Hate to argue this but it doesn't HAVE to go to the scales. You can choose not to add it to your bag and weigh in only 4 fish. You can take the 5th fish home for the table. - this is living in the gray area.
The OP is looking for a way to justify breaking the rules and rationalize poor ethics.

How is that not culling?

“How ever if I’ve had a fish die, and caught a bigger one I have taken the dead one out of my Live well, put it in the ice chest of my boat, and replaced with the live one.”

I’m not a tournament angler, but how is replacing a smaller fish with a bigger one not considered culling?

Thanks for the clarification Tx!

I believe guys that make an honest mistake are not cheaters. I believe the deliberate, knowing act of attempting to circumvent the rules is cheating...or at the very least not ethical.
"Wrong is wrong, even if everyone is doing it. Right is right, even if no one is doing it." G.K. Chesterton

No ifs, ands, or buts about it!

To the OP. What's your real name ? You have been cheating. By law you can only have 5 bass in your possession at any time. By you placing the
dead one in the livewell and keeping 5 in the live well, you have been cheating.

A Bill Belichick-like approach, and also a clear and deliberate rules violation. Culling is replacing a fish in your possession with another one no-matter how it's worded in the rules. You can't cull dead fish. That's the end of the discussion.

Curious, which organization permitted you to do this?

In a team event, he .may have broken tourney rules but not state law. Law says 5 per person.
Either way, the fact that this is his line of thinking or actions makes him subject to questionable morals and poor ethics.

In my former Bass Club, which was a team tournament, you can have up to 10 bass in the boat. Of course you can weigh in only 5.

I regularly deal with federal regulations and rules for achieving fishing records. Unfortunately, the “gray areas” in regulations are increasing. It is almost impossible to write rules that cover every situation and variation. If you feel like you could be breaking the rules, you probably are. It is easy to find a loop hole, or even cheat, but is that really the way you want to win? Would you like it if you found out someone took a win from you by liberally “interpreting“ the rules?

it's a lot easier to say "he cheated" than it is to say "wish I had thought of that".....

Just because it's a novel form of cheating doesn't make it any less cheating, bear.

No it's not.
Fishing and hunting are sports where there is often no one around when/while you are actually taking game. It is up to you to do the right thing. It might be wishful thinking but I believe that MOST guys do the right thing - doesn't matter if there is money, trophies, fame or fortune on the line. I know that most guys on this site feel the same way.
Myself, I don't want to associate, or compete, with someone that has this piss poor of an ethical standard.

I did think of that. When I thought about how people could cheat.

Doesn't make me want to cheat.

Given the OPs screen name, it's pretty clear that money outweighs ethics!