Caged Fish

[reb67]

Has anyone heard of some fisher hooking and pulling up a cage in the barge pits on the James that had several 4 to 5 lb bass in it.

 

 

 

 

[Choporoz]

What would that be?  Someone 'preparing' for a tournament?

[Brian Needham]

yeap.... the ole tournament fish trick.

 

sad some people always have to cheat

[Pz3]

Do people cheat commonly in tournaments?

[Brian Needham]

Do people cheat commonly in tournaments?

 

yes.....

 

caged fish

tie up fish

shove lead down gullets

pay people for their fish

 

all documented stories

[gar-tracker]

I pray I never catch anyone doing that, Id wind up in prison.

 

The sad thing is we would be probably be shocked if we knew how many times we were beat by cheaters.

 

 

If I found that I would GPS it and advise the Sheriffs office, a long distance stake out on tourny day and they would be able to arrest the idiots on thefts charges as they collected there money.

[reb67]

At the very least they could have set up a trail camera, there was a tournament the following Saturday

 

I have heard of cheating stories just in the area I live in I can only image how much this goes on around the nation and even worst how much it happens that you don't hear about it..

 

I'm new to bass fishing and hearing of stories like this make me hesitant to even enter any tournaments..

 

I know any one can win any given day but when you go out and in the back of your mind you are thinking someone already as 25 to 30 lbs before any one gets a line wet makes me thank if its even worth it.

[J Francho]

Do people commonly cheat? Commonly, no. Yes, there are many documented stories of individuals that commonly cheated in tournaments, but to say its common is totally off the mark. There is very little cheating in tournaments.

[Brian Needham]

Fracho is right........ but I am a cynic.

 

it only takes a spoonful of poop to ruin a whole gallon of ice cream, lol.

 

It is a shame either way...... I know good fishermen here locally that will not fish a tournament because of known cheaters still fishing some trails.

[FD.]

Baiting of brush piles or building illegal piles are probably the most common example of tourney cheating. Everyone knows who (very few) the sobs are that do it around here and they are watched very carefully. If they are ever caught red handed it will be a bad day for them.

Several have already been banned from some tournaments.

One local trail that once drew 100 boats is now down to around 30 a month for the reason Brian mentioned.

[etommy28]

an Ex Elite Series pro go caught doing it on the St Johns during a weekly tourney he kept winning. Needless to say his rep had gone away and he cant show his face anywhere any more.

[Brian Needham]

Baiting of brush piles or building illegal piles

 

baiting of brush piles?

 

is that the dog food trick? I always heard about it, but never knew if it worked or not. I always thought it was a joke ..... how do you catch someone dropping dog food?

[gar-tracker]

Baiting of brush piles or building illegal piles are probably the most common example of tourney cheating. Everyone knows who (very few) the sobs are that do it around here and they are watched very carefully. If they are ever caught red handed it will be a bad day for them.

Several have already been banned from some tournaments.

One local trail that once drew 100 boats is now down to around 30 a month for the reason Brian mentioned.

 

Those boys make a living up there on those brush piles.

[reb67]

What normally happens when someone gets caught cheating is it just up to the tournament officials or can legal action be taken.

The way I look at it they are stealing!

[FD.]

baiting of brush piles?

 

is that the dog food trick? I always heard about it, but never knew if it worked or not. I always thought it was a joke ..... how do you catch someone dropping dog food?

 

Dog food and yes it works.  That's how commercial shiner fisherman harvest the shiners.  They all have their individual spots in the grass.  I watched a guy on Saturday.  He pulled up, threw his cast net, boated about 30 shiners. Threw out a big scoop of dog food and left to come back in a few days.

 

Baiting a brush pile or patch of grass works the same way.  Come out a few days before the tournament, dump a bunch of hard dog food.  For the next few days the dog food dissolves, and draws in the bait, which concentrates the  bass in the area.  

 

The problem is catching them in the act.  Most of the boat ramps on Kissimmee are private fish camps.  So someone is always there and see's you come and go.  If you come to pre fish on thursday and are only on the water an hour or so and then catch 30 lbs in a tourny a few days later, people start to wonder.  Do that a few months in a row and you are guilty, even without being caught with alpo in the boat.

