Unusual and suspicious tournament activity

Levy · Post by **Levy** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:30 am

While fishing a Tourney out of Tracy O yesterday, my partner and I were in the Holland track area fishing a tulle point at around 9 - 10AM when a new looking blue Nitro Z9 with a single person on board goes by us towards the back of a dead end slew. We finish fishing the point a few minutes later and head back the same direction as the Nitro. We go around the corner and we see this same Nitro hooked up (connected to each other) to white Ranger with I believe burgundy and black strips that had 2 people on board. When we go by them we notice the Blue Nitro had his live well lid open and the 3 individuals are moving around on the boats. My partner and I look at each other in wondering what the "F" is going on. We stop and turn around to see if what we just saw was right and these folks immediately separate and take off. We see the Ranger again and saw that he had a tourney ribbon on the boat and at that point we are simply hoping they are not fishing a tourney or if they are they come in with a low weight. When we go to weigh in our 22 LB bag we walk by these same individuals on the dock and I ask how much weight they weighed in. The dude tells me 30 LBS to which I immediately snap and ask him and his partner what they were doing in Holland with the other boat hooked up with his live well open?? He responds back by saying he was borrowing a scale so they could cull??? I ask him why the other boats live well was open if you were only borrowing a scale to cull to which he stated he was showing us his fish?? To be clear we never saw a fish being transferred. I told everyone I saw at the weigh in what we saw and advised the tourney staff of what we saw. The staff checked the rules which state no competitor may touch another boat unless it is a emergency. They stated we could protest but it would require a $100 fee which would be refunded if protest was upheld. I asked if it would be he said she said because we did not have a photo of the event and basically she advised yes. At this same time the team came up to all of us and stated to stop saying they did anything wrong and admitted again in front of staff that they were in fact connected to the other boat and were just borrowing a scale from a friend and he was also showing them one of his fish. I told them how this looked from a competitors standpoint and mentioned the rules about no contact with other boats and the team said they understood and were concerned about how it looked as well after we went by. I ended up not filing the protest as I did not want to sacrifice my cash for something that i could not 100% say happened as we did not see any fish transfer between boats. To the best of my knowledge this was only the 2nd Tracy tourney they entered with the other being last week. They came in 6th last week and won yesterday. All I can say if I hope my gut is wrong and this was just a dumb mistake made by them and nothing improper occurred. I also hope if something did happen that it will not happen again after this.

rico · Post by **rico** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:58 am

This should have been a no brainer for the TD if they admitted their boats were touching. That alone should have resulted in a DQ.

crawdaddy · Post by **crawdaddy** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:16 pm

I know it sounds like a crappy deal but you should have put up the $100 and given the TD the opportunity to check and the team the opportunity to explain themselves. As it stands you are doing a lot more damage by relaying a story to a much larger audience than just the guys at the weigh in. You have not stated their names but by giving out their placement and the tourney it is easy to find out. I am glad you had the huevos to ask them directly but if what you are suspecting is true I doubt they would have come to weigh in, knowing you had confronted them directly on the water, with fish that they took in violation of tournament rules. Additionally the area you are describing is not exactly a great hiding spot, I could think of a lot more isolated places to make a fish transfer. It sounds to me like bad judgement or a lack of knowledge of tournament rules on the part of the anglers but no real tournament advantage was gained. I have had friends come up and show me fish they had caught while I was in a tourney, I have had people approach me and ask for me to take a picture of them and their fish and I have been asked for a scale all during tournaments. I have also touched rails with these boats as well which is a rule I did not know exists. I have exited my boat to use the restroom and to retrieve my wallet during tournaments. All are violations but I doubt anyone would report them to the TD.

Levy · Post by **Levy** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:27 pm

Crawdaddy read my post again. The team admitted to everything I stated with the staff present. Yes in retrospect we should have talked to them on the water but I did not know positively that they were participants until we got back to weigh in as I had never fished against these folks previously and did not recognize them.

