but you wouldn’t know it based on his finishes. The past three times he’s competed there, he’s finished fifth, third and fifth.
Wheeler, Neal and Andy Morgan on Chickamauga: Quite a few pros live either on or near Chickamauga and Nickajack, the site of Stage 5, which will make for some tough lineup decisions. Be sure you make room for these three hammers. Morgan won on Chickamauga when the Bass Pro Tour visited in 2019. Wheeler finished second to Kevin VanDam in 2021. Neal made the Top 10 both times.