I've got a confession to make: roughly half of the BASS Fantasy Fishing managers in 2009 have performed better than me to this point.

I'm sitting in the 56th percentile and yet I write to you prior to each event to spew fantasy wisdom. What I'm trying to say is that you would be better off keeping KVD and Skeet on your team as you have all season while I toil away trying to pick from the fringes of favoritism.

However, if you, like me, need to make a hard charge in the season's final event, then perhaps you can glean some scrap of useful knowledge from the final fantasy preview of the year.

This event, like none other this season, takes place on a lake unique to the schedule each year. Oneida doesn't fish like any other lake the Elite Series visits. To fantasy managers, that should put a premium on past performance. There have been three Elite events on Oneida, two regular season tournaments and one Major, where contestants fished for the first two days before moving on to nearby Lake Onondaga.

One angler has made the top-12 cut at each of those events: Mike Iaconelli. Ike grew up in New Jersey and has dominated on Oneida. That alone should make him the must-have choice among fantasy managers. Add in the fact that his fishing has been absolutely on-fire as of late, and you have a man that will be hard to stop.

Ditto for Dean Rojas, champion of the Oneida event in 2009. Oneida has been won on largemouth every trip north for the Elites and Rojas had them dialed in. After a disappointing finish on the Mississippi River that now has him fighting for Classic contention, Rojas will be rebounding in a big way. He has a legitimate chance of repeating in Syracuse.

Looking for a riskier pick that will net bigger rewards if they come through? If so, don't overlook Peter Thliveros and Russ Lane. Peter T won the Major after the tournament switched over to Onondaga, but he qualified strong on Oneida to get there. He's been solid in Syracuse and considering just how poor his year has gone, Oneida is his last chance for redemption. … MORE

Fantasy Fishing Challenge Message Board