It very well might have been bad judgement and hopefully that is all it was and more people are now aware of the rules.

cdevette · Post by **cdevette** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 2:10 pm

Who fishes a tourney with out a scale?? Maybe I missed something...and if you fish tournies you should know the rules...especially that one. Never get next to another boat unless your transferring fish cause you broke down. Thats just asking for trouble...

sfdfishinfool · Post by **sfdfishinfool** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:06 pm

They should have been DQ!

crawdaddy · Post by **crawdaddy** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:55 pm

Levy,
I did read it again. It is the anglers responsibility to protest not the TD's. All the anglers present were given the opportunity to protest and none, including yourself did. If you were unwilling to do so but felt OK coming on here and calling out the fishermen that is on you. Like I said it was bad judgement on the anglers but if you felt so strongly you should have protested. You talked with anyone that would listen at the event and then came on here and made a mistake bigger than it had to be. If I had witnessed what you described I would have protested them and let the TD decide, you went a different route. To each their own.

Roscoe · Post by **Roscoe** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 9:00 pm

I blame the TD, the anglers did admit to tieing up to another boat, right there is DQ no questions asked. That's how I see it.

Kevin Cheek · Post by **Kevin Cheek** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 10:43 pm

Really,
Why is this even a topic on here right now, Levy shame on you for even bringing this out! As far as anyone should be concerned this never happened! Levy you had your chance to call them on it and possibly lose some money to a protest or been validated on what you say or thought you saw! So far all I see is a rant from a guy who for what ever reason feels that it is ok to come out here in front of the thousands of viewers and sponsors and give suspicion to a team that my have done nothing wrong other then to break a rule of touching another boat in order to barrow a scale...Don't get me wrong im not saying it is ok to break rules during an event, however to put it the way you did in your original thread makes it sound to everyone reading that you felt they were cheating even though you are not coming right out and accusing them of it. Further more you also look to be putting it on the TD for what you say they said happened. Shame on you!!!

Being a Tournament Director is for the most part a unthankful job! Being one for the last 6+ yrs I can say with out a doubt you have to be as unbiased as possible, hardened, and be ready to lose friends and teams do to some of your decisions and actions. You are the first one there the last to leave and have all the responsibility. I was not there to hear the whole conversation however with that being said, no matter whether you or anyone else feels the TD didn't do there job it is not up to us to form an opinion on this. Let me explain now what I mean in say that. I go back to my original opening sentence, Why is this even a topic on here right now, Levy shame on you for even bringing this out!! The way I look at this is it never happened!!! You choose to not file a protest or pursue it any further, therefore it didn't happen and by coming on here all you have done is raise suspicion on a team and on a TD and for what reason? I wont even begin to speculate why!

Remember one thing the internet can be an informative tool however it can be a very damaging tool as well, please keep that in mind when you post something like you did its just not right!!!

gomester · Post by **gomester** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 1:43 am

If the TD does not enforce the rules that they in fact made, then who else would it be on?
If you have a rule of not touching another boat, you touch another boat, you plainly admit to touching another boat to and in front of the tournament director, then really what is the question/or decision for the TD. Rule was broke, rule says you break the rule, you are DQ'd. Simple. Not necessary of $100.

Kevin Cheek · Post by **Kevin Cheek** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:15 am

Gomester a simple answer to your question is what I stated, IT NEVER HAPPENED! As soon as they said they weren't going to protest the rest is just dock talk, I personally think the TD handled it perfectly. She showed no bais twords either team. I know some of you will say that I'm wrong howevere like I stated before no protest no reason to further the conversation!

kraetzer · Post by **kraetzer** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:28 am

Kevin Cheek wrote:Gomester a simple answer to your question is what I stated, IT NEVER HAPPENED! As soon as they said they weren't going to protest the rest is just dock talk, I personally think the TD handled it perfectly. She showed no bais twords either team. I know some of you will say that I'm wrong howevere like I stated before no protest no reason to further the conversation!

