Tournament Cheating

[CDMeyer]

I hate to see this, but I am glad they were caught and hope they are band from fishing tournaments

[dam0007]

Rumor up here in CT for a previous NEBA tournament, 2 guys filled a laundry basket with fish the day before a tourney and closed it with bungee cords, and left it under a dock. Went during tourney to retrieve and supposedly a passerby reported it. Makes ya think!

[dam0007]

Agree.  I have been the weigh master for more than a few tournaments.  I keep the golden rule handy and measure any fish that is even slightly questionable.  If it's mine I have someone else do the measuring and weighing.  I used to get a lot of moans and groans, but after I kept checking everyone, and catching several short fish, the guys now appreciate the effort.  As Brian noted, if in doubt, toss it back, or at the very least, get a courtesy measure.

Rules here, we are allowed one courtesy measure per limit.

[Zach Dunham]

http://www.***.com/another-cheater-in-fishing-tournament-arrested-in-alabama/

 

Another alleged cheater arrested and charged. Keep getting these jerks!

[Chris S]

it irks the crap out of me too.... and sadly those bank fishermen dont have license either most of the time.

Wardens out here quit giving them tickets, they confiscate the fish or make them toss them back and make them leave. I ask why not give them a ticket, he said what's the point they wont pay it.

[wrat]

cheating is stealing and thieves SUCK!

[mjseverson24]

I have not seen the DNR care about short fish caught in tournaments, they seem to be much more interested in seeing how the fishing was that day, they ask how many of each species were caught and what sizes... they seem to leave tournament anglers alone for the most part, and some of the bigger events have the boats put special markings on them telling the DNR that they are in the tournament and basically to leave them alone till after the event unless obvious infractions are observed...

 

Mitch

[bass360]

Question for you guys.  Is it possible to win mutiple events in the same year without pre-fishing any of the lakes?  I have been bass fishing tournaments for 25 years, and I have never seen anyone go into a tournament "with no pre-fishing" and win the event.  to me it screams cheater.

[RichF]

1 hour ago, bass360 said:

Question for you guys.  Is it possible to win mutiple events in the same year without pre-fishing any of the lakes?  I have been bass fishing tournaments for 25 years, and I have never seen anyone go into a tournament "with no pre-fishing" and win the event.  to me it screams cheater.

Yes. My father and I did between 2017 and 2018.  While we almost never pre-fish (and didn't for any of those events we won) we know each of the bodies of water pretty well.  If you're talking about no pre-fishing on a completely unknown body of water, winning multiples is a bit more unlikely.  

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, bass360 said:

Question for you guys.  Is it possible to win mutiple events in the same year without pre-fishing any of the lakes?  I have been bass fishing tournaments for 25 years, and I have never seen anyone go into a tournament "with no pre-fishing" and win the event.  to me it screams cheater.

Pros do it all the time. Pre fishing can give you a false sense of being “on them” 

[J Francho]

To me it screams sour grapes. 

[TnRiver46]

I feel like John Cox can beat anyone almost anywhere without pre fishing 

[gim]

I think pre fishing needs to be defined a little better. If someone has fished a body of water before for years, but not recently prior to the competition, is that considered pre fishing and thus, a violation?

 

Its possible someone could accumulate a fair amount of knowledge and experience on a body of water without pre fishing immediately before the competition.

[J Francho]

Resuscitate a six year old thread to complain about someone winning tournaments. Hmmmmm. 

[Captain Phil]

On 9/23/2020 at 2:15 PM, bass360 said:

Question for you guys.  Is it possible to win mutiple events in the same year without pre-fishing any of the lakes?  I have been bass fishing tournaments for 25 years, and I have never seen anyone go into a tournament "with no pre-fishing" and win the event.  to me it screams cheater.

Not only is this possible, it's probable. If a tournament is on your home lake, there is no need to prefish.  Twenty years ago when I was guiding, I supplemented my income by tournament fishing.  I knew where the fish were on a daily basis.  My guide trips were my prefishing and I fished practically every day in season. I wasn't the only guide fishing tournaments.  Was it fair that weekend anglers were fishing against professionals?  No, but there was no rule against it.

