Things just got a little hotter in Texas today when FLW announced that Abel Lozano of Midland, Texas, was the 2013 FLW Fantasy Fishing grand-prize winner and the recipient of $100,000. After selecting Keystone Light pro Brent Ehrler to win at the second stop of the Walmart FLW Tour on Lewis Smith Lake and Rayovac pro Jason Christie to win at Grand Lake, Lozano was well on his way to victory in the Fantasy Fishing game that is open to players from around the world.
“I have been playing FLW Fantasy Fishing since it started in 2008,” said Lozano, an auto parts sales representative. “I love to fish and enjoy playing the game. Ehrler is one of my favorite anglers. He won one tournament, but then went into a little bit of a slump, but I kept him on my team the entire year.”
Despite what Lozano referred to as a “slump,” Ehrler finished eighth in the Walmart FLW Tour Angler of the Year presented by Kellogg’s race and remains one of the hottest sticks on the FLW Tour. During his nine-year career with FLW he has qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup – the championship of bass fishing – seven times. He has landed in the top 10 for Angler of the Year six years and has won four FLW Tour events in the last four years.
Ehrler was the top-picked angler among Fantasy Fishing players and scored the most points for his fans. Utilizing Players Advantage, Lozano was able to select his winning teams to stay on top of the fantasy game.
“I always read the pundits picks first,” continued Lozano. “Then I would typically research the anglers by looking at their history on the lake. I looked at the dates of the tournament to try and match the angler’s history on the lake with the time frame of the current tournament. I also took a look at the local guys; I figure they probably have more history on the water, which I thought would give them an advantage.”
FLW Fantasy Fishing consisted of six tournaments surrounding the 2013 Walmart FLW Tour season. Fans picked their lineups for each event and earned points based on FLW Tour anglers’ performance.
According to Lozano, one of the most difficult things about playing FLW Fantasy Fishing is the inconsistency of the anglers. Lozano indicated that the top 10 anglers keep changing from year to year. M&M’s pro Jim Moynagh was Lozano’s biggest surprise of the year. “I wish I would have picked Jim Moynagh for my Lake Chickamauga team. He was on my Grand Lake team and finished 17th,” said Lozano. “He ended up in the top 10 at Lake Chickamauga, giving him a strong finish in the last two tournaments.”
The official top-10 finishers for the 2013 FLW Fantasy Fishing season are:
| 1st: | Abel Lozano | Midland, Texas | $100,000 |
| 2nd: | Sheila Swanson | Kane, Pa. | $10,000 |
| 3rd: | Kasey Dillingham | Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. | $7,500 |
| 4th: | Tom McDonald | Faxon, Okla. | $5,000 |
| 5th: | Steven Luce | Dracut, Mass. | , $2,500 |
| 6th: | Mark Zoltanski | Cornelius, N.C. | $1,000 |
| 7th: | Mark Wiese | High Ridge, Mo. | , $750 |
| 8th: | Steve Earle | Saint Peters, Mo. | $750 |
| 9th: | Darren Pitra | Bettendorf, Iowa | $500 |
| 10th: | Ryan Maxwell | Bryant, Ark. | $500 |
Launched in 2008, FLW Fantasy Fishing has awarded the largest prizes in fantasy sports history to fantasy sports players around the world.
For complete details and updated information visit the FLWOutdoors website. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow Fantasy Fishing and the FLW Tour on Facebook at Facebook/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter/FLWFishing.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2013 over the course of 220 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water.” For more information about FLW visit the FLWOutdoors website look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.