That's bs if u ask me. Where in the rules does it say that you only get DQed when somebody protests - tell me if I'm wrong but you should be DQed for breaking the rules.

crawdaddy · Post by **crawdaddy** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:27 am

The TD would have to witness the act to DQ someone unless reported and protested by another angler or if the team was calling an infraction on themselves. In this case the TD gave not only the OP but every other angler there the opportunity to protest but none did so. The TD then made the decision to not DQ based on the information she had. Maybe you should call her and ask why she chose not to DQ regarding the boats touching, but that was her call. It is possible had a protest been filed that a DQ may have been enforced. If that makes you feel better, a DQ over what sounds like possibly an honest mistake, then good luck in life. For me a DQ should be enforced if an obvious advantage was gained by the action of person(s) in question. Like if someone passed you in a 5mph zone to get to a bed fish, blocking your access to fishable water etc.

fishn4bass · Post by **fishn4bass** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:57 am

Rules are rules period! You shouldn't be fishing any event if you haven't read and understand the rules. If you have a potential 30lb. sack in your live wells' you shouldn't need a scale to cull! They should have been protested, anytime your in an event and your hooked up with another boat there better be a mechanical issue or something else like a medical condition happening, otherwise if any angler in the event see's this there is going to be questions, was this the best place to put them on blast, probably not. I will say this, i'm doubtful they will do anything like this again. It's sad that there have been cheaters out there in the past that put these doubts in our minds when we see things like this happen.

Kevin Cheek · Post by **Kevin Cheek** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:15 am

kraetzer wrote:
Kevin Cheek wrote:Gomester a simple answer to your question is what I stated, IT NEVER HAPPENED! As soon as they said they weren't going to protest the rest is just dock talk, I personally think the TD handled it perfectly. She showed no bais twords either team. I know some of you will say that I'm wrong howevere like I stated before no protest no reason to further the conversation!
That's bs if u ask me. Where in the rules does it say that you only get DQed when somebody protests - tell me if I'm wrong but you should be DQed for breaking the rules.

Like I said previously as far as any good TD will tell you if you are not protesting and the fact that they didn't see it happen it DID NOT HAPPEN!!!

cdevette · Post by **cdevette** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:37 am

This is exactly whats wrong with our tournies...don't make waves don't DQ anyone lets just make money...and BTW it IS the TD responsibility if they hear OR see a rule violation that they investigate and take appropriate actions. Don't turn a blind eye and say if no one protests it didn't happen. Now that is BS.....we need to police our own sport and do whats right. And BTW I think the $100 fee for a protest is BS also...Anyone should be able to walk up to a TD and say "this is what I saw please look into it" or here is the picture. If the TD looks into it and no issue then its a done deal.
I was at a tourny last year and a guy was 1 minute late at the check in boat but was confronted and he said I was behind another boat that held me up at the check in. TD said you were late end of story your DQ'd. Thats the type of TDs we need running our tournies. I think alot of guys had more respect for that TD after that issue. No one protested it just one of the guys mentioned it to the TD, and they admitted it. End of story. If this would happen more often guys would know the rules learn them or face the TDs. Everyone knows the old adage ignorance of the law is no defense.
Sorry so long of a rant but I know alot of guys including myself spend hard earned money to fish these things with the hope that they are legit.

Wolfeman · Post by **Wolfeman** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:57 am

I probably shouldn't be posting on this subject because I don't fish tournaments: can't afford them, don't feel like taking away from my 'fun-fishng' time, and mostly...I don't have the skills to compete.

But if I did fish them, and I found out that I had violated the rules I would notify the tournament director immediately.
It happens occasionally on the Elite tour. Pro realizes that he inadvertently broke a rule. They call Tripp and tell him and DQ themselves. Sure, those guys are on a big stage and have to maintain their 'integrity'.

I am absolutely not calling anyone out with this post. Just stating a personal opinion. Hard enough to look in the mirror and shave as it is. Be a lot harder if I thought I cheated, even a little.
- Wolfeman

Bigrob471 · Post by **Bigrob471** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:32 am

It's bs what if the team didn't have 100 bucks on them as td and a team came up and said I want to protest this is what I saw and the team admits that they were together the td should said then you DQ. People should not have to pay 100 to protest unless your doing a Polly graph which almost no circuts do

DDG · Post by **DDG** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:00 pm

Rules are Rules. If you break them especially in a tournament where your hard earned cash is involved, they should be enforced. We don't show up to registration late or not wear a life jacket expecting a "get out of jail free card" No one like a snitch, however rules are rules and in a tournament they should be enforced, you wanna fish as a professional then fish as a professional.

