Can't really compare those with tournament fishing. Both of those sports have refs on the field watching them during competition. It would be naive to trust high school teams and their boat driver in a situation that can be manipulated in the same way any other tournament could be.

If two of the top 5 are failing their polys it's clearly necessary to keep polygraphs going.

Heard 6th place got DQ because one of anglers was pictured in front deck with motor running and no life jacket during practice yesterday. Pic had boat numbers and they were reported today. This might be the top 5 angler that has been mentioned earlier.

Pretty sorry to wait til after weigh in to turn that pic in. That person is a whiney POS who couldn't beast the competition.

I would reserve judgement on any polygraph situation unless I knew the facts.

Polygraphs at fishing tournaments aren't of much quality. Even a polygraph done with a solid examiner under the right conditions aren't any more accurate than the examiner. There is a reason why they aren't admissible in court. They have some degree of accuracy however they aren't totally accurate.

I can tell you that I failed one on a tournament about 30 years ago. Absolutely zero reason for me to fail. We followed the rules to the absolute letter of the rules. I don't know why I failed. There had been some BS rumors that we were fishing with live bait which was total BS. I suspect that went back to the polygraph operator thru the tournament director.

Just about zero course of action you can take. At the time I did have much money or for that matter boat or truck. We fished the rest of the Series. I offered to pay for a observer to ride weekly. They declined. We came in second in AOY. Next year they said too many complaints and we couldn't fish. The whole thing was a bunch of bs.

Unless the person failing directly admits to doing something against the rules in a polygraph then the results are of little value. Reading deception is weak at best. That's been shown over the years. Everyone remembers the Robby Rose saga. He passed a number of polygraphs. Yet for some reason some people think they are great.

Pretty weak if they waited until after the tournament to turn the pic in. If they had a problem with the pic should have been addressed with the director before then. Obviously they can't be on the front deck with the big motor running and no life jacket. KVD was DQ'd years ago doing close to the same thing in practice if I remember correctly.

This time of year it could be a definite advantage to do that if searching for bed fish. The team doing it should have known better. Big motor rule is usually pretty clear.

One of the big problems with high school fishing is most don�t even know the rules. They don�t ever read the rules, way too many don�t even know where they are found. A large percentage show up tournament day and that�s it, they don�t get on the water otherwise all year. I constantly had to tell our members the rules and was told time after time they had no idea they �couldn�t do that�. I constantly told our club members not knowing the rules is not an excuse and it�s their responsibility to know the rules if you are going to fish.

I�d bet half cheat and have no idea and they had no intention of cheating. How many boat captains or team members are out fishing within two weeks with someone else other than their family or team member. Personally, I think it�s a ridiculous rule that a boat captain can�t fish with a friend for two weeks before a tournament. I get the intention.but does anyone actually think High School fishing is really fair. Two kids show up tournament day with their local pro boat captain and win a tournament, team never fished the lake all year except tournament day. Getting kids out fishing is great, add big money and crazy parents to the mix and things get crazy.

First, that's not a high school specific issue to knowing the rules, it's widespread across every level. Second, there's a big difference between rules infractions and knowingly trying to defraud/cheat in an event. Calling every rules violation cheating is a bit much.

Lol yep, that deal is a mess

Mark, I agree 100% and guess my choice of words could have been better. I know it�s not a high school only issue but I personally went over ever rule in a PowerPoint presentation to our high school club members. Not taking ten minutes to read the rules is not an excuse, these are high school kids and adults. I keep the rules and itinerary on my phone and iPad so if I have a questions the answer is right there. I also email the tournament director if not 100% sure, just did that to verify my son and I could fish a tournament together and not violate any rules.

Agree, the TD's, parents and boat captains should ALL go over the rules with these kids. Start them off right.

I was a boat captain for my grandson and I agree that a lot of the captains don�t know the rules and don�t enforce them . But let me tell you I liked spending time with them. And I don�t like polygraphs because we all know they are not 100%.

As one of the kids on the 6th place team it was really disappointing to have our season end the way that it did. yes we broke the rule but in no way was it to be looking for bedding fish or in any other way that would give us an advantage. the picture was taken of me and my brother as we idled under the 35-bridge in the picture I am wearing my life jacket and my brother the one some of you all have said was standing is clearly seen squated in his chair HOLDING his life jacket in his left hand because we had just put in at Hickory creek ramp. so yes we broke the rule but in no way was it for us to gain a advantage over the competition. Me and my broth work very hard because fishing is what we love and it sucks to have something like this happen. but this is a lesson we will learn from. Im only saying this because I do not want people talking about me and my brother as if we were cheating to gain an advantage over the competition. The photo was taken while we were pre fishing

I assume this was during the official practice day before the regional? Good for you for clarifying what happened but the THSBA has emphasized this over and over for years. Unfortunately you learned the hard way but we�ve all had these life lessons, I know I have.

I think the appropriate thing would have been for the accusers to have said something to you and your brother, educate first, not take a photo and turn you afterwards. Good for you for pre fishing and telling what happened, you sound like a stand up young man.

Lesson learned fellas, you guys keep at it and don't let this group beat you up.

Clearly it was an unfortunate slip up. What concerns me more is that some team has such poor fishing skills that their �prefishing� consists of looking for other teams making minor rule infractions and documenting them. A TEAM OF WINNERS would say,� hey guys! Life jackets� and wave.

Worry about yourselves people!!! �Snitches wind up in ditches�!

Losers take pictures of [censored] like this!

All I can say to the 6th place team is follow the rules to the very last detail, then weigh those fish and take their money next time. And pose for pictures!