Is there INTEGRITY within the sport of bass fishing?

Yes - Yes there is
During our Operation Comfort Benefit Tournament two men stood tall and became one of the lasting impressions of the tournament. They brought a sack full of Palestine studs and loaded them on the scales. As we began to smile as we watched the scale weight continue to rise and stop at 19.25lbs which was good enough for 1st place at the moment. We were treated to something so much more humbling. The gentlemen asked for the microphone to announce they were withdrawing from the tournament. They told the story of having a great day on the water but noticed towards the end that they had castes beyond their official last casting timeframe. What a punch to the stomach that would've been but yet these two gentlemen had the moral fiber to own up to their mistake and use it as a teaching moment to our entire crowd. 96 boats over 300 people packed inside Nautical Mile Marine to include 41 Veterans were treated to INTEGRITY at its finest. These two men withdrew without anyone knowing they had violated the last cast rule giving up the chance at $5,000 and Palestine bragging rights and did the right thing. The crowd was astounded and gave a standing ovation for their decision to stand tall and own up to a mistake. We were proud to have these two men on our stage and one of the lasting impressions of our tournament...

These two men were Steve Terry and Randy Parks - Both men are forever worthy of respect from our fishing community. Both men have their entry fees paid in full for the duration of this tournament lifetime by a few fishermen who were forever touched by their INTEGRITY. Kudos again to them and God Bless

Kudos to those guys. We need more like them.

Integrity and honesty, yep those two men WERE the winners. God bless'em.

Now there are a few who push the envelope , but I truly believe most anglers are honest and forthcoming.

Too many people have gotten into this "the sky is falling" mentality that every tournament is decided by deceit and dishonesty. Funny thing is that most that cry the loudest are generally the same types....

Good on them, i would have shown off a 19lb sack to the crowd also before withdrawing. Integrity is what these guys did, guilt would have been returning the winnings after collecting the prize and the tournament was over.

kudos to these men for owning up to an apparent breaking of the rules....
somebody please explain how they broke the rules...fished tournys for 30 plus years and only rule I ever fished under was that you had to be back and pass the check-in boat by a certain time......
was this one of those launch anywhere/take out anywhere tournys where you started at certain time and quit at certain time?

They did the right thing. America needs a lot more of it.

Good stuff right there.

yes.

Thank you guys for doing the right thing!

I think there is. Any time popularity increases so does the number of people who participate. With the increasing numbers comes an increase in people who are less than honest unfortunately. There has been and always will be cheaters but with technology and social media it is getting more difficult to get away with it and the info gets puts out whereas back in the early 90's and before we would have never known. These guys are definitely stand up types.