Levy · Post by **Levy** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:22 pm

Kevin Cheek wrote:Really,
Why is this even a topic on here right now, Levy shame on you for even bringing this out! As far as anyone should be concerned this never happened! Levy you had your chance to call them on it and possibly lose some money to a protest or been validated on what you say or thought you saw! So far all I see is a rant from a guy who for what ever reason feels that it is ok to come out here in front of the thousands of viewers and sponsors and give suspicion to a team that my have done nothing wrong other then to break a rule of touching another boat in order to barrow a scale...Don't get me wrong im not saying it is ok to break rules during an event, however to put it the way you did in your original thread makes it sound to everyone reading that you felt they were cheating even though you are not coming right out and accusing them of it. Further more you also look to be putting it on the TD for what you say they said happened. Shame on you!!!

Being a Tournament Director is for the most part a unthankful job! Being one for the last 6+ yrs I can say with out a doubt you have to be as unbiased as possible, hardened, and be ready to lose friends and teams do to some of your decisions and actions. You are the first one there the last to leave and have all the responsibility. I was not there to hear the whole conversation however with that being said, no matter whether you or anyone else feels the TD didn't do there job it is not up to us to form an opinion on this. Let me explain now what I mean in say that. I go back to my original opening sentence, Why is this even a topic on here right now, Levy shame on you for even bringing this out!! The way I look at this is it never happened!!! You choose to not file a protest or pursue it any further, therefore it didn't happen and by coming on here all you have done is raise suspicion on a team and on a TD and for what reason? I wont even begin to speculate why!

Remember one thing the internet can be an informative tool however it can be a very damaging tool as well, please keep that in mind when you post something like you did its just not right!!!

Kevin, shame on you!!! Maybe you can turn the other Cheek (pun intended) but I can't. I stated exactly what happened which the team in question also admitted too in front of the TD. Frankly I could care less what your opinion is but this is a free country so say whatever is on your mind. Regarding your comment about the internet being a informative tool, I agree and hopefully this information may prevent this team or any other team from doing such a thing in the future.

Good luck with your circuit!!

gomester · Post by **gomester** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:26 pm

Perfectly stated. Don't really understand why nobody else gets it. Rules are there for a reason. Try telling a game warden "oh it was an honest mistake; I thought the limit for striped bass was 5, did not realize it was only 2. You ARE going to let me off for an HONEST MISTAKE, right?". Yeah, see how far THAT gets you in life.
And as far as the others saying IT DID NOT HAPPEN, I guess the fact that the offenders admitted it did happen is just a lie, huh? That's pretty funny that admission of guilt is not enough and you still need to protest and pony up cash you may not have on you. That is a pretty funny statement.

DDG wrote:Rules are Rules. If you break them especially in a tournament where your hard earned cash is involved, they should be enforced. We don't show up to registration late or not wear a life jacket expecting a "get out of jail free card" No one like a snitch, however rules are rules and in a tournament they should be enforced, you wanna fish as a professional then fish as a professional.

crawdaddy · Post by **crawdaddy** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:37 pm

It costs $100 to keep the petty crap out of it, the money is refunded if the protest is found to be warranted. Rules should be enforced but that is up to the tournament director not the Monday morning quarterbacks. As I stated in an earlier post why don't one of you who believe that a DQ should have been assessed call the TD and ask for an explanation, if you fished it I think you are entitled to an explanation. If you did not fish it and are demanding action drop it you were not there and you do not have a dog in the race. This should not have gotten to this point, it should have been left on the dock with all the parties involved. The facts are the team that observed the action did not file a protest, the other teams did not either, the TD followed the rules and gave the opportunity for a protest to be filed, when it was not she made a decision based on the information she had and that is her decision to make. I guess she felt that if the team that observed the action had hesitations about filing a protest then it is likely that cheating did not occur. If the DQ was assessed for the rails rubbing and this post had been made the anglers who made this bad decision would be looked upon as cheaters and they would get grief at every tournament and maybe banned. This could have led to a lot of other things such as law suits etc. Bad all the way around especially in light of the fact that no cheating was observed.

gomester · Post by **gomester** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:44 pm

blah blah blah. I guess this guy is wrong too, huh?

