Decker Lake Kayak Tournament Arrest

A friend of mine was fishing the kayak tournament at Decker this past Saturday and, apparently, the TPWD Game and Fish Wardens and State Troopers took one of the participants of the tournament away prior to weigh-in.

Does anyone have any knowledge of what took place?

The rumor is it was for cheating instead of an on water violation like missing fishing license or missing PFD but I haven't heard anything definitive.

Cheating or they may have had outstanding warrants and someone tipped off the Game Warden on-site.
I didn’t find anything recent using Google.

I was reading about it online among some of the participants but it looked like until all the facts were out most were keeping quiet.

My buddy Brent Taylor would never cheat.
I heard he was cutting his first fish in half and laying it across the next four fish and covering the cut with his hand, making the fish look longer in the pics. I think he was set up. Why else would four game wardens be waiting at the gate to move in on him. It's almost like he had done it before and they were waiting on him. No way. The fix is in.

That's a new one. Any pictures?

Interesting, can't find anything on the internet.

Cutting a fish in half and using the tail end to make other fish longer? Seems extreme, and easily caught given the number of participants at KATS.

I saw comments regarding this issue on Facebook, but the photo that had been posted on Facebook had been removed due to the investigation being ongoing. According to the comments on Facebook, he was cutting the tail off his first fish and then using the tail to make subsequent fish look longer and had done so in several tournaments for several years. The photos were eventually noticed as being suspicious when they were posted online on the TourneyX webpage and brought to the attention of the Tournament Director. Apparently he cheated again at the Decker tournament and was caught red-handed with the tail and photographic evidence according to what I read on Facebook. I'm sure we'll hear more about this once the investigation is completed, but it amazes me to what extent people will go to win $1K. Now that a kayaker has won $100K in a tournament, there will probably be other folks who will come up with a way to cheat as well. I think the next evolution of cheating will be photoshop between an angler on the water using his phone to photograph fish and an accomplice with a computer at home sending photos back and forth to each other which is pretty easy to do with phones. I think using cameras would at least stop the photoshop issue.

seriously... someone was cutting a fish into and trying to make it look longer. wow.... what a scumbag.

From what I read on Facebook, he was not cutting the bass in half but, he was cutting the tail off and using just the tail to make the rest of his fish look longer to win the tournaments.

I almost shiot when I read the name up above. I'd been reading about it online and the the discussion I was reading had already been sanitized with the pictures removed. Sad deal as I consider the guy a friend and have known him for several years. You just never know what folks will do to win.

That's crazy....that boy needs to get his compass set right.

If that’s the person in question, he does have a habit of photographing his fish on a measuring board and holding it down on the tail, according to an Instagram account of a guy with the same name, who also appears to compete in kayak bass tournaments.

Did he used to live in Montana?

Doesn't look right.

Some guys are just too clever for their own good.

What a flipping idiot! He goes against any kind of proper fishing etiquette there is! I thought the whole idea of catch and release was to preserve the fish yet still have fun catching them. As always, the “take a pic and release” concept seemd good until one moron had to ruin it for everyone else. But to butcher one to make others look larger is just shameful. The above pic even looks bad! What a moron!!! All that to try and win a local fishing tournament? What did he do with the bass he cut the tail off of? I assume threw it back in the water to let it die. No different than killing sharks for their fins. Dude needs to be ban from ever buying a fishing license again.

He is not the first one. There was another guy who chopped up a couple of bump boards which made the fish look really long. He would measure the same fish on 3 differemt bump boards and submit 3 catches. He had his hand over the front of the fish to cover up the cutout portion of the bump board.

This guy cut up the fish to stretch it out over the bump board.

The solution to both of these cases is to mark every inch of the bump board and only allow competitors use their fingers to hold the fish down without completely covering the fish or the bump board.

How in the h*** did no one not catch on to that sooner?

The proportions of that fish are clearly wrong. How long did this guy allegedly cheat and how much money has he won during this time?

I’m a little surprised at the lack of outrage...maybe the story hasn’t made its way to the press or greater social media.

TFF is the greater social media

Just wait until y'all see the rest of the pictures........

This is absolutely ridiculous. Dude just cuts off a tail and tosses the fish back? You can tell by the way that he holds the fish there, pardon the pun, that somethings fishy. Doesn't look right at all.

You are kidding me. WOW!!!

Just, Wow.

Any updates?

I'm curious too.

Robby Rose kin to this guy

Any updates, pics or details?

He is still being arrested in other counties. He has been caught in at least 4-5 tournaments (I think) in different counties, and is getting charged in each county. I think that once he is done getting tried more details will come out and there will be a big explanation of everything, on here and on Facebook. Sad deal.

That is the word on the street that I have heard at least.

If there was ever just cause for confiscating fishing gear and a kayak, this would be it.
I've got a good rope they can use. Anybody got a tree?
Or maybe we could cut him off at the ankles, cover them up and retake his FaceBook picture.

Travis county open records-

Courtroom COUNTY COURT AT LAW #3
Hearing Date 05/29/2018
Location Floor 5 Room 240
Hearing Time 11:00 am
Charge Description FRAUD FISHING TOURNAMENT

Wow, good catch on the Instagram!!!

What a finnnn Dick

omg, freakin' hilarious... fishing jerry springers

https://scout.com/outdoors/bass-fishing/...97/#118610797_1

This P.O.S took home AOY and ROY on that kayak trail. Even sat for interviews on the trails web series. No
Coming back from that in my book. Hope his name and picture is blasted everywhere and if found guilty he is banned from everything.
Wouldn’t mind seeing his fishing license revoked either for cutting the tail off a fish.

I saw an interview he did on Keep Austin Fishing awhile back, what a piece of chit!

For all you boys that are into the drama, it has now gone national. It is on wired to fish, more details will be coming out as the courts processes wrap up.

https://scout.com/outdoors/bass-fishing/...ament-118610797

Putting aside the tail issue, this picture shows the fish being measured with the mouth open. Regulations state that a fish must be measured with mouth closed. You would lose at least a quarter inch if you close the mouth. How was this not an issue with the tournament officials?

Is his big brother trying to pull the same scam??? https://tourneyx.com/app/tourney/2018-kbf-trail-22-lake-whitney-tx

This is the KATS kayak trail their rules allow for mouth open but most trails now require mouth closed or a deduction will be given or if the mouth is blatantly wide open the fish may be DQ’d altogether. I don’t keep up with that trail as they hold most events down around Austin area but they may have changed some rules since this event was held.
Also after this event of cheating new rules are in place in most trails that do not allow the angler to cover the area of the fish between the body and tail where they connect. Every trail has specific rules for picture or identifier requirements its always good to read those rules before entering or questioning them later after fishing the event when its too late.

Well looks like there is an end to the story just saw it posted in the bass fishing section End of a Long Tail