Pro fisherman, popular YouTuber Ben Milliken charged with fishing tournament fraud

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Like Glenn said, the main thing this incident did for me was make me question his character and integrity.

 

I think back to when lots of people thought he cheated during the Elite on Smith Lake where he threw back what appeared to be a dead fish with a fin clip still attached to it.    

 

To be honest, I already felt he was the type to play fast and loose with the rules and laws, and this just kind of confirms it for me.

 

The only problem I have is that it's fraud, not cheating.    

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, Logan S said:

Jeez man....Poacher, Cheater, Fraud..... Dude forgot to renew his license, it happens.  

 

He got popped when it was submitted, he paid the fine, and his submission wasn't entered.  But the Share Lunker program still got the benefit of having the fish, which is a net long term gain for all TX anglers given what the program does.  So who or what is being harmed in this situation? 

 

Yes, I agree everyone should play by the rules...Which is why he was fined for not having a current license and his submission didn't count.  To bring it back up almost a year later really seems like someone just has a personal axe to grind.  

 

Back in the day Aaron Martens won $200k in an FLW tournament....Turns out he didn't have a license, must have forgot to buy it when he got in town or something.  They fined him for no license but didn't make him forfeit the win or money.  Which one of y'all is gonna call him a poacher, cheater, or fraud?  I certainly won't.

That happened to some guy in the NPFL last year and they gave the $100,000 to the guy in 2nd place because the winner forgot his license 

[J._Bricker]

21 minutes ago, Glenn said:

^^ This ^^

 

It's one thing to forget to renew something, it's another level to willingly submit false information to get a $10K reward.

 

It speaks to his character.  It makes you wonder what else he's done.

Which answers @J Francho’s above question as to why the investigation took 6 months. 
 

Having a fishing license is part of the tools required for a professional angler. Imagine a carpenter not having his hammer and tool belt showing up at a job site day after day. Is that guy gonna get a pass? Asking for a friend.

 

It looks like the honor system wasn’t working and derby officials might need to start physically checking fishing licenses, boat registration and insurance and not just livewells.

[J Francho]

37 minutes ago, J._Bricker said:

Which answers @J Francho’s above question as to why the investigation took 6 months. 

How does it answer my question?  I already knew that when I asked.

[Cuivre]

One thing I have picked up on among the many comments on boards, videos etc. (even on Milliken's own video), is a philosophy pushing back against the need to even have a fishing license.  Kind of like the videos of sovereign citizens saying they don't need a Driver's License because that is not needed and it is their right to "travel".  Like I said, I've seen Milliken express this philosophy himself, so, if TPWD sees him spouting this ideology for his little follower posse to start to adopt, TPWD might very well see a need to nip that in the bud, in a very visible manner.  Ben put his head on a silver platter for them, if they were looking for this opportunity to pull this nascent movement out, root and stem.

[Logan S]

2 hours ago, Glenn said:

^^ This ^^

 

It's one thing to forget to renew something, it's another level to willingly submit false information to get a $10K reward.

 

It speaks to his character.  It makes you wonder what else he's done.

It doesn't make me wonder anything...Except maybe why so many are so quick to crucify one of our own for something so minor.  

 

He wasn't going to win $10k cash with the submission, sounds more like you get a raffle ticket to potentially win stuff that could be worth that much....Of which the company he part-owns sponsors and donates merchandise, so even if he won the raffle, it'd be for (at least some) of his own stuff.  Doesn't matter anyway since his entry was voided.  

 

Really seems like the actions of a criminal mastermind at work 🙄

[J._Bricker]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

How does it answer my question?  I already knew that when I asked.

“I wonder why it took half a year for charges to be pressed.”  Then why’d you ask if you didn’t want an answer?

[Glenn]

32 minutes ago, Logan S said:

one of our own

No.  One of "our own" doesn't do stuff that winds up in the headlines if they do what's right and follow the rules like the rest of us.

 

 

[Cuivre]

47 minutes ago, Logan S said:

It doesn't make me wonder anything...Except maybe why so many are so quick to crucify one of our own for something so minor.  

 

He wasn't going to win $10k cash with the submission, sounds more like you get a raffle ticket to potentially win stuff that could be worth that much....Of which the company he part-owns sponsors and donates merchandise, so even if he won the raffle, it'd be for (at least some) of his own stuff.  Doesn't matter anyway since his entry was voided.  

