You know how you don’t send your kid out to play in winter without his stocking cap? Well, you don’t send a fantasy team of pro bass anglers out onto Lake Erie without its Coates. That’s why I was glad to open my e-mail and find an FLW Fantasy Fishing notice stating that Bryan Coates had been added to the FLW Tour fray for the July 10-13 Chevy Open.

The Amherst, Ohio, pro goes with Erie like cheese goes with macaroni. He doesn’t fish the Tour regularly – and hasn’t fished a full slate of FLW events for years, for that matter – but don’t let that scare you off picking this Great Lakes stick. He has 11 top-10 performances in FLW Outdoors competition, including a Stren Series win and three BFL victories, all coming from Erie. And last year when the Tour visited Detroit for the Chevy Open, Coates fished with the big boys and wound up respectably in 28th place.

I’ve got a hunch this big-water specialist will couple his immense knowledge of Erie bass with lessons learned from his foray into the Big Show last year to come up with a top-10 Tour finish in ’08.

I hated to bump Western phenom Brent Ehrler from my fantasy team, especially since he’s a good pick on any fishery where bass swim. But Coates’ experience – and track record – on Erie dwarfs Ehrler’s, so the sting only lasted a few seconds.