I remember sitting on Lake O' the Pines fishing the KYKX tournament when news came in of a giant fish (at that time) that ended up winning. I know several of you that use TFF will remember the cheating in tournaments at that time by bringing live fish from Florida to weigh in. I really enjoyed this article but it brought back painful memories! Not like I would have won some of those tournaments anyway!!

http://grantland.com/features/bass-fishing-cheaters/

I said it on the other post and I say iy again...its not near as prevalent as its made out to be. Too many guys cannot handle getting beat or accepting someone is better than they are at something so they act like little high school girls and start whispering in the back at weigh ins when a guy or a team starts doing well. They never face the ones they are accusing but take every chance to talk them down and create controversy till it grows into a life of its own.
Funny to me with all this cheating going on per this article that locally where there are hundreds of events per year at all levels we have had 1 guy that was proven to be cheating. One guy in 10-15 years.

Sorry, I didn't know it had already been posted! I try to search before posting but I'm not always successful!

I don't think it is a big deal but I remember these guys going around to 3-4 big tournaments at the time and winning them. It was a shocker back then.

Not here. Another fishing site. No harm in reposting either. people can avoid it if they don't want to read it again.

From the article ... "Fishing is defined by its long stretches of boredom punctuated by a few brief, thrilling moments of excitement." I don't think the writer is much of an outdoorsman nor an angler.

I caught that too.

I thought it was a good read and interesting. I started bass tournament fishing about 8 years ago so I never knew about some of the stuff that happened in the 80's. What is sad that some people still try to cheat. I think it is a small amount of people that will cheat with money as a prize.

Lol, true.

Being outdoors is more time in God's great creation for me, catching fish is a bonus.

That's where I quit reading. I'm not so na�ve as to believe cheating doesn't happen, but its not like this guy makes it out to be. Mostly rumors from jealous people getting their [censored] handed to them week after week by the sticks.

The guy isn't an angler he says that, he's from Brooklyn and a writer from New York Times.
And if you guys don't think cheating in tournaments is there well just keep donating, if there is money involved there is some form of cheating. It might not be as dramatic as stuffing weights down a fish but what about the guys that might make their first cast before official start time. Or the guy that gets information on a lake from someone not fishing that tournament during a dead or off limits period. During the spawn do you really think all fish weight in are hooked inside the mouth.
I think we look at cheating as pre caught fish weighed in or weights stuff down a fish stomach. I would bet cheating in some form happens in at least 50% of the tournaments we fish!

that sounds like baseball

I can't tell you how many cheaters there are each year, only how many get caught. A good cheater would never when a tournament and deal with a polygraph. Just place high enough to make money and not draw attention. If there's money involved, then someone is trying to figure a way to beat the system and get it. I'd put my money on more than 50 percent have cheating of one level or another. Just because a person didn't win in the tournament doesn't mean that they didn't cheat.

I witnessed cheating in a tournament I wasn't even in. Told the TD before the weigh in. Not a mention of it before or during the weigh in. The TD told me afterwards he warned them not to do it again after the weigh in. They did not place in the money but were definitely breaking the rules. I don't think TDs want cheating associated with their tournaments so they will let minor cheating slide. I think that is a mistake. Rules are rules and you shouldn't need to be caught stuffing weights down a fish to be DQed from tournaments when you knowingly and purposely cheat.

Based on my results I'm clearly not guilty of it.