Andy Cuccia Let's give the two angler's the benefit of the doubt and they were not intentionally cheating. YET, the bottom line is they were observed by someone breaking a tournament rule, period! They admittingly stated they did this in the presence of the tournament organizers. Bottom line, they should have been instantly disqualified! Let it all go guys in beating up the team, hold the tournament organization responsible for not taking the proper action to assure the sport of competitive bass fishing's integrity and it's anglers are held accountable. The Problem is in the Organization NOT TAKING ACTION! Refocus here on where the problem really is! What good are rules, if we can't entrust that the orgs are gonna uphold them when there are clear violations.

crawdaddy wrote:It costs $100 to keep the petty crap out of it, the money is refunded if the protest is found to be warranted. Rules should be enforced but that is up to the tournament director not the Monday morning quarterbacks. As I stated in an earlier post why don't one of you who believe that a DQ should have been assessed call the TD and ask for an explanation, if you fished it I think you are entitled to an explanation. If you did not fish it and are demanding action drop it you were not there and you do not have a dog in the race. This should not have gotten to this point, it should have been left on the dock with all the parties involved. The facts are the team that observed the action did not file a protest, the other teams did not either, the TD followed the rules and gave the opportunity for a protest to be filed, when it was not she made a decision based on the information she had and that is her decision to make. I guess she felt that if the team that observed the action had hesitations about filing a protest then it is likely that cheating did not occur. If the DQ was assessed for the rails rubbing and this post had been made the anglers who made this bad decision would be looked upon as cheaters and they would get grief at every tournament and maybe banned. This could have led to a lot of other things such as law suits etc. Bad all the way around especially in light of the fact that no cheating was observed.

DDG · Post by **DDG** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:58 pm

: image.jpeg (29.63 KiB) Viewed 8614 times

gomester · Post by **gomester** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 1:00 pm

Nope, not the ONLY one

DDG wrote:
image.jpeg

crawdaddy · Post by **crawdaddy** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:20 pm

Andy has been around and he has an opinion just like you and I. We obviously don't agree on this. I won't try to convince you that it is the TD's responsibility to assess violations of the rules and act on them or not depending on the information they receive and you can stop trying to convince me that because you read something posted on the internet we should DQ a team despite not having the complete story. You have the choice to never fish this circuit again, if you ever have, if you do not agree with their handling of the situation. As with all events such as this there are multiple sides to every story, we have not heard the TD's version of events and we have not heard the other team's version. If you are comfortable making big decisions based on 1/3 of the story then go right ahead. You have shown no interest in getting all the facts before rushing to judge and that is wrong in my opinion. I would like to hear Andy's take on this but I won't speak for him either.

[quote="gomester"]blah blah blah. I guess this guy is wrong too, huh?

Andy Cuccia Let's give the two angler's the benefit of the doubt and they were not intentionally cheating. YET, the bottom line is they were observed by someone breaking a tournament rule, period! They admittingly stated they did this in the presence of the tournament organizers. Bottom line, they should have been instantly disqualified! Let it all go guys in beating up the team, hold the tournament organization responsible for not taking the proper action to assure the sport of competitive bass fishing's integrity and it's anglers are held accountable. The Problem is in the Organization NOT TAKING ACTION! Refocus here on where the problem really is! What good are rules, if we can't entrust that the orgs are gonna uphold them when there are clear violations.

gomester · Post by **gomester** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:23 pm

Sorry to burst your bubble but when somebody admits to wrongdoing, game over. No convincing here, just simple common logic.

crawdaddy wrote:Andy has been around and he has an opinion just like you and I. We obviously don't agree on this. I won't try to convince you that it is the TD's responsibility to assess violations of the rules and act on them or not depending on the information they receive and you can stop trying to convince me that because you read something posted on the internet we should DQ a team despite not having the complete story. You have the choice to never fish this circuit again, if you ever have, if you do not agree with their handling of the situation. As with all events such as this there are multiple sides to every story, we have not heard the TD's version of events and we have not heard the other team's version. If you are comfortable making big decisions based on 1/3 of the story then go right ahead. You have shown no interest in getting all the facts before rushing to judge and that is wrong in my opinion. I would like to hear Andy's take on this but I won't speak for him either.

gomester wrote:blah blah blah. I guess this guy is wrong too, huh?

