Cheating in tourneys..

It seems like more and more your start to here about cheating. I know this is a sensitive topic amongst tourney fisherman, but How much cheating do you think that goes on during team tourneys??

I’m not talking about the little stuff, like putting both feet on a log to get at a fish or having 7 fish in a live well with a 6 fish limit, when your only allowed to have 6. I’m talking about caging fish, if not a whole limit just a good one or two.

I know there is a lot of talk between people when an unlikely team bring in a huge sack when they never do anything. I know luck will rain down on some guys one in awhile, but when somebody or some team that is not noted as a good stick comes out and wacks them..rumors start flying!

I remember when ,My partner Terry and I took 3rd in a big charity tourney out of Albany, and the top team admitted to cheating after someone turned them in..we ended up second which was about $1000 diff.

Now you are hearing about it more and more in the news!

What do you think provokes people to cheat like that??

My theory is that they want the notoriety that come with being a big stick and a winner of a few tourneys. I think money has little to do with it my that’s my own opinion.

I think cheating happens in local club tourneys than most fishermen could imagine, but I can’t prove it and it’s just how i feel and I know that why a lot of fisherman won’t fish them. What pains me is that during a tourney a fisherman blatantly broke a major rule and he disqualified himself after getting a ton of heat about it..fishermen still went up and congratulated him on his big bag….the dude cheated for pete’s sake!..i witnessed that in a charity tourney out of Albany when I was a camera boat driver that year!

I’m not saying all clubs have cheaters, but some times things don’t add up and all the hoopla on winning a tourney, I think, gets inside some guys head!!

When My old partner Terry and I tore it up for a while, we didn’t care about how people thought of us….we went for broke every tourney and we did very well and he continues to do well and I’ve done well without him went I went into early retirement and fished as a free agent lol. We never talked to very many fisherman and kept to ourselves. A lot of people hated us, but hey,we fished legit and took there money along with it!!

Look at it this way , Dale Jarrett or one of those guys said at Daytona “we all cheat , but dont all get caught” I think bass tourney are much the same way. 95 % of the guys out there are seriously working at it , but you have that “5 %”. Thats enough for me to stay away. Used to be tons of fun – gotten a little to “cut-throat ” nowdays . I’d rather just fish.

I think if you took the $ out there wouldn’t be as much cheating. There will always be people who are out to get something for nothing. The money corrupts the sport.

Jason

I know of a few guys in the pool 13/14 area that have been caught cheeting in tournaments. Like you said some guys want to have the REP of being the areas best. I never fished agains Pitbull and his Partner, but I think I know who they are . I do know guys that did fish against him and he is right people did hate them. But it was only because they were cleaning house, I never heard any talk about them cheeting. They were the best for awhile, and everyone wanted to do what they were doing.

Every year you hear of guys being caught comming out of Brown’s Lake. That is off limits in all tournaments, but is it really true?? I know one was a case of mistaken identity.

In a perfect world everyone would fish like the rest of us.

Jeremy

Last year in the BFL super tournament Curt Samo had enough weight to take at least 2nd or 3rd place after day 2, but he DQ’ed himself because he saw that he had 6 fish in his livewell. He told me he didn’t intentionally put an extra fish in there, but the fishing was so good he lost count. The fact is, Curt could have kept that to himself but he turned himself in. It is things like this that will keep the integrity of our sport. (Curt’s very next tournament he won $60,000+)…

What tournament did Curt win 60,000 in? His career earnings for BASS is 5,500. I see where he dq’d himself when he discovered himself when he got to the weigh-in. But he was done at that point because other contestants would have witnessed him releasing fish but still having a full limit at the scales. Do you think he would have dq’d himself if he saw that before leaving the wingdam?

Hi Nort.

He won the BFL Regional on Pool 19- a boat and truck valued at over 60 grand was the prize. Have to appreciate his honesty and the karma was with him!

Pitbull, thats to bad that the other guys hated you also considering Terry caught all the fish . That’s what they call guilt by association. By the way if your around the area why don’t you come throw your $ into the hat (Tuesday nighters start next week). I love taking your money> See ya soon.

Curt didn’t realize he had 6 fish until we all trailered over to WalMart for the weigh-in. This was AFTER the tournament director checked our fish to make sure they were all alive. The director didn’t count fish…just looked for floaters. If Curt wanted to he could have just left the 6th fish in his livewell when he bagged them and released it later that evening on his way home.

As far as what he would have done had he found 6 while still on the water…well….. Nobody knows but him I guess.

Hi Robby.

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Pitbull, thats to bad that the other guys hated you also considering Terry caught all the fish . That’s what they call guilt by association. By the way if your around the area why don’t you come throw your $ into the hat (Tuesday nighters start next week). I love taking your money> See ya soon.

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I’d love to jump in and fish and take YOUR money but i’m making a move to NW Ioway now….I feel like a freakin gypsy..i’ll give ya a shout early next week…good luck to ya on Tues…take Rocco’s money (that’s not hard )

How about calling me back there MIKEY

I agree that cheating is out there, but some people use it too often as an excuse for themselves not doing well. If somebody does well, its probably because they are sick of being in the bottom of the pack and do their work on the water and figure things out. Seems like the more you put in, the more you get back. Thats just how I view it. I happened to get accused of cheating a couple years back, and I’m sure everyone remembers it just because I brought in a 4.4 lb kicker. The accusers were so surprised by the decent fish that They honestly thought I cheated Oh well its over now, just saying that Fishing is still partially luck (although it is my opinion that you have to be skilled and experienced to succeed) and anyone could get “lucky” with that one magical fish that does it all for them. “skill” is used when it comes to your average size of fish, the school you are catching them out of. It is hard to find schools of large fish. But catching one GIANT in a random area is more luck in my opinion, and can be done WITHOUT cheating.

cade… i hear ya! It’s not easy being 20+ years younger than some of these guys out there and dragging in more fish. to me i think it intimidates some people. when i started it was the same way. some 16 year old kid shouldn’t be catching that big of bass… The older people just need to remember that we don’t have wives or families so we can spend 5 nights a week on the water. I trust your integrity cade