Clausen post got me thinking about a situation a buddy told me about a few years ago.

Buddy was fishing a pro/am and leading after day one. On the second day, he had four fish when he came to a log across the creek. He threw over the log, and hooked a fish. As he got it to the log his co-angler stepped out onto the log with both feet and netted the fish before my buddy knew what was going on. Buddy kept the fish, and it was the last one he caught that day, he ended up winning the tournament and 10k by about a pound. Bad part about the whole deal was there was a rule in the books stating no angler my get out of the boat for any reason, which he knew about but did not say anything. He said he still feels guilty about not saying anything, but was not going to let someone else cost him 10k over something he had no control over.

Bad deal all the way around....if you say something you're probably gonna get DQ'ed, or at least lose the weight of your big fish, if you don't you're dishonest. Then what....do you sue the co-angler for 10k for not knowing the rules???
To those of you who fish pro/am's, you might want to start asking every co if they have read/understand the rules for every tourney you fish in the future, might save you some grief!

Fish Tight,

John

that's a tough one.

Ouch. Personally, I would have released the fish and would have never known what could have been. It's the right thing to do.

Your Buddy should have said something. He cheated plain and simple.

Sounds like a pumpkin eater to me!!

Sue the Co? Seriously? Wouldn't you be responsible for what goes on in your boat?

Not a tourney fisherman but, I don't think the rule prohibiting getting out of the boat for any reason had something like that in mind.
I would not have ruled that illegal... (the OP's story about stepping out on to a log to net a fish)
JMO ...
God Bless

Actually Lee, that's exactly one of the things they had in mind when they wrote the rule, getting out of the boat to fish or land a fish.

As to the original post, �Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.�

If the rule was specifically no one could go outside of the boat then the fish should have gone back. It wasn't within the rules. Plain and simple.

Learning to play golf at a young age is good for people. Most of the time, when you break the rules, it's just you out there, you're the only one who knows. But you still have to mark it on the card and take your penalties. . .even if no one else is looking.

It breeds a good mentality. I couldn't have kept that fish. If I know it's wrong then I'm just not gonna do it. I wouldn't want to end up like your buddy and regretting it forever. . .it's just better in the long run to do what you know is right.

Ok, OP stated the angler got out of the boat with both feet. I guess strictly speaking, that was a clear violation of the rules.
Kind of a dumb rule though.
Say you catch a fish, same situation, fish is caught over a log. If you step out with one foot to land the fish.....is that to prohibited?
As I said, surely that wasn't what the club or ?? had in mind when the rule was put in place....or was it?
JMO
God Bless

I'd rather loose the 10K then live with any guilt about breaking a rule/cheating.

Yes that rule is in every big tournament for this very reason. The intention of the rule is for this VERY scenario.

So in this situation is the coangler DQ'd and the pro allowed to continue if he released the fish that was caught by breaking the rules or are they both DQ'd?

Stepping out with one foot is allowed. The intent of the rule is to keep people in the boat. Otherwise folks to get out and fish from the bank or tie up, get out, and fish a marina or dock. I get what you are saying and it seems harmless to land a fish but if the rules are not black and white then people will find more ways to interpret them.