ORANGE, Texas. — As expected, the Dovetail Games Bassmaster Elite at Sabine River sponsored by “Bassmaster 2022” the video game was an absolute grind and fell only 12 ounces short of being the lowest four-day total weight in Elite Series history. The lack of weight didn’t exactly mean a lack of entertainment. The Elites had to factor in as much strategy for this event as any other event on the schedule. With a staggering amount of fishable water, deciding where to fish was a huge storyline. Some anglers chose to make two-hour runs one way as others decided to fish just a few hundred yards from takeoff.
Although the event played out similar to past Elite events at the Sabine, as far as Fantasy Fishing goes, it was actually much different in some ways. Prior to winning this go around, Jason Christie had suffered an 81st and a 94th-place finish in his last two trips to the Sabine River. Christie’s lack of sucess in previous events at the Sabine didn’t keep him from having the highest player percentage in Bucket B. Overall, many of the anglers who have had success on the Sabine in the past were able to duplicate it this year.
Haven’t created a Fantasy Fishing account yet? No problem! Sign up and play for free at BassmasterFantasy.com. Players win prizes at each specific event and there are prizes for overall winners at the end of the season as well. You can still play the remainder of the season even if you missed out on the first two events.
The overall winner at Pickwick Lake was “BassBret” who selected three of the five picks that would have made up a perfect team. Overall Rank: No. 1, Total Points 1,364.
BUCKET A: Brock Mosley
BUCKET B: Caleb Sumrall
BUCKET C: Taku Ito
BUCKET D: Luke Palmer
BUCKET E: Brett Preuett
The perfect Fantasy Fishing team at the Sabine River would have been:
BUCKET A: Brock Mosley
BUCKET B: Jason Christie
BUCKET C: Taku Ito
BUCKET D: Luke Palmer
BUCKET E: Randy Sullivan
Total: 1,423
BUCKET A: MOSLEY
Brock Mosley is on an absolute tear. The Mississippi pro has recorded three consecutive Top 10 Elite Series finishes. Mosley scored a whopping 340 points, the most of any angler in any bucket, for the 5.7% of the players who selected him.
Second best selection: Drew Cook was consistent over the course of four days on the Sabine. The former Elite Series Rookie of the Year stayed within the Top 20 all four days before jumping from 10th to fifth on the final day. Cook scored 280 points and was only played by 0.5% of Fantasy players.
Lowest scoring angler: Although Bryan Schmitt is historically a terrific tidal water fisherman, the Sabine River had his number. After a Top 10 finish at Pickwick, Schmitt only scored 95 points for the 2.3% that selected him.
BUCKET B: CHRISTIE
Jason Christie notched his fourth Bassmaster Elite Series victory at the Sabine River. As I mentioned earlier, the Oklahoma pro got revenge on the Sabine River after uncharacteristically bad finishes here in his last two trips. Despite the bad history, Christie was still selected by 19.1% of Fantasy players. He tallied 315 points.
Second best selection: Chris Johnston may not have been the first angler you would think about having success on a body of water such as the Sabine River, but once again he proved how versatile of an angler he is. The Canadian finished the tournament in fourth place and scored 285 points. Johnston was only selected by 1.5% of Fantasy players.
Lowest scoring angler: As we saw on Bassmaster Live, Derek Hudnall had some huge losses on Day 1 and wasn’t able to recover. The Louisianan scored 113 points for the 5.8% that selected him.
BUCKET C: ITO
Taku Ito was able to finesse fish his way to third place at the Sabine River. Ito meticulously fished concrete docks to fall just short of his first Elite Series victory. The second year Elite Series pro scored 290 points for the 1.2% of players that selected him.
Second best selection: Marc Frazier’s big bass on Day 1 of the event carried him to a 26th place finish. The Elite Series rookie scored 263 points for the 0.4% of Fantasy players that selected him.
Lowest scoring angler: Elite Series veteran Bernie Schultz wasn’t able to crack the code at the Sabine River. Schultz only scored 79 point and was selected by 0.3% of Fantasy players.
BUCKET D: PALMER
Luke Palmer had a solid event in his first trip to the Sabine River. The Oklahoma pro finished the event in 24th place and scored 227 Fantasy points. Palmer was selected by 3.6% of Fantasy players.
Second best selection: The reigning Bassmaster Angler of the Year, Clark Wendlandt, survived the Sabine River with a 30th place finish. The Texan scored 215 points for the 21.9% of Fantasy players who selected him.
Lowest scoring angler: Overall Bucket D as a whole didn’t perform well at the Sabine River. Rob Digh was the lowest scoring angler with only 81 points. The North Carolinian was selected by 0.1% of Fantasy players.
BUCKET E: SULLIVAN
Texas’ own, Randy Sullivan had a good event in his home state. Sullivan finished just outside the Top 10 in 13th place. He tallied 251 Fantasy points and was selected relatively high at 16.5%.
Second best selection: Yusuke Miyazaki recorded his best Elite Series finish since 2012 with a 14th place finish at the Sabine River. Miyazaki scored 248 Fantasy points and was selected by 2.2% of Fantasy players.
Lowest scoring angler: Dale Hightower wasn’t able to fish at the Sabine River while undergoing surgery. Inevitably he was the lowest scoring angler in Bucket E.