Andy Cuccia Let's give the two angler's the benefit of the doubt and they were not intentionally cheating. YET, the bottom line is they were observed by someone breaking a tournament rule, period! They admittingly stated they did this in the presence of the tournament organizers. Bottom line, they should have been instantly disqualified! Let it all go guys in beating up the team, hold the tournament organization responsible for not taking the proper action to assure the sport of competitive bass fishing's integrity and it's anglers are held accountable. The Problem is in the Organization NOT TAKING ACTION! Refocus here on where the problem really is! What good are rules, if we can't entrust that the orgs are gonna uphold them when there are clear violations.

BASSaholic · Post by **BASSaholic** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 2:53 pm

Am I missing something here?

The bass tournaments I fished you can only have a max of FIVE bass in your livewell at any given time (I heard some are 3 or 4 max). So, from what the OP explained, they needed a scale to cull, which mean they had more than the number of fish limit in the livewell? What was the fish limit in this tournament?

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:11 pm

Glad I didn't have any money in this tournament !! The outcome would definitely been different !! AND this does NOT require a $100 fee, as it is not a protest, it IS a rule violation !!
1. TD notified of an incident
2. Team admitted to incident
3. TEAM DQ'D

Just for $hits and Giggles:

** QUESTION**
1. HOW MUCH DID THE 2ND PLACE WEIGH IN ?? (close, or way back)
2. WHAT KIND TEAM FISHES A "PAYOUT" TOURNEY WITHOUT A SCALE OR BALANCE BEAM

NOPE, my opinion for as little as it is worth, is..................DQ !!!

gomester · Post by **gomester** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:18 pm

Thank you! Finally one more voice of reason; seems pretty cut and dry to me as well.
Accidental or purposeful is not the question, the question is why are they not enforcing their own rules when somebody is admitting guilt to breaking a rule. Regardless of what you think about the rules it does not change the fact they are there and were broken..............period.

Perfect response Mitch!!!

FYI: 1st place 29.76 lbs for $1810, 2nd was 26.53 for $1,032, 3rd at 25.61 for $860.
21.18 lbs was just out of the money.

Mitch wrote:Glad I didn't have any money in this tournament !! The outcome would definitely been different !! AND this does NOT require a $100 fee, as it is not a protest, it IS a rule violation !!
1. TD notified of an incident
2. Team admitted to incident
3. TEAM DQ'D

Just for $hits and Giggles:

** QUESTION**
1. HOW MUCH DID THE 2ND PLACE WEIGH IN ?? (close, or way back)
2. WHAT KIND TEAM FISHES A "PAYOUT" TOURNEY WITHOUT A SCALE OR BALANCE BEAM

NOPE, my opinion for as little as it is worth, is..................DQ !!!

gomester · Post by **gomester** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:21 pm

Yeah, there were a few things there but good catch there sir. Something the rest of us missed. So there are a few violations here that they admitted to.

1. Used a cell phone for other than emergency purposes.
2. Touching another boat during the tournament.
3. Having more than 5 fish in the well.

BASSaholic wrote:Am I missing something here?

The bass tournaments I fished you can only have a max of FIVE bass in your livewell at any given time (I heard some are 3 or 4 max). So, from what the OP explained, they needed a scale to cull, which mean they had more than the number of fish limit in the livewell? What was the fish limit in this tournament?

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:45 pm

I was weighmaster for Mike Iljin's AC Castaic Trail for many years.
Here is how he ran his tournaments, and he never had any problems.
The time to deal with any of this is at the tournament weighin, before the scales close.
If there are issues with another competitor, or the TD, that's the time and place to do it.
I hope everyone reading this thread learns how to deal with issues immediately, at the tournament, so they don't become problems, because, once the scales close, the tournament is over. Period.

Robb R · Post by **Robb R** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:07 pm

rules ??? what are those . Hillary has broken laws at the highest Federal level and she is running for President !!
Apparently a large portion of America doesn't give a chit .

