Cheating during the MTT Event on Pool 4?

Since a number of people have been dragging some fellow IDA members through the mud recently, and in light of the fact that Steve Fellegy also wrote about this incident in the June 15 issue of Outdoor News I thought I’d give these guys a chance to clear their names. They’ve already been convicted in the court of public opinion by many from what I’ve heard going around. First off, I’d like to know who reportedly saw this fish transfer take place, and why they did not report it to tournament officials if they did. Not reporting it if it did occur, is just as bad as cheating in my opinion.

?????? I heard nothing about this. What is this about??

I haven’t heard anything either. If someone is thought to be cheating then why didn’t they bring it up at the weigh in? Pretty plain to see that someone is just pissed because they got beat and theres no proof so they are whinning about it now. If this were really even thought to be true it would of been brought up to the directors at the weigh in. Common sense tells me that. I personally know the winning teams and I know they don’t/won’t and can’t bring themselves to cheat. They just aren’t that kind of people. Without a doubt this rumor is just a fabricated lie or it would of been brought up at the weigh in. Not much much later like it has been on a fishing website. The teams that won has a ton of experience on the river through education [former DNR worker] and getting daily reports at the resort for years plus from their own prefishing and past fishing the river for many years at that time of year. Its very hard to beat those teams that are that well informed so lets just face the facts that they won and someone else didn’t. Time to get off the rumors and get on with life.

Thanks, Bill

I think Mr. Holt should step up and air the sheets out on this one. My co angler at FLW Mille Lacs informed me of the episode. after reviewing both the MTT and FLW weights it KINDA looks like some serious cullin goin on also with the MTT at Mille Lacs. Just my .02 cents. So you can play or stay home. This one certainly needs to be cleared up!!!

If it’s backed by facts it needs to come out that is for sure. No room for that crap

First I have heard about it. Please enlighten us with what you know. I have not heard of any accusations of culling. If there is, or if someone has first hand knowledge, Tournament Directors need to be made aware of it the same day of the Tournament. Dragging people through the mud on websites or publications is extremely lame if they are just hunches or accusations without fact to back them up. It is tantamount to cheating if it is being done. But just to accuse someone because one “Thinks” it is taking place is as wrong as the ones doing the alleged culling.
Please let us know what you are refering to.
Thanks!

I hope that they aren’t accusing the winners.

Steve vick won day 1

and

Dean/randy won day 2

I am sure that they wouldn’t cheat.

I heard of this. It is in my opinion nothing but garbage. The person that mentioned it to me I told to keep his mouth shut and quit spreading rumors. If you did not see this alleged activity 1st hand you have no place even mentioning it.

I completely support the persons that these accusations are pointed at if they do not reply to this post. A reply from them in my mind would do nothing to help this issue out and more likely just add more for people to talk about.

Greg – help me out here. From reviewing the results you can tell someone was culling? Wow, now there is a statement from out of the ordinary….. I really feel for the individual(s) being accused. What if hearsay and rumor does NOT hold up?

Everyone that participates in tournaments needs to listen well at rules meetings. If you feel a rule was violated or you witnessed a rule that was violated, the time to bring it up is immediately when you hit shore. Otherwise you have done nothing to grow the sport of competitive angling in fact you have done a great dis-service to the sport and all the competitors that played by the rules….

The internet is a wonderful tool but it is also very powerful and can cause serious character damage. Please get the facts before making such serious allegations…..
Kurt

I guess I’d like to say for the record that I don’t think there was any cheating going on during the river event. I just thought that the rumor mill needs to be stopped for good, or someone needs to come to the plate with some serious facts. I’ve heard this rumor flying around from several different people over the last month or so, and then I read what Joe (not Steve, sorry Steve) wrote recently alluding to this event and figured something should be said. There has only been one such event that he describes in his artical in recent memory that I’m aware of, so it’s easy to put two and two together with everything else that is going around. I fished right next to two of them on Saturday for a large part of the day, and the only thing they were catching were white bass. So if it was a white bass tournament, they would have won easily….

I have no idea what point that this post is trying to make.

Most Tournaments you have an hour or less to file a protest. Which usually requires the complaining team to put up some cash.

Two months have passed for one tourney mentioned and over two weeks for the other.

I did not fish the MTT Pool 4 this spring. But I was at both weigh inns and heard nothing about cheating. The top two teams both days did not even weigh a limit of fish so I do not know how you cull when you do not even weigh a limit.

I have no knowledge of Mille Lacs.

All I will say on this subject is because I have been talked too by tournament Directors before, if you want to catch big fish and catch them on a consistent basis then you better put your time in and teach yourself because it does not happen by accident.

And quit your whinning.

I seriously doubt this is a culling issue. At the Red Wing MTT most of the top anglers did not even get limits, in fact the winners from both days did not limit out.

Kind of hard to cull if you don’t limit.

I know Steve and his father in law. Two more honest characters you will never meet. I know the area where they fished VERY well. You just do not catch small fish there. In fact if I remember right, they only got a few bites all day. And that would be about right for that spot. Dean and Randy fished among boats all day long. These guys are just darn good sticks! To cheat just to win or place highly would be utterly insane. It is just not in their character. I know them all VERY well, and for that reason I am speaking up on their behalf. This cannot be what you are speaking of, so please share what it is you are saying was “Spread around.”
Thanks..

You beat me to it Vandy!!! And I must say you stated it much better than me.

Hunter88, I will not delete this post, as I do not want it to look like we are protecting IDA members, or siding with someone or other. I will not however let members, be it staff or members be bar-b-cued on public forums because of some rumor. If you PM me some specific info on this, I will unlock this post. For now it serves no purpose but to besmerch some really good people with nothing other than rumor and conjecture.

Drop me a line if you have more info.

Thanks!