During the 2016 Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing season, we experimented with a new feature, Autofill. It was set in place for those players who may have accidently forgotten to fill out their roster, or missed a tournament due to unforeseen circumstances. The system would automatically place anglers in your roster if you failed to fill it out. At the time, it seemed like a friendly feature to keep everyone involved.
And, when a rule like that is made, legally it must remain in place through the end of the season.
There was a tremendous amount of unexpected disapproval of the Autofill rule/feature from the players who religiously filled out their roster, and rightly so — they were taking it very seriously and inadvertently being outscored by players who weren’t even playing.
We listened, evaluated and unanimously decided to disable the feature. It’s dead.
What that means beginning Tuesday, January 17, you must physically evaluate each bucket and fill out your roster prior to each tournament cut off. If you don’t you won’t collect any points for that event. That’s what the majority wanted, and it seemed more than fair to those of us at the B.A.S.S. offices.
Another change this year is the Classic, which will now count as a regular event in the lineup of tournaments. In the past, it was a stand-alone tournament that didn’t impact your final, season-ending tally. Now it does.
The Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year championship counted in 2016, and it will count again in 2017. The Classic Bracket Challenge, however, will not be an event Fantasy Fishing players will bid on.
For now, those are the rule updates. Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing is a great way to engage in the sport, and compete with other bass fishing fanatics. But remember, if you’re not a member of B.A.S.S. you can’t win as much as you could if you were a member. Sign up today!
Thoroughly read the Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing rules here.
Visit our FAQ page if you have any questions.
Here’s a step-by-step on how to play.