 

Really seems like the actions of a criminal mastermind at work 🙄

Just to demonstrate the faulty reasoning and holding to a principle (i.e. not a "comparison"): Did the infamous walleye cheaters in OH get prize money before they were caught and wasn't their entry "voided" as well?  They never took any money so they only could have "potentially" have won something as well!!!!   The operative words are "intent", and entering a contest/tournament/drawing demonstrates de facto intent, no matter if he donated prizes to it.  At least the way many in law enforcement may see it.  

I don't consider him anyone of "my own" either.  I couldn't stand to be in the same boat as him for 30 minutes. He shows disrespect to other people, the sport, tradition, and the fish itself.  His attitude is why I quit participating in the bass boat tournament scene and converted to kayak tournaments.

[Logan S]

Sounds like you guys have it figured out, case closed I guess.  

[Catt]

3 hours ago, J._Bricker said:

 

It looks like the honor system wasn’t working and derby officials might need to start physically checking fishing licenses, boat registration and insurance and not just livewells

 

Again! This did not happen during a tournament. Ben submitted a 13#+ bass to the Texas ShareLunker Program. 

[J._Bricker]

19 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Again! This did not happen during a tournament. Ben submitted a 13#+ bass to the Texas ShareLunker Program. 

Maybe change the title of this thread and the posted link @Catt if it wasn’t a tournament.

 

In any case, I’m sure the young man has the situation resolved and I wish him well going forward.

[Catt]

16 minutes ago, J._Bricker said:

Maybe change the title of this thread and the posted link @Catt if it wasn’t a tournament.

 

Or read the comments 😉

 

I've said it & others as well

 

Didn't write title

[J._Bricker]

28 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

[J Francho]

3 hours ago, J._Bricker said:

“I wonder why it took half a year for charges to be pressed.”  Then why’d you ask if you didn’t want an answer?

Because the crime happened many months ago. Did you assume he just turned in the fish and the paperwork this week? It seems like this thing was sat on or dig up, maybe for publicity, maybe even by his own camp. I'm not trying to argue with you. I said it in the first reply to this, something seems fishy, and it ain't the bass he caught. None of it is how these deals go. He's not that big a deal.

[J._Bricker]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

Because the crime happened many months ago. Did you assume he just turned in the fish and the paperwork this week? It seems like this thing was sat on or dig up, maybe for publicity, maybe even by his own camp. I'm not trying to argue with you. I said it in the first reply to this, something seems fishy, and it ain't the bass he caught. None of it is how these deals go. He's not that big a deal.

I guess there have been a lot of assumptions made during the discussion of the topic. Since the initial incident occurred this past February* I was only trying to pointing out with your question that investigations take time, either to confirm a crime or to prove vindication. 

*per Ben Milliken on his latest YouTube video 

[Dwight Hottle]

@J._Bricker @Catt I didn’t write the title either a moderator did by changing my original title posted in Everthing Else. 

[Cuivre]

He literally was charged with tournament fishing fraud.  The thread title is correct, as written.

[J Francho]

I'll ask again, why did it take ten months to press charges and book the dude?  "These things take time" is not an acceptable answer and I don't expect anyone here to answer that. Time will tell, but for now something smells.

[Cuivre]

I read that the SAL banquet was the time when things got checked and when the SAL committee verified the lapsed license.  So, he had from February to then to have his contest/tournament entry pulled out of consideration for the $5-10K prize drawing.  A real question is for how long was it lapsed- did he do the typical Aug 31 effective license starting date or did he buy the version that was dates to dates other than that date.  If he went from Aug 31 to Feb without a license, he would have a lot of video content proving he was fishing without a license in that interval and therefore in violation.  Live by video content, get busted by video content, I guess.

[TnRiver46]

13 hours ago, J Francho said:

I'll ask again, why did it take ten months to press charges and book the dude?  "These things take time" is not an acceptable answer and I don't expect anyone here to answer that. Time will tell, but for now something smells.

Any press is good press? 

[J Francho]

Do I need to post Gary Gnu clips again?

[TnRiver46]

I know I can’t fish from sept-feb  without a license, I get checked all the time 

[A-Jay]

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

Do I need to post Gary Gnu clips again?

You might need to J

but don't let that stop you . . . .

🤓

A-Jay

[J Francho]

@TnRiver46

Not sure there's a license for sucking, other than a drivers' license.