As for the bass fishing , even if the fisherman didn't know the rules , the TD should know 100% of all the stated rules and subsequent violations and anybody who fished the tournament should be given a refund and/or explanation .
Tight lines ,
Robb

DDG · Post by **DDG** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:54 pm

It's interesting to get fellow anglers input on this issues cause I honestly believe that if guys want to cheat that's fine, your odds of getting caught and losing your credibility as an angler are high. Look at how many views this thread already has. That could be worse then any suit or money involved, to be viewed as a cheat. Rumors spread easier then mayo especially in this industry, people talk. Most of us pride ourselves in becoming "good sticks" and leaving a legacy in this sport, I know I do. Whatever happened and was going on out there on the water, if it looks and sounds wrong, then it is wrong. If you think for a second you could escape ridicule and judgment of your fellow anglers think again. I think that's a larger price to pay for making bone head decisions that are common sense for others.

Joey Faria · Post by **Joey Faria** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 5:18 am

I finished fourth in this turny and got big fish money. I wish a proper protest would have been made instead of Internet drama bein made. If the guys admitted in front of Stephanie that they broke a rule all u would of had to do is write a protest and give her the 100$ and she would have given it right back and dqed them and I would have got 600 more dollars. If u can take the time to write all this there's no reason to not protest according to the rules. Just my opinion but rules clearly state the proper way to protest and this is not it.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 5:35 am

Remind me to NEVER fish a tournament run by Kevin Cheek..... unreal..

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:29 am

Joey Faria wrote:I finished fourth in this turny and got big fish money. I wish a proper protest would have been made instead of Internet drama bein made. If the guys admitted in front of Stephanie that they broke a rule all u would of had to do is write a protest and give her the 100$ and she would have given it right back and dqed them and I would have got 600 more dollars. If u can take the time to write all this there's no reason to not protest according to the rules. Just my opinion but rules clearly state the proper way to protest and this is not it.

Exactly!

birdi23nls · Post by **birdi23nls** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 8:20 am

Mike wrote:Remind me to NEVER fish a tournament run by Kevin Cheek..... unreal..

I was waiting for this comment. I'm surprised it took this long.

Levy · Post by **Levy** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:39 am

Joey Faria wrote:I finished fourth in this turny and got big fish money. I wish a proper protest would have been made instead of Internet drama bein made. If the guys admitted in front of Stephanie that they broke a rule all u would of had to do is write a protest and give her the 100$ and she would have given it right back and dqed them and I would have got 600 more dollars. If u can take the time to write all this there's no reason to not protest according to the rules. Just my opinion but rules clearly state the proper way to protest and this is not it.

Joey, that is exactly what happened but unfortunately I did not get the feeling that the DQ would be as cut and dry as you make it seem and I was unwilling to give away $100 in case it was not.

As for the internet drama you speak of, I disagree with this, it is my hope that anglers and orgs alike learn from this incident so rules violations and enforcement are understood better and more importantly anglers do not put themselves in a similar situation.

To be clear, I have no ill will towards Tracy Bass as they have been like family for the past 6 or 7 years I have fished the circuit. I do understand the difficult spot they are put in and all of the hard work they go through to put these events on. I might not have agreed with the decision in this case and I do feel bad they had to go through this but I felt it was important to put it out there.

weekendbassangler · Post by **weekendbassangler** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:35 am

2 Things could have cleared this all up.

1 A picture would have been awesome. Obviously it was felt that there was something funny going on so snapping a pic would have been prudent.

2 Following the protest rule could have cleared this up right there. It is unclear to me if the team in question admitted the violation in front of the staff or the TD. Either way if I felt that strongly about the evidence I would have included the confession in my written protest collected my $100 back and everyone would have moved up a spot.

All this talk about knowing the rules and following procedures but the one that was in place in writing to deal with these situations was not followed either.

#PROTESTS
A. All protests must be made within 15 (fifteen) minutes of the close of official scales.
B. Protests shall be in writing and accompanied by a $100 deposit. The burden of proof of a rules infraction will be the responsibility of the angler filing the protest. The $100 deposit will be refunded if the protest is upheld, otherwise the deposited shall be forfeited to Tracy Bass Tournaments.

Bad situation for all. I do not fish the Tracy Bass Tournaments but have several friends that do and by all accounts they are fun, well run events.

Levy · Post by **Levy** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:00 pm

weekendbassangler wrote:2 Things could have cleared this all up.

