Heard something happened today?!

Saw a guy won solo and had a 10+ big fish, heck of a day

Disqualifications?

Looks like the guy that was in 7th is no longer there. Not sure what I'll spend the $10 on.

https://youtu.be/mLX8WfJsxFA

That video is priceless. "Don't say anything about the dead one, just pull it out"

This thread just may be epic!

Is Bass Champs aware of this video? If so have they addressed this issue?

Youtube superstar mistake right there! Crash and burn...

Or TPW ?

Both are involved

Who are those guys?

Why that’s you tube sensation Rooster and his trusty pal Crankin Craig !

I was thinking they were 5th...7th probably. Just weigh the dead one in. That's all!!. I wonder if they did other things like fish off-limits and such.

So they culled a dead fish? I guess you are supposed to leave the dead one alone, and cull the smallest live fish?

I’m Deceased!!!!!!

Culling dead fish is against tournament rules. I think its also illegal in Texas.

He needs some praise for the great audio, I’ve listened to podcast that have worse audio than that.

Culling dead fish is illegal and against tournament rules

Dude I have caught so many fish off that corner 😅

I bet there is a dead one there now😳

Wow

That's how you are supposed to do it...throw back the smallest live one, keep and weigh the dead one along with your other keepers, take the dead fish penalty (one pound for Champs) and let the cards fall where they may. If they had done that, it probably would have dropped them a position or two but they still might have cashed a check without worrying about the cloud of a DQ hanging over them

It is illegal, waste of game ticket.

Got it. I thought it was, just wasn't sure what they said. Yeah I don't know how you go weigh in knowing you cheated.

Is there a full video that shows them doing it? Otherwise I don’t know you can prove it.

Is pretty crappy though cause you know that partner of his knew it was wrong.

money. ego!

Their own words isn’t enough?

Shouldn't be hard to prove. They said on video they had a dead one. So if they didn't get a dead fish penalty at weigh in. They had to have got rid of it

They admitted it when the TD called them to try and save a little face

I would hope they would be banned from ever fishing BC again. That is not an accidental rules violation like not having your life vest on when your partner starts the motor. It is a pure act of cheating in the event.
They should banned from all other tournament trails also.

They definitely did something against the rules. Did they cheat? BC rules say you get a 1 lb penalty for bringing in a dead fish. Did they cull with a 6 lb or heavier fish to replace the 7 lb fish? That would be cheating no doubt. I think they broke a rule and got penalized. Don't hang them yet. Hopefully they learned a valuable lesson. Time will tell.

lol so what exactly is going on here. They put that video on you tube lol

Do what?

That is just bs. Culling a dead one is absolutely cheating and it's illegal

Yep

What? Not only did they knowingly do it, which is obvious from the whispering on the video. They purposely broke a state law. There is no doubt they blatantly cheated.
Your attempt to find a grey area in the rules means you would try to do something shady yourself if you thought you could get away with it.

Rule states that you cannot cull a dead fish under any circumstances.

Can someone explain this theory?

Are you an actual doctor of veterinary medicine?

Good point, I thought about this after I posted and yeah it would be pretty easy to prove. Why would he post that video? Did he just forget about that situation or think he was sneaky enough that they wouldn't get caught? I bet he is lurking on here or at least one of them is.....

Here they come to snub the Rooster..

Feel like this should make it on one of those worlds dumbest shows. I personally don’t have any interest in fishing a tournament that would let these two guys in. There’s breaking a rule and then there’s cheating. Premeditated, knowingly culling a dead fish to increase your weight is cheating. No difference to me between this and tethering a fish to a stump the night before. Premeditated illegal act to increase your weight. Maybe Bassfan will pick it up so it gets blasted nationwide.

Was just texting Gilroy about this and he reminded me of the Champs rule that if you have ever been DQ'd from a previous tournament then you do not qualify to fish this trail. Now that I think about it there are several trails that have this rule.

Looks like these guys are done for the most part.

They cheated, plain and simple. 'em high!

This guy definitely voted for Biden!!

Who are these guys? I know I’ve seen the guy that caught the fish some where.

Jokes!

Looks like Champs handled it correctly and quickly, good for them. Hopefully TTO and TxTT are made aware and ban them from those trails too.

What are their names?

Right, need to make sure they are not fishing TTO next weekend.

They may fish the Thursday night Tawakoni tournaments. Probably not anymore. They look familiar

Mike Cogburn and Craig Martin

HATE A THIEF!!!!! They were straight up attempting to steal money. Not just cheating.

[quote=Dubee]Mike Cogburn and Craig Martin

I was skeptical of one of these guys back when I was a director in Media. That was 15 yrs ago.

You who are without sin, cast the first stone. John 8:7. Heat of the moment mistake. These guys are human, let's not forget that.

Agreed. Sins have punishments. Sometimes that punishment is public humiliation.

Bullsh*t. That is not a heat of the moment mistake. It's premeditated cheating. And I can cast a stone. In 30+ years of fishing tournaments. I've never cheated or even thought about it

I agree 100% Dubee

Bullsh*t. That is not a heat of the moment mistake. It's premeditated cheating. And I can cast a stone. In 30+ years of fishing tournaments. I've never cheated or even thought about it[/quote]

^^This

Also aren"t you supposed to cull before you go back to fishing!

