MINNEAPOLIS (Oct. 26, 2011) – Charles Alexander of Toledo, Ohio, now has a real tall fishing tale to tell after winning $15,000 by playing FLW Fantasy Fishing held in conjunction with the FLW Tour bass fishing tournament on Lake Guntersville, the final stop of the 2011 season. Alexander correctly picked FLW Tour pro Paul Elias of Laurel, Miss., to win the event reeling in perhaps one of his biggest catches.
“I used to fish in the Tri-State Bass League and competed against a lot of the FLW anglers including Elias,” said Alexander, a retired GM maintenance electrician. “I knew he was good with crankbaits, even though that is not how he won (referring to the Alabama rig that took the tournament by storm). It still worked out okay for me.
“I live in Michigan, during the summer and then head south for the winter. I have a place on Lake Okeechobee in Florida so that I can fish every day,” continued Alexander. “I love to compete and Fantasy Fishing is one way I can stay on top of the sport. I am very familiar with a lot of the anglers, so it was easy for me to select my teams. I used Player’s Advantage the first two years, but forgot to renew my subscription this year. It contains a lot of good information about the lakes and anglers I don’t know.”
Sharing a tall tale, Alexander stated that he had caught a 45-pound stringer on Lake Okeechobee back in 2008 during an FLW tournament and that if he would have been entered in the event he would have won the tournament. When asked if he was going to fish in the 2012 FLW Tour season opener on Lake Okeechobee, the fishing junkie replied that he needed to fish every day and that he would never make it through the two-week off-limits period.
Alexander’s Fantasy Fishing team was led by Elias and earned him 2,180 valuable points that were added to his already accumulated points from the rest of the 2011 FLW Tour season. Players have been competing all season long for a chance at the $100,000 grand prize that will be announced in early November.
Finishing in second place on the fantasy side of the Lake Guntersville event was Larry Stubbs of Springdale, Ark., who won $5,000. Third place went to Rich Buchinski of Dickson, Pa., who won $1,000. Several other winners from California to Florida took home prizes ranging from $500 cash to $10 Walmart gift cards.
The 2011 Fantasy Fishing season consisted of 10 tournaments surrounding the FLW Tour with cumulative and individual tournament prizes. Fans competed for more than $25,000 in cash and prizes from each of the 10 tournaments and a top prize of $15,000. The cumulative grand prize is $100,000 with the overall runner-up winning a Ranger Z-520 boat with a Ranger Trail Trailer, 250 Mercury outboard, Minn Kota Maxxum 80 trolling motor, Lowrance electronics and trolling motor batteries – all valued at $54,000.
The third-place overall winner will win a Chevy 1500 Silverado valued at $38,000, and fourth place will take home a FinCraft 17 Dual Console boat with a 115 Evinrude outboard valued at $27,000. A BRP Can-Am Outlander 400 All-Terrain vehicle, valued at $8,000, will be awarded to the fifth-place finisher; while sixth- through 10th-place finishers will win Walmart gift cards ranging in value from $9,000 to $5,000.