 

Cheating is stealing.  Having a legal advantage is not. Perhaps the person who you think is cheating is more experience than you?  Maybe he/she is retired and can fish 365 days a year?   When I was in our bass club, the same 3-4 anglers won most of the tournaments.  One of our members was a two time State Federation Champion.  When I fished the Senior Tournament Tour, I fished against some of the best bass anglers in the world. These guys weren't looking to be on TV or to be sponsored by a bait company.  They were so good every time I won one of those tournaments I was stunned. Fish against a group of sixty and seventy year old guys who have been bass fishing since they could stand and see how you do. 

 

I have only witnessed two clear cases of money tournament cheating in fifty years.  One was in the old American Bass Tournament Trail back in the seventies and once in a Harris Chain Bassmasters Big Bass Tournament about fifteen years ago.  Both were exposed and the cheaters prosecuted.  I am sure there are some who have cheated in club tournaments.  If you have to win that way, there isn't much to gain by cheating.  You can strut around and act like a winner, inside you will know you are not.  

 

 

[redux]

I have a friend who counts dinks when we are fishing. He'll reel in 10 dinks under a pound. I'll bring in 3-4 fish anywhere from 2-5 pounds. The whole time he will be crowing about how he's beating me like a drum and that I am a sub-par fisherman. When I'm having a bad day and only getting dinks he will go on and on about the one 5 pounder he caught and how great he is at finding the big ones. Never a dull moment with that guy.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, redux said:

I have a friend who counts dinks when we are fishing. He'll reel in 10 dinks under a pound. I'll bring in 3-4 fish anywhere from 2-5 pounds. The whole time he will be crowing about how he's beating me like a drum and that I am a sub-par fisherman. When I'm having a bad day and only getting dinks he will go on and on about the one 5 pounder he caught and how great he is at finding the big ones. Never a dull moment with that guy.

With friends like that....

[redux]

On 9/25/2020 at 3:55 PM, MN Fisher said:

With friends like that....

Yeah. I consider him a cheater because he changes the rules for a "good day" based on whatever is getting him bites. The best is when he gets skunked and says that all he cares about is being on the water. ?

[Log Catcher]

3 hours ago, redux said:

Yeah. I consider him a cheater because he changes the rules for a "good day" based on whatever is getting him bites. The best is when he gets skunked and says that all he cares about is being on the water. ?

I certainly would not call him friend. I would either fish by myself or find someone else to fish with.

[LxVE Bassin]

On 9/23/2020 at 2:15 PM, bass360 said:

Question for you guys.  Is it possible to win mutiple events in the same year without pre-fishing any of the lakes?  I have been bass fishing tournaments for 25 years, and I have never seen anyone go into a tournament "with no pre-fishing" and win the event.  to me it screams cheater.

Take your loss like a man. 

[Bluebasser86]

On 9/23/2020 at 1:15 PM, bass360 said:

Question for you guys.  Is it possible to win mutiple events in the same year without pre-fishing any of the lakes?  I have been bass fishing tournaments for 25 years, and I have never seen anyone go into a tournament "with no pre-fishing" and win the event.  to me it screams cheater.

Yeah, I've done it a few times. Prior knowledge of a lake can help a lot. Sometimes a guy just has a game plan, executes it, and it works. I wouldn't, under any circumstances, point fingers at someone and call them a cheater, unless I had a mountain of evidence to prove it was true.

 

My friend and I got accused of cheating in the last tournament I fished, by someone who apparently didn't understand how the tournaments worked. I recorded our whole day on the water though, and he'd watched it along with everyone else that fished against us, and somehow he was the only person who had an issue (I'm thinking because he blanked and had TM issues that day), and resorted to calling us cheaters instead of taking his L. Thing is, integrity is real important in tournaments and when you decide to drag someone's name through the mud, you better have something other than a hunch or hurt feelings, because it'll get you kicked out of the tournaments if you're proven wrong.