1 A picture would have been awesome. Obviously it was felt that there was something funny going on so snapping a pic would have been prudent.

2 Following the protest rule could have cleared this up right there. It is unclear to me if the team in question admitted the violation in front of the staff or the TD. Either way if I felt that strongly about the evidence I would have included the confession in my written protest collected my $100 back and everyone would have moved up a spot.

All this talk about knowing the rules and following procedures but the one that was in place in writing to deal with these situations was not followed either.

#PROTESTS
A. All protests must be made within 15 (fifteen) minutes of the close of official scales.
B. Protests shall be in writing and accompanied by a $100 deposit. The burden of proof of a rules infraction will be the responsibility of the angler filing the protest. The $100 deposit will be refunded if the protest is upheld, otherwise the deposited shall be forfeited to Tracy Bass Tournaments.

Bad situation for all. I do not fish the Tracy Bass Tournaments but have several friends that do and by all accounts they are fun, well run events.

1. We did not have our phones out while driving on pad to have been able to take a picture and when we turned around the 2 boats took off.
2. Not sure why it is unclear to you, these folks admitted the rule infraction in front of myself a few other teams and the TD. We advised the staff of the issue during the weigh in and the discussion regarding the protest took place while the last flight was still weighing in. As I previously stated I did not get a feeling that it would be upheld and I was not willing to provide $100 that I may not get back.

I do agree that Tracy Bass are fun well run events!!!

Diesel Guy · Post by **Diesel Guy** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:20 pm

First of all THANK YOU for posting this. The person that said you shouldn't have is ignorant. I've been fishing tournaments for 25 years, pro, teams, draw, been a TD, and this stuff goes on sadly more then most of know. I've given 1000's away to cheaters, some caught, some not. Whether these guys cheated or not, this is an obvious rule that was broken, and there's no way they deserved a dime. That said, it is imo YOUR duty to the rest of us and in protecting our sport, you should have put up the $100, or solicited it from other anglers in the tournament. We are all responsible for "policing" to an extent while out there. You absolutely did the right thing by posting this with details of the boat. They hopefully, and deservingly, have been marked to be watched from here on out.

weekendbassangler · Post by **weekendbassangler** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:24 pm

All I'm saying is that if they admitted to the violation in front of several teams and the TD and you did not feel you were going to get satisfaction then you should have fallen back on the Protest Protocol that is written in the rules. Myself I would have noted that such an admission was made in the written protest and then put it right back in the TDs lap. Obviously you feel strongly about it brother. Why not take it to the highest level possible? Did you think the TD was going to deny hearing the confession? I get why you are upset by this buddy. We all want to eliminate cheaters from our sport as well as know there is justice when rules are broken. My only issue with this topic is there was a written Protocol in place to file a protest. You chose not to pursue it.

Post by **WB Staff** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 2:01 pm

As always WB wants to allow expression of opinions, thoughts and experiences without crossing the line of bashing and we want to thank all of our site users for being respectful of that on this thread, especially in instances like this where the topic is not of a positive nature.

Lots of people have expressed different issues on this subject. We seem to have covered most all sides of what could've, should've, would've happened.

Hopefully everyone was open to looking at the situation from multiple points of view and lessons were learned to bring forth positive experiences in our sport for the future.

There are several posts about dealing with the situation first hand, during the event and not bringing it to the internet, so let's also move that direction and forego perpetuating the situation any further on the internet.

Now let's move on and get fishing.

Stratos278 · Post by **Stratos278** » Thu Apr 14, 2016 5:53 am

WB Staff wrote:As always WB wants to allow expression of opinions, thoughts and experiences without crossing the line of bashing and we want to thank all of our site users for being respectful of that on this thread, especially in instances like this where the topic is not of a positive nature.

Lots of people have expressed different issues on this subject. We seem to have covered most all sides of what could've, should've, would've happened.

Hopefully everyone was open to looking at the situation from multiple points of view and lessons were learned to bring forth positive experiences in our sport for the future.

There are several posts about dealing with the situation first hand, during the event and not bringing it to the internet, so let's also move that direction and forego perpetuating the situation any further on the internet.

Now let's move on and get fishing.

Well said, WB. Maybe it's time to put this thread on lockdown, no point beating a dead horse any further

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