Who’s to say they didn’t have lead weights in the fish they turned in the previous days?
I think its very likely, but its about what you can prove. That part is only an assumption and is not going to go anywhere. Its like a patrol catching someone speeding and then accusing them of speeding the week before. Its probably true, but in order to prove it you need to catch them in the act with some evidence.
Unless of course they admit to doing it in previous events.
i read the same guy failed a lie detector test after winning another tournament. now days why dont they just scan every fish with a metal detector?
That wouldn’t catch the guys that stuff fillets down the throats (like these guys did in addition to the lead weights)
Cutting them open and filleting the fish the only way to know for sure imo…
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Who’s to say they didn’t have lead weights in the fish they turned in the previous days?I think its very likely, but its about what you can prove. That part is only an assumption and is not going to go anywhere. Its like a patrol catching someone speeding and then accusing them of speeding the week before. Its probably true, but in order to prove it you need to catch them in the act with some evidence.
Unless of course they admit to doing it in previous events.
exactly my point… this event is a huge black eye, but it’s all of the events in the past that they won (and others cheaters won) that they weren’t caught in that opens up the “what ifs” The 2nd place teams winning one of those events could have completely changed thier lives…
More reason for CPR tournaments. Or on Erie catch and kill tourneys it should be mandatory your fish are donated to the local soup kitchen, so they can be inspected. Sounds like these guys were one of the only teams that refused to donate their fish, which was red flag from the beginning by the sounds of it, but legal per the tourney rules.
I would hope all the future money winner fish would be inspected. Seems silly not too on a kill tournament.
That wouldn’t catch the guys that stuff fillets down the throats (like these guys did in addition to the lead weights)
Cutting them open and filleting the fish the only way to know for sure imo…
I heard and it only makes sense that the fillets were to hide the weights if someone looked down there throats. A small fillet like shown would add what a 1/4 ounce or less?
Now serving on Lake Erie
now that is some funny stuff
I heard this pair has something like $400k of winnings in the last 2 years. I feel bad for all of the legit people that competed against these clowns.
I know they won the last 3 LEWT events leading up to the Championship. When was the last time a fishing tournament team won 3 in a row???? You have to be very good AND lucky to do that.
i read the same guy failed a lie detector test after winning another tournament. now days why dont they just scan every fish with a metal detector?
I assume the weights were lead ? If so a metal detector won’t find that
I assume the weights were lead ? If so a metal detector won’t find that
ill have to disagree with you on that
More reason for CPR tournaments. Or on Erie catch and kill tourneys it should be mandatory your fish are donated to the local soup kitchen, so they can be inspected. Sounds like these guys were one of the only teams that refused to donate their fish, which was red flag from the beginning by the sounds of it, but legal per the tourney rules.
I agree. For the money involved all winning fish should be inspected dont fish it. The CPR formats are great. AIM series does a great job with accuracy and avoiding this stuff above. I would never have thought guys would go to this extent and shove this much weight in fish. They will pay for it… You know they will one day 
I was reading an article about this and they were discussing several ways you can cheat. One was shoving as much ice down their throat as possible. It adds weight, and is undetectable. This blew my mind at how simple it was. As long as money is involved, someone will find a way to cheat. PEDs, batteries in bike frames, buzzers up your keister while playing chess/cards, lead weights in fish. As testing methods get better, a new way to cheat is found.
I have no idea about a metal detector, but I have to imagine there is something that you can slip past that. Bismuth? Lead? Tungsten? Lots of heavy elements that aren’t in coins or jewelry. Some aren’t cheap, I get that, but with the money involved in some of these events, it could pay off.
Astonishes me that it took this long to bust them.
I mean, c’mon.
They bring in the same length fish as others do, but for some miraculous reason theirs’s always weighs more..week after week, tournament after tournament..
Geez…those guys must be really good at catching the heavier weight fish..
I heard and it only makes sense that the fillets were to hide the weights if someone looked down there throats. A small fillet like shown would add what a 1/4 ounce or less?
They said the piece of filet was to keep the weight from falling out.
Astonishes me that it took this long to bust them.
I mean, c’mon.
They bring in the same length fish as others do, but for some miraculous reason theirs’s always weighs more..week after week, tournament after tournament..
Geez…those guys must be really good and catching the heavier weight fish..
the more and more I look into this, the more shocking it is to me. This team is currently #1 in the LEWT team of the year standings and by quite a large margin. They’re also #2 on the fat five season long standings (5 biggest fish of the year).
Just looked at the results of one of the tournaments they won this year. Pretty wild when your weight/fish average is 7.5lbs and the next closest team is 6.5lbs, or 16% biggest than the 2nd place finisher. Would love to see these guys punished to the full extent of the law. That is felony fraud.
