Eye Opening

I had an eye opening experience. Local tournament trail came by my home lake, and so I joined up, and paid dues for the tournament just knowing I could hang. Well, I had a rough day Saturday. Conditions were brutal! I managed a few crappie but I was reminded of my “place” haha. In all seriousness, I had a great time and learned a lot! Pictures here. Video tells better story.


Crappie Fishing Winter Time Longline Trolling Tournament - YouTube

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i have been in 2 crappie tournaments , the first one we placed 4th out of 55 teams and i know factually 2nd place was cheating .
the second one was the same tournament a year later and we hit it with the watch this attitude ....out for the win no doubt ....
caught ONE crappie and one bass ...:banghead
such is crappie ketchn for sure ....yesterday was one of those days like tournament number 2 btw :Rofl

I’ve never fished a tournament and have no plans to but how does one cheat in a tournament? Outside help or how?

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Originally Posted by RJR

I’ve never fished a tournament and have no plans to but how does one cheat in a tournament? Outside help or how?

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A lot of tournaments allow put in at any ramp with a weigh in at a specific site

Meaning some guys put in one place to fish, then load up, drive the rig to weigh in at other location. It has happened where they take a “detour” on their way. Craziness

Luckily a lot of tourneys do random polygraph. Ultimately the good Lord will find these folks out. I couldn’t imagine someone cheating in a crappie tournament but it does absolutely happen.

The weather Saturday was so bad I don’t think a cheater could’ve even won! Lol!

Have a great day!!!


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Originally Posted by RJR

I’ve never fished a tournament and have no plans to but how does one cheat in a tournament? Outside help or how?

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outside help , personally saw another boat give them fish and it wasn't like i was the only one that saw it either.
them being friends with the tournament director made it slide on by ,even with some complaints from other anglers .
i didnt lodge a complaint myself as i knew some of that would be going on in that crowd anyway

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Originally Posted by RJR

I’ve never fished a tournament and have no plans to but how does one cheat in a tournament? Outside help or how?

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I had an experience in my last local tournament that has changed my trust in fishing them. My team had the highest weight going into the last team to weigh in their fish. I was watching the scale closely and noticed that the scale for the last team didn’t go all the way back to zero. It had .8 pounds left on it. Just before the director put the box of fish on it I stopped him and said the scale didn’t reset completely. He said it did. I asked him to remove the box to prove what I saw. He wanted to argue but I told him just take the box off and everything would be squashed. He reluctantly did because I had caused a few others to come over to see what the debate was about. There was .8 left on the scale as I had seen. He zeroed it out weighed the fish. I won by .5. 10.8 to 10.3 pounds. I can’t say I enjoyed the win tho. I won’t be fishing with that group ever again. And there’s more to this story that I won’t get into here.

People are greedy when it comes to fame and fortune - and even the little money you can win in a local crappie tournament.

Cheating is pretty much like steeling and I don't want anything to do with either.

I was in a state-wide bass tournament about 20 years ago where a team got caught stuffing egg sinkers down the fishes stomach.

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Last year there was a crappie tournament weigh in on tv where they outed a team for cheating. They fished water outside the tournament boundaries, got caught, and as they approached the scales they were asked if they were sure they wanted to weigh their fish. The director told them if they weighed in, charges would be filed. They left and were banned from entering any further tournaments with that organization.

catch fish, put them in a fish trap..retrieve on tourney day

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Originally Posted by Foxy Jig

catch fish, put them in a fish trap..retrieve on tourney day

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Yep...that's been done a time or ten.

Golf is about the only outdoor tourney that is straight because so many eyes watching.

I fished a club crappie tournament as a guest with a buddy who was a member of the club. It turns out the wind blew from west to east for 4 days straight, which stacked the big fish in an old creek channel nobody ever fished. I'd found it by accident a few years before but kept it under my cap and left it alone just for a tournament. Come tournament day, we absolutely wore 'em out. We won 1st & 3rd place for heaviest fish (2lb 12oz & 2lb 9oz) and our best 10 fish beat second place by over 3 pounds. It also had a side calcutta tournament for big bass, big bream, big catfish, and big fish overall. I caught an 8 pound 12oz Hybrid striper that won big bass & big fish overall, and my buddy caught the biggest bream. We didn't win all the money, but got most of it. We just had a great day fishing and found & caught the big ones. The guys in the club had hard feelings, held it against my buddy, and they changed the rules where you couldn't bring in a "ringer". Since then both people fishing the tournament had to be members of the club. That was the last time we fished that tournament together. He passed not long after.

Jim

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Originally Posted by Yak Fish

I fished a club crappie tournament as a guest with a buddy who was a member of the club. It turns out the wind blew from west to east for 4 days straight, which stacked the big fish in an old creek channel nobody ever fished. I'd found it by accident a few years before but kept it under my cap and left it alone just for a tournament. Come tournament day, we absolutely wore 'em out. We won 1st & 3rd place for heaviest fish (2lb 12oz & 2lb 9oz) and our best 10 fish beat second place by over 3 pounds. It also had a side calcutta tournament for big bass, big bream, big catfish, and big fish overall. I caught an 8 pound 12oz Hybrid striper that won big bass & big fish overall, and my buddy caught the biggest bream. We didn't win all the money, but got most of it. We just had a great day fishing and found & caught the big ones. The guys in the club had hard feelings, held it against my buddy, and they changed the rules where you couldn't bring in a "ringer". Since then both people fishing the tournament had to be members of the club. That was the last time we fished that tournament together. He passed not long after.

Jim

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I like this story a lot! A good memory about a good friend that can bring a smile to your face each time it pops up in your head.

Thanks for sharing!


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Originally Posted by Foxy Jig

catch fish, put them in a fish trap..retrieve on tourney day

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seen that trick in a bass tournament myself , one of my buds was crappie chasing and found the hidden box and sent me a photo of it :banghead

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Originally Posted by silverside

I was in a state-wide bass tournament about 20 years ago where a team got caught stuffing egg sinkers down the fishes stomach.

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seen that done on a native trout tournament with split shot .....he got caught and it amazed me someone would be so desperate to win a few dollars ...i was a young fella at the time and knew right then and there "contests" were probably not gunna be my thing

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Originally Posted by RJR

I’ve never fished a tournament and have no plans to but how does one cheat in a tournament? Outside help or how?

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In my 57 years of fishing, I've never once wanted to enter a fishing tourney. To each their own, however. If that's you cup of tea- go for it.

I have never tried to tournament fish and have given it considerable thought. I don’t have anything fancy to keep up with those folks who have more electronics than Best Buy. It’s a joy to see folks tournament fishing and how technology has changed the industry over the years. My greatest joy is just taking our little Tracker out with my wife and catching a few for the freezer. I had the Parmesan baked Crappie from the cooking Crappie thread on here and I have to say it was the best feeling to have fished, caught, cleaned and consumed those delicious fillets.

I fished bass tournaments for years and saw it all, believe me, it happens. Sad, sad.

I haven’t fished tournaments in 30 years, but I did always enjoy the fellowship. Always spent the weigh in hour meeting and laughing with like minded outdoorsmen!


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Any time money is involve there will be cheating. Even the pros get caught doing it.
LittleJohn