the thread regarding a man failing one polygraph and passing another brought back memories of how nervous i always was when I fished a lot of tournys and had to take (fortunately) several over the years ....I'm in favor of polygraphs because i think it keeps most of the cheaters away especially in buddy type tournaments because I'm told there are people who can beat the test but the odds of both partners being able to cheat and pass the test is pretty slim...
I think I'm an honest person(not perfect) but I was always nervous and afraid the machine would think I was lying when I was telling the truth....
I had one situation fishing a tourny on lake martin where I got the boat stuck on a mud flat...tried everything to get the boat unstuck and finally trimmed the big engine up,put it in gear andf while my partner pushed with a paddle,I ran trolling motor from the front of the boat....we got unstuck but I had forgot to put my life jacket which i realized and told my partner at the time that I may have got us disqualified by not wearing life jacket....
we won the tournament and I told the polygraph operator that I may have broken a rule but i didn't cheat....told him the situation and his answer was that he would give me the test and relay what I had done without my life jacket to the tourny director and it would be tourny directors decision... He worded each question similar to "other than not wearing your life jacket while stuck,did you obey all rules of the tournament" I was able to pass the test and it turned out the rules of the tourny were that you had to wear your life jacket when boat was on plane so I hadn't broke any rules but I didn't know that beforehand and I knew better than to try to hide it from polygraph operator...

Taken a handful. Think they are complete [censored] if you are asking for opinions. Ill never forget the first one I took which I believe was bass champs and the polygrapher asked me why my heart rate was so high like 160 plus beats a minute. I told him sir if you had 320 dollars in your checking account and were about to win 20K for a Saturday of fishing do you think your heart rate would be up a bit? Guy laughed and so did I. Another funny story is we won a charity tournament on Roberts one time and I think it was maybe even some how affiliated with TFF. This is long time ago. They paid 1st, 2nd and 3rd and had over a hundred boats. It was a charity deal and I think first got like 1500 bucks but I think the entry fee was 300 or something crazy. Basically a no money involved tournament but I remember it was to support a good cause. The polygrapher hired was a criminal polygrapher that had never done a fishing tournament. I kid you not the guy questioned me for over an hour and I said how about this.... if this goes 5 minutes longer Ill just donate the money because i'm done sitting in this chair talking to you and you clearly don't understand how to give one of these to a fishermen. If anyone remembers this tournament please comment because 1st 2nd and third got polygraphed and we were cracking up about it after it was all said and done 3 hours later.

polys are like locks on doors they keep most folks honest over the years there have been a few folks who could cheat an pass the the poly unfortunately there have been folks that didnt pass polys an got paid because some of the tournament directors didnt have the stones to dq the cheaters.

For tournaments and contest they seem work well providing there is no appeal on the results or ruling . As for accuracy that is another story. There are plenty of documented mistakes polygraphs have made over the years. Just my two cents.

I had to take one in McDonalds on fork.The guy ended up makeing me take it 3 times,said I failed the last one.Its alot less hassle to work for a paycheck than rely on a machine and its operator.

The poly is hit or miss. There’s people that can pass them no matter what

Worst one I ever took was in a rape van in June, in a boat ramp parking lot, it was 100+ degrees and the dude's AC barely worked. I cannot remember which tourney trail, we fished a bunch back t hen.

And the dude smelled like cigarettes and Old Crow. I really do not remember too many details about most I have taken, but that one will forever be burnt into my memory...

WJC said "It's not a lie if you believe it!"

I've had several over the years, both at tournaments and for employment. I've yet to have an examiner that could get an accurate reading. He can ask me the same question 10 times, I'll give the same answer every time, and he will get 10 different readings. Apparently I have totally random reactions when asked questions so they can never get a good baseline to work off of.

As a tournament director, a polygraph examine is really our only line of defense (other than actually putting a marshal in the boat). Our protocol is a little different than all the other trails I've ever fished. We give the polygraph and go ahead and hand out checks to the other winners. We hold the team's check that is polygraphing until it's complete. Should there be issues, we do not immediately DQ the team. Our examiner told me when we initially hired him that if a guy is lying and showing deception, he will always show deception no matter when you give him the exam. On the other hand, if a person is giving off a false signal of deception, a couple days rest, hydration, etc will fix the issue. So if someone fails a polygraph, we would allow them 72 hours to go home, rest, think it over, etc and then get with the examiner again to re-test.

In my opinion, this is too major of a decision to rush. To basically call someone a liar/cheater is a major move. I want to be sure if I have to make that call that I have 100% confidence in my decision. Should I truly have to DQ a team, we can simply mail out checks to every team below them moving them up a place.

Another thing we do that I have never heard of another trail doing is we randomly draw from the top 6 teams. 6th place has 1 chip in the bucket, 5th place has 2 chips, 4th place has 3 chips, etc. Even then once we draw which team we are going to polygraph, I won't simply let them tell me which one of them is going to take the polygraph. I flip a coin to determine which one takes it. Here is the reason for this - let's say Jim & John fish together. Jim gets information during the off limits period. Jim doesn't tell John he got info. When it comes times to polygraph, Jim pats John on the back and says "it's your turn, buddy." John passes the polygraph because he does not know about any rule violations. I want it to be random as to who takes to polygraph.

back in mid 80's there were couple guys who always finished in top 5 in tournys on hydrasport trail and got a good check....another guy got suspicous of them and followed them at a distance in another tourny....mid day they go to this remote ramp and guy who was following them watched through his binoculars and saw them take a bag of fish out of the trunk of a car where they had rigged up an aerated tank.....what they were doing was always weighing in late and taking just enough fish out of their livewell to get a good check but not have to take a polygraph....they banned them from hydraports tournys and after that started giving a polygraph test to the winner and somebody selected at random in the top ten....

I have only taken one, it was at a Freddie Grant tournament on Lake Granbury in 1989. I was so nervous I was surprised that I passed. One of the few tournaments that I have fished, was a big bass tournament and I caught a lake record smallmouth (unknown to me until Freddie came and found me eating at a restaurant and told me he had submitted the paperwork!). Placed 13th in the big bass tournament and had to take the polygraph since I had won some money....

There is a reason they are not admissible in court.