Geneva.png
Just looked at the results of one of the tournaments they won this year. Pretty wild when your weight/fish average is 7.5lbs and the next closest team is 6.5lbs, or 16% biggest than the 2nd place finisher. Would love to see these guys punished to the full extent of the law.
Nothing it going to happen from previous events. There is no evidence. You need evidence. Unless they admit to it, which would be moronic on their part. The only part of this that is subject to rule breaking is the most recent event when they got caught.
You can’t just point to the previous results and say “guilty.” That’s not how it works. I do agree that it is very likely they did this in previous events, however.
That is obvious, gim, as you already stated above. But they have evidence now from this last tournament. That is fraud = punish to the fullest extent of the law.
More reason for CPR tournaments. Or on Erie catch and kill tourneys it should be mandatory your fish are donated to the local soup kitchen, so they can be inspected. Sounds like these guys were one of the only teams that refused to donate their fish, which was red flag from the beginning by the sounds of it, but legal per the tourney rules.
Almost all the guys in the catch/kill events do donate fish,except for those clowns that got caught.They never left a single fish,and I am betting all the fish in the past were loaded.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
I assume the weights were lead ? If so a metal detector won’t find thatill have to disagree with you on that
Yup, you are correct. I was judgi.g off the old pos I got the kid from where ever a few years back.
That is obvious, gim, as you already stated above. But they have evidence now from this last tournament. That is fraud = punish to the fullest extent of the law.
I think I read this is a 5th degree felony in Ohio. The full extent of the law is 6-12 mos prison. Unless they have prior records they will probably get probation and $2500 fine. In other words, slap on the wrist.
Also think a civil suit would be pretty hard to win.
Unfortunately these kind of dbags rarely get what they deserve. They’ll never get to fish competitively again and they’ll be dealing with embarrassment in their families and communities, but they’ll keep most of their dirty money.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation on this matter.
https://www.startribune.com./authorities-probing-report-of-scandal-at-fishing-tournament/600212597/
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Alex Fox wrote:</div>
buzzers up your keister while playing chess/cards
Umm is this a thing?
I think it’s mostly a meme at this point that started after somebody beat Magnus Carlsen at chess last month and there was speculation that he cheated somehow. Now it’s the explanation for all cheating though.
I was reading an article about this and they were discussing several ways you can cheat. One was shoving as much ice down their throat as possible. It adds weight, and is undetectable. This blew my mind at how simple it was. As long as money is involved, someone will find a way to cheat.
I have actually seen this one. I was with a friend and his father in Florida and went to watch a weigh in and a team got popped for it. Those guys in the video were a lot nicer than the fellas in Florida. But yeah, anytime money is involved, unfortunately there will be someone trying to game the system.
More reason for CPR tournaments. Or on Erie catch and kill tourneys it should be mandatory your fish are donated to the local soup kitchen, so they can be inspected. Sounds like these guys were one of the only teams that refused to donate their fish, which was red flag from the beginning by the sounds of it, but legal per the tourney rules.
the director said that there are numbers of teams that often keep their fish. not EVERYONE donated but them.
I bet these guy incrementally increased their brazen attitudes as they continued to get away with it. and it finally caught up with them. having a 4-5lb fish all the sudden weigh 7lbs+ just screwed them for sure.
That said, I agree with someone who said, from now on, make all the fish be cleaned and inspected before awards are handed out. These Erie tournaments are kill tournaments anyway.
I think this will continue to grow the CPR tournaments as well in places where you can safely return the fish.
I hope all of their sponsors act accordingly and strip any deals they had with them. Their days of tournament fishing are likely over regardless.
I believe it was in 2020 or 21 in LA a couple was busted in a bass tourney. Brough fish from out of State for the win. Smaller heads and larger bodys from the forage they ate.
The DNR did their forensics and they were convicted.
“he two anglers plead guilty to the charges and have been sentenced. Each individual pled guilty to a 3rd degree felony charge of bribery/influencing a public contest, a class A Misdemeanor charge of releasing live aquatic wildlife and a class B Misdemeanor charge of unlawful captivity of live aquatic wildlife.
Their sentence includes the following:
$2,500 each in restitution to the Help Stop Poaching Fund.
$500 each for a plea in abeyance fee
48 hours community service
2 years court ordered no hunting
DWR is administratively seeking 5 years no fishing”
It seems to me that having pages and pages of their names listed under “Ohio Fishing Contest Cheaters” is more of a punishment then any of the sentence.
Their FB pages are gone.
their days in the fishing community are over. Erie dudes are a different breed of people.
I’m sure they’ll face some sort of minor charges for this event, but the real damage is the opportunities that are gone and the shunning of their peer group.
It reminded me of Mike Long in California who was heralded much more than these guys in publications and what not as the big bass king and was caught snagging big bass and caging them for tourney days.
there’s got to be a wanton waste charge in there too with the filets that were stuffed down the throat of those fish they brought to the weigh in
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
