Brings back a memory of about 4 years ago I as fishing a big tournament on a spot with timber. I hooked a fish in about 18 feet of water and had him on for prob 5 minutes see sawing him back and forth before I finally figured out I had to break the fish off. I gave him 30 foot of line and gave him the opportunity to float up- I did everything. I finally break the line and to my surprise right next to the boat floats up an 8 pounder with my 7o hook in his mouth and about 6 foot of invisx hanging out off the hook. There was a team about 30 yards way from me that watched it all. I looked at the team and said hey guys this fish just floated up... it needs to be fizzed. I am going to boat it, fizz it and release it and I want you all to watch the entire thing. The team said thats your fish you just hooked right? I said yes sir it sure is. They said I would be putting that one in the livewell "you Clearly hooked it." Granted this team was also in the same tournament I was. No TD were ever called and the thought never even crossed my mine... it clearly to me ethics wise was not anywhere close to a legal catch. Ill never forget that day and the other team was shocked I did what I thought in my mind was the right thing to do.

if you had given that fish slack line and he came up and jumped beside the boat and hook came out but your partner was able to get the net under him....would you have weighed the fish in?

If they went to the director prior to weighing the fish as it was stated to give the details of the catch then they absolutely questioned the legality of the fish. That being said I also think they got hosed.

Not at all. The team in question here should have been pulled aside before they were allowed to weigh in and spoken to. It was handled poorly by all. Once again, my original position stands. The boat captain should have called the TD as soon as the fish was landed. That phone call would have eliminated all this back & forth.

Barrett, you are a man of Integrity. I would have called the TD for that fish as well.

What was it that Momma always said about "spilled milk"? It's over and done with. Hopefully the anglers, the TD, and the organization all learned a lesson from the unfortunate result. I would think an apology to the team affected by the TD for the way it was handled and a rule clarification by the organization would put this to bed- but this is 2020 and who am I kidding?

Please read your comment. As I have, multiple times, and each time it gets dumber and dumber. Tournament rules prevent cheating. They also create a level playing filed. Clearly I would never want to fish a tournament against you, as I would question your integrity and honesty. Let me go out and snag fish off of beds with a treble hook. By your logic I will be a winner because I "caught the largest bag".

if you have read the message numerous times and don't understand the meaning then your reading comprehension is lacking and I suspect your tournament experience is no higher than the club level....
As far as my integrity and honesty,to my knowledge it has never been questioned.. I fished tournaments for 30 years including qualifying for two All-Americans (2nd in 1993) 13 redman/bfl regionals,two hydra sport classics, 3 top 10 finishes in Everstart/Stren tournys, plus numerous open,club championships tournament wins in a 4 state area. many of the tournaments I won required polygraphs to win and I passed them all.....

Absolutely this is a regular occurrence for all bass fishermen. Its not uncommon one bit for fish to come off at the net.

well the basis for my argument all along is you were disconnected from the fish whether it's for a few seconds til it fell in the net or for 2 minutes until the fish you broke off surfaced or in the case of the high school an hour til they were able to reconnect and land the fish...the important part of this whole debate is that in all three instances the fish was hooked,got loose and then landed..end result was the same and no rules were broken...

Several arguing that too much time went by.

How much time is acceptable?

1 minute?

2 minutes?

10 minutes?



60 seconds, legal catch; 61 seconds illegal catch?

There is no doubt the fish caught was the same fish lost. You know the exact lure, line, hook, etc you are using and odds of someone else breaking off in the same area on exact same lure, line, hook on same sized fish etc. is essentially zero. Even those saying it might not be the same fish know it was the same fish.

I guess I don’t need rules to tell me what I know is right and what I know is wrong. Looks like some folks do.

So did Robby.


Kidding, relax

Anyway, whether you guys agree with beartrap and it's a legal catch or think it is an illegal catch shouldn't really be the main focus here. The main issue I have is that, according to the coach's comments quoted earlier in this thread, there has been a precedent set within this organization previously for this exact situation and the precedent is that the fish doesn't count. Now, that angler (Clausen ) released the fish immediately and these guys brought an "illegal" fish to the scale and that's usually a bit different as far as penalties go. But, they did so in good faith, thinking they had the OK on that fish. So, they should have been given the benefit of the doubt and just had the fish removed and their remaining four weighed. The TD probably didn't know that precedent off-the-top-of-his-head at the time, so I'll give him some slack there, but there should be some remedy for these guys.

What should that remedy be? Don't really know. Doesn't sound like the big fish was weighed alone or that the remaining four were weighed alone, so no way to get an exact weight to redo the standings. But if it can be estimated satisfactorily to know that they would have at least qualified for whatever other tournaments there are after this, then maybe just leave the standings as is and let them into those other tournaments.

Or, you could just go with "Sorry, kid, lesson learned, call an actual official next time" route. That's how it would have been handled when I was that age. Insert "get off my lawn" comment here.

Total fiasco from the jump. Once the catch was weighed and the team declared winners that should have been final. Everyone had heard the fish story prior to the weigh in.

jmho

if you have read the message numerous times and don't understand the meaning then your reading comprehension is lacking and I suspect your tournament experience is no higher than the club level....
As far as my integrity and honesty,to my knowledge it has never been questioned.. I fished tournaments for 30 years including qualifying for two All-Americans (2nd in 1993) 13 redman/bfl regionals,two hydra sport classics, 3 top 10 finishes in Everstart/Stren tournys, plus numerous open,club championships tournament wins in a 4 state area. many of the tournaments I won required polygraphs to win and I passed them all.....

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Dang. Didn’t realize I was arguing with a legend. My bad. I still stand by my comment. From reading all your posts about cheating, I want to make sure your name is never on the list of tournaments I fish. You seem to be willing to do whatever it takes to win the $146 club tourney prize.