James Brown has dreamed of becoming a professional black bass angler some day. He and his wife, Tessa, have dreamed about getting out of debt and onto a steady financial foundation some day.
Last week in Columbia, S.C., their dreams came closer to reality when the 37-year-old Lodi resident, who works for Central Valley Septic, finished in second place in the FLW Fantasy Fishing competition, out-pointing a legion of online participants to claim a $52,200 boat and motor.
Brown, who had been in first place since May, came up just short of winning the $1 million top prize. Still, he was stoked.
"I'm always on the Internet looking at FLW tournaments, seeing results and checking schedules," Brown said. "That's when I discovered it on the Web - Fantasy Fishing - and thought it wasn't real. Boy, was I wrong. It is very real."
Playing against tremendous odds - more than 15 million people world-wide are expected to play Fantasy Fishing next year - Brown entered all seven FLW Fantasy Fishing tournaments, which began in February. The competition is free.
Brown selected a fantasy team of 10 bass fishing professionals he figured would do well in each FLW Tour event, the nation's premier professional bass fishing circuit that opened in Lake Toho, Fla., and concluded at Lake Murray, S.C.
Brown did well and finished among the top 15 fantasy fishing participants that would be flown to Columbia and then asked to walk across the Colonial Center stage and pull a tab on a large placard that would show the world what they had won. Everything was secret until then. Brown and the other finalists knew how many points they had racked up in the contest, but they were not allowed to share the information.
"When the top-three finishers were given cards, I was the first to uncover my prize," Brown said. "When they saw I got second place, the crowd went wild."
Michael Thompson of Minneapolis, who is studying to become a law enforcement officer, won the $1 million first prize, the largest payday in fantasy sports, including fantasy football.
Ironically, Brown will not keep his new Ranger Z19 bass boat. He will sell it to help pay off debts.
"I'll have no more bills, except a payment on my old Ranger boat, so I can concentrate on bass fishing," he said. "It's like getting out of headaches and not battling with high interest rates anymore. It's absolutely great."
Earlier in the competition, one of Brown's fantasy team finished precisely where he had predicted, earning him a $5,000 gift certificate to Wal-Mart. He used it on items for his 9-month-old daughter, Tatim.
Brown fell in love with black bass fishing about three years ago on his first trip to the Delta. He caught one bass.
Undaunted by his modest success, he began fishing competitive tournaments but gave them up to save money after his daughter was born. Instead, he joined a local bass club, Valley Back Lashers, and his luck catching fish has improved.
"Ever since my daughter was born, I got my first 30-pound stringer (five-fish limit) in the Delta and my first double-digit fish, a 10.2-pounder on Don Pedro Lake," Brown said. "Things are looking up."
Irwin Jacobs, chairman of FLW Outdoors and creator of Fantasy Fishing, said players from 122 countries took part in this year's inaugural competition.
"Imagine," he said, "winning a million dollars with the click of a mouse from the comfort of your living room."
"Playing FLW Fantasy Fishing has been a lot of fun," he said. "I can't wait until the start of next season in February 2009."
To take part go to the contest Web site: fantasyfishing.com.
Contact outdoors columnist Peter Ottesen at pottesen@recordnet.com.