Fantasy Fishing: Willing to risk it

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Minnesota

The Tombigbee waterway poses a new and uniquely challenging playing field for the Bassmaster Elite Series field. This Mississippi based river / canal system is uniquely challenging from a navigation and habitat standpoint. Also, anglers will not have the assistance of forward-facing sonar to break down this venue.

Even though this river system expands over 230 miles and the take off is pretty well centered, logistically with lock times, probably only about half of the field is logistically feasible to navigate to and still have any meaningful fishing time.

It will be a battle of anglers that grind out solid bags in the closer pools or find a little stretch to themselves that they can manage versus those anglers that take the gamble and potentially lock multiple times in the pursuit of an unpressured gold mine of bigger largemouth.

So what does that mean to you? Anglers on your team should be adept at shallow spring time largemouth amongst a variety of habitat options and comfortable to adapting to navigation challenges that shallow water and locks can offer. Local knowledge could play big this event.

BUCKET A: MOSLEY

Brock Mosley seems to be locked in to start this 2026 season. It is bringing me back to when he was a can’t miss fantasy fishing picks in 2020/2021 seasons and this venue should line up for Brock to wind his way to another solid finish. Plus the style of fishing and expected weights to win probably won’t be much different to where he won on the Sabine river.

Spawn Picks: With the warm weather trend, there is certainly going to be some bass spawning and whenever that happens you should strongly consider both Drew Cook and Drew Benton.

BUCKET B: WALTERS

Patrick Walters typically lives in Bucket A, so any time he is not there, you should probably think about picking him. Walters missed the cut in the no scope event on Guntersville, but I think that was more about the cold water and him not being wired to slow down when he fishes. Walters is coming off two solid events and he has done well at the Sabine which should have some parallels to the Tombigbee.

Veteran Local Option: If you are a Game-Face Cliff Pace fan, on paper this event should line up for him. He had a decent event at Guntersville, so a shallow water, no-scope event should be a good chance for him to jump back into Bassmaster Classic contention with another river derby right around the corner.

BUCKET C: MCCORMICK

Tristan McCormick is one of the three anglers in the Bassmaster Elite Series field that cashed a check in the 2026 Bassmaster Open out of Columbus, MS. McCormick is one of the Elite rookies that has been around long enough to know how to catch them regardless of the FFS rules.

Local Angle: Before calling Florence, Ala. home, Justin Atkins hailed from Columbus, MS, so he has plenty of experience on this waterway which should make him a pretty safe pick in Bucket C.

BUCKET D: HACKNEY

I have visions of the 2023 Lake Seminole Hack Attack this week on the Tombigbee. I think myself and most of the fans are ready for some Greg Hackney on Bassmaster Live over the weekend.

Low Percentage Plays: If you want an angler or two flying under that radar, look at Luke Palmer or Wesley Gore. There was a time that Palmer was a can’t miss Fantasy pick and Wesley Gore loves a swim jig as much as the next guy.

BUCKET E: LANE

Big Daddy Russ Lane let many Fantasy players down on Lake Martin, but he did have a Top 10 in April 2025 in the Bassmaster Open on this venue. I feel pretty confident that Russ can swim jig his way to Saturday this week.

He Is Due: Jason Christie is due, he has won making big runs on the Sabine, spinnerbait and shallow power fishing should be a big player this week. Let the Big Okie Eat!