If Balog's BassFan article on the BASS DQ of Clausen is factual and accurate then I would say this is not a good look for Jerry McKinnis & BASS. This is an example of what is wrong with the competition side of this sport. It is all one sided. I could see FLW doing the same as BASS in this case. 80% of the anglers are at the mercy of the organizations.

Mr. Balog & BassFan (Todd C) - thank you for the non-biased coverage. We just need more of it.

Balog Post

The polygraph messes up another good man. One day they need to do away with this device. A box that that can tell if you tell the truth or not. The sad thing is in Bass fishing they etch them in stone. In court they are worthless yet we judge people off them. Luke fire up the Attorneys and sue them Blue.

It's pretty silly isn't it, relying a box that tells you if your are lying or not.

Might as well also have Palm Readers and tarot cards as part of the process..........

I feel bad for Clausen. He got screwed big time by bass. I'd bet he goes back to FLW after this year. If I was an elite angler I'd walk around with super strong sound proof ear muffs on just to be safe.

There is a lot more at stake than just the points or tournament winnings. I'm sure many sponsor deals are contingent on him fishing the Elite Series so it's not as easy as saying screw it and jumping back to FLW. What happens if he sues BASS and then FLW decides they don't want to risk dealing with him?

Well, I guess receiving info is receiving info. How is anybody here to know wether the info he was told helped him or not? If he was told that they're biting a "insert bait name" and he used that during the tournament, then he's guilty.

Evidently Clausen felt like he had broke the rule or never would have said anything about in the first place. At least he should have never admitted it.

They all get information, he was picked out because he came from FLW, I know I'am not renewing my Bass magazine.

That will teach them!

So what about all the other guys who have come over from FLW the past few years? Has B.A.S.S. picked on them, too?

That's bs . And to offset there income I will buy a subsription or two

If BASS has any issues with Clausen I doubt it is because he switched leagues this year but there may be something from the past when he won the Classic and then only fished FLW. During this relative time period, some of the anglers that switched (or chose) to FLW over BASS were vocal about their reasons. An example would be Yelas. To be fair, many angler chose BASS over FLW for their reasons.

The point I was trying to make above is that the relationships between the organizations & 80% of the anglers is too one sided. It will not change until the anglers have collective bargaining power. This will never happen.

Luke can not win this battle even if he is innocent of a rule violation.

Johnny Morris will own BASS before long any way.

I don't follow the pro's like I used to, I do know that like any thing else,it's all about the money...all the competing anglers should realize this could happen to them, perhaps they should pull together as a collective group and stand up for clausen, maby a strike of some sort would make BASS realise their just a middleman peddling themselves. The big money is in the profits that the corporations sponsoring the anglers recieve.

For y'all anti-polygraphers in tourney fishing: please correct me (or flame, whatever your preferred style) if I'm wrong, but Clausen wasn't DQed for simply failing the polygraph, was he? Wasn't it because of how he answered the investigative questions that followed?

Comparing polygraphs to tarot card reading and palm reading is a bit silly. Are they fool proof? NO. Can they be beaten? YES. For those that think that is an easy task, I would suggest playing with a biofeedback device for a bit. I'd rather have the mechanism in play to keep the majority of the field honest, though.