 

These local tourneys aren't your average $200 top prizes, these are the $1500 to $3000 first place checks. The private ramps charge $5 to launch so it is in their best interest to have trusted tournaments that draw a lot of boats every weekend.  The good thing about these tournaments going out of private property, is that the violators can be (and some have been) banned from the property.  

[topwaterrob]

I was told they found a small cage in the miami canal near L67 for those sofla guys....  I wish they woul've left it and put up a camera...

[gar-tracker]

What normally happens when someone gets caught cheating is it just up to the tournament officials or can legal action be taken.

The way I look at it they are stealing!

Its hard to prove, but its theft and Florida has a specific statute for cheating in any gaming or tournament type deal. But it would have to be witnessed by 2 people or videoed and they would have to wait for them to collect the money.

 

 

I agree it isn't the norm, and it depends where the tourney is, I fished a tourney at Holiday park many years back and two guys no one knew that came out of no where weighed in 5 giants that where bone white, In Florida canal fish are never bone white however in the adjacent rock pits the fish are always bone white with just a light green hue.

 

Floridians know what Im describing, rock pit fish stand out. I have no doubt those dudes cheated.

 

I just put it out of mind, they;'ll pay later on no sense in worrying about things you cant control.

[Gotfishyfingers?]

I was told they found a small cage in the miami canal near L67 for those sofla guys....  I wish they woul've left it and put up a camera...

Hmm, the King Of The Glades just had a tourney out there. A while back on Okeechobee, I was packing up to head home at the south bay ramp. When all of a sudden, I see one boat pull up to another. Next thing I see is one guy pull out a couple fish from his live well and give them to the other boater, who proceeded to put them in his live well. I couldn't believe my eyes. :mad10:

[GLADES]

Hmm, the King Of The Glades just had a tourney out there. A while back on Okeechobee, I was packing up to head home at the south bay ramp. When all of a sudden, I see one boat pull up to another. Next thing I see is one guy pull out a couple fish from his live well and give them to the other boater, who proceeded to put them in his live well. I couldn't believe my eyes. :mad10:

I was shocked when I saw this on alligator alley canal during a TX a few years ago. Two boats trading bass. I was fishing a club T and they were not our guys. There was another T going on though.

I stopped fishing the money T's (personal decision) because of this kind of BS. It is hard enough to win as it is. Blacklisting and prosecution should keep them clean.

[Pz3]

Just seen some yahoo tossing wet dog food into west lake toho. Tournament cheater or guide setting up business? What do you guya think?

If I had thought about it sooner I would of snapped a photo.

[FD.]

If he was in a Carolina skiff or other flats boat he was probably a commercial shiner fisherman.

[Brian Needham]

now yall making me want to go buy some ALPO for the golf course!!! HAHAHA

[Pz3]

Yes he was. Thanks for that tip. Was a little curious why he was doing that since a buddy of mine is fishing a tourney there.

[Dave P]

On 4/6/2014 at 5:51 PM, reb67 said:

Has anyone heard of some fisher hooking and pulling up a cage in the barge pits on the James that had several 4 to 5 lb bass in it.

 

 

 

Had this happen years ago on a slot limit lake we used to tournament fish when we first started out. The beer drinking good ole boys in the john boat kept bringing in 3-4 pound bass when everybody else struggled to get one or two overs. After taking the check 3 times in a row the word got out that they had a fish box hidden under some lily pads. They never came back.

[Brick]

What normally happens when someone gets caught cheating is it just up to the tournament officials or can legal action be taken.

The way I look at it they are stealing!

They can actually have charges pressed against them for "rigging a public contest".  It's the same idea as someone rigging the lottery.  There was actually a guy charged recently for sneaking counterfit poker chips into a tournament at the borgata in atlantic city.  The borgata gave everyone in the tourney their money back, and gave the first 15 places an equal share of the winnings since the tourney wasn't over when the chips were discovered.  I'm assuming it would be the same charge for rigging a fishing contest.