Falling into a common trap, Matt Jensen wasn’t totally satisfied with his year competing in Rapala Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing.
“Well, I was very average,” he said. “I was probably a homer too much in picking the Rapala Pro Staff when it may not have been set up for them.”
That’s totally understandable since Jensen is Rapala’s Director of Marketing in Minnetonka, Minn., but he would have done well picking “his guys” Brandon Palaniuk and Patrick Walters, who won three of the 10 events.
“I’m not a big researcher. I just love playing the game,” said Jensen, who admitted he forgot to set his lineup one week.
It’s all good, he said, because he wasn’t eligible to win any of the $90,000 in prizes anyway, including $4,000 for each event and a $20,000 grand prize for the season-long point leader. Jensen was pleased overall with Fantasy Fishing, especially that his brainchild of offering prizes down to 20th place at each Elite helped gain a 36% increase in participation to around 38,000 players.
“We loved last year’s results,” he said. “We’re excited to just keep it growing. We learned a lot. Bassmaster grew the population of people participating. The fact that Bass Pro Shops is behind it with their gift cards on top of the cash, it’s been really cool.
“I’m excited just about the total number, and I want to see 35,000 go to 50,000, go to 100,000. That’s our goal. If we get 100,000 people playing fantasy fishing, that’s going to be really cool to see.”
Rapala Fantasy Fishing is simple. Register at Bassmasterfantasy.com and select the angler from each of five buckets who will place highest in the standings. Ties are broken by guessing the winning weight. Beware that bonus points are given for an angler leading each day (5 points) and the big bass and big bag of the event earns a whopping 40 points each.
Players can join groups, like BeatRonnieMoore, many of which offer their own prizes. Ronnie’s group only doles out bragging rights, but your name could be mentioned during weekend shows on FOX Sports 1.
“How cool is that going to be that the team at Bassmaster LIVE will talking about Fantasy Fishing on FOX Sports?” Jensen said. “We’re excited about where it’s gone. I think Bassmaster and their audience is growing, along with Rapala. I think we’re putting something cool together, to make it a very popular thing in fishing.”
It was hugely popular with winners, like one featured on Rapala’s blog. Cody Furr of Rootstown, Ohio, received back-to-back second-place prize packages after his anglers at the St. Lawrence River and Lake St. Clair excelled. Furr, who competes in bass events, said he puts in research and, “I’m a much better fantasy fishing angler than a real-life angler.”
The idea to sponsor Fantasy Fishing came when Jensen was talking sports with Joe Higgins, the late, great vice president of sales at B.A.S.S. Discussing an ad package, it was noted Fantasy Football was huge in America. Jensen and his company liked the idea of tying Rapala to Bassmaster’s Fantasy Fishing.
“People lead busy lives,” he said. “A lot of time when they can’t get on the water, it’s fun for them to be able to put their mind on fishing and be engaged in the game.”
And it can be quite profitable for an average fan who follows the Elites. Joshua Phillips of Knoxville, Tenn. — hey he’s got an event coming to his hometown — really enjoyed the 2020 Fantasy Fishing season. He made off with the overall top prize of a $15,000 Bass Pro Shops gift card, $5,000 in cash as well as an autographed Rapala and Bassmaster 3-foot lure and a Rapala prize package. Being a B.A.S.S. member kicked in a bonus $500 Bass Pro gift card, so do join.
Phillips’ philosophy to pick locals in each event paid off, and he also selected anglers on a roll. One of his keys was not second-guessing himself. He set his lineups before practice and stuck to his guns, not being influenced by social media posts during practice.
“Go with your gut,” he said. “That was my thing, if you’ve got the gut feeling to put them in your first lineup, don’t go change it.”
Jensen plans to play again. He said he always tries to pick a local angler, but he’s boning up a bit.
“I think the biggest thing I read is, take the time to see how the tournament went the last time it was there,” he said. “Some guys just have really good history on certain bodies of water. If you can go back and see how a tournament finished, one or two years ago on that body of water, it might give you an indication of who sets up better than others.”
Bassmaster is also working to develop another fantasy game, where players can only use an angler once throughout the season.
As of now, the buckets change according to Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings, so value can be found in each bucket. Some players choose to eschew the high percentage anglers for one of those sneaky picks in hopes of making ground up on the field. Even if you’re having a poor season, remember that, just like the anglers, any fantasy player can rise up for one event and win. The winning fantasy player receives $4,000 in all 10 events, including the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk.
Give it a shot because, as they say, it don’t cost nothing. But heed the words of last year’s big winner, Phillips:
“I’m coming back to play in 2021 so you guys better watch out.”
Sounds like a challenge. How about starting a new group, BeatJoshuaPhillips.