Did they know it was a violation or just ignorant would be important for me to know.

I know Chad will make the right decision. He's good people.

Clearly they knew they were cheating. That’s why he whispered it. These tournaments are hard enough to win without guys cheating and finishing in front of you. Hopefully that was their last tournament ever.

You don’t whisper, or even mention it, if you don’t know it’s not legal. Come on now...

How much money was on the line?

I'm waiting for one of them to come on here and try to claim they didn't have a dead fish. It miraculously came back to life. My guess is they won't have video of that.

I watched the video and heard nothing but when I went to You Tube and read the description I now understand.
When did they say or whisper it?

As much as we all hate to admit it, this kind of stuff probably goes on all the time. If nothing else, some very shady, borderline rule breaking takes place at every major tournament I would almost bet money. The Tuesday "hero shots" taken at the ramp prove just how big the egos are in this sport. People want to win and some will cheat to do it.

It was plain as day

⬆ 100%. Sadly, cheating probably happens more than we think it does. If you can feel good about your "accomplishments" as a cheater, you lack an important ingredient in life, and that's character. Thank you for the bump in standings... even though it still sucks.

Someone shared a screenshot of a text they got from one of them saying something to that effect.

You are correct this goes on in little events like working mans. No polygraph and people know it. We have had a couple out here.
My partner and I had 6 fish in the livewell at a Media open event last fall and of course told the TD we did. Lost a check because of it, but slept well.
One guy said he would have just left it in the livewell. Nobody would have known. My partner and I would have known!

But in a big event like Champs I think it doesn't happen very often. Or hope it doesn't.

Trying to save face is all that is.

I know Mark and I have weighed a dead fish in Champs at Sabine. We got a check but that 1lb cost us a lot of places and few bucks.

Cost us the Sportsman' Network bonus that would have doubled our winnings. I have also came in with 6 fish tbat I simply miscounted while catching schooling fish. I self reported it as soon as I noticed it. Cost the win and a good check. I don't think winning or a check is worth our integrity.

My brother and I had a fish die in a Basschamps event on Amistad in 2011 and it cost us $15,000. We were off the water at noon on account of some mechanical issues. We were so dialed in that day and probably threw back another 10 fish over 4 4lbs. I’m confident we could’ve culled up if we were able to fish the rest of the day. Best bad day of fishing ever for me LOL!!!

Here is what I got sent this morning... weird I got the text as I’m just a simple observer of what’s going on. But I’d imagine a few ppl wouldn’t mind saying it to his face.

Huh..

Well that just got interesting.............

I said they "definitely did something against the rules". I don't know these guys and really don't care. Im not defending them. I was merely trying to state that if they cheated to gain an advantage then I wasn't sure if they did by culling a dead 7 lb fish. The advantage would be if they culled a dead 7 lb fish with a heavier fish or one that was more than 6 lbs to offset the 1 lb penalty. Not trying to find a grey area in the rules. They broke a rule and got penalized. Im sure Chad has dealt with plenty of dishonest people over the years fishing Bass Champs and he knows how to handle the punishment without the guys on the TFF's help.
Sorry I hit a nerve with some of you guys! No need for anyone to attack me personally.

37 second mark on the video posted. (The original video, on the first page, not the video a few post up)


I don’t know the guys and won’t crucify them, but they screwed up and they need to accept the punishment.

Seems like someone now is breaking another law, by threatening to do harm to another person. This guy has no Common sense. Now it’s not just a rule violation. Now the police can get involved. Bad deal just got worse for them or him.

Don't say anything about the dead one, just pull it out.

We are not cheaters and I will beat someones [sic] *** if I hear them say it when I'm around !

The first statement from their video shows intent to violate a law. The second statement is a threat to anyone with an opinion on the first. If you don't believe their version of the story, they're just going to assault you so you realize how upstanding they are.

I step away for a few minutes and all hell breaks loose!

Cranking’ Craig says the fish was alive the whole time after Ol’ Rooster says toss out the stiff one but be quiet about it. Now Crankin’ Craig wants to whip Fulton’s butt for implying they’re cheaters! Lol! That’s a good one! Team Bandito better tread lightly with Fulton because he’s got a rolodex of guys to fight for him and by gawd he’s not afraid to use it!

Sorry Team Bandito, I don’t buy they sad sack story of bad editing not showing you bring a corpse back to life. The only bad editing was the part where Rooster put his beak to your ear and self incriminated.


Winner winner Chicken dinner!

this sure went south.

Where does the line start to call them cheaters to their face? I figure it’s gonna be a long one.

Behind you, I guess

How big a boy are ya?

I don't think most these kids know what a Rolodex is.

Too soon?

Why are you saying the dead fish was 7 pounds?

I don’t understand something, if the fish was alive and they didn’t break any rules than what did they admit to Bass Champs and why did they get DQ’d after that conversation?

Well there's that, but more over I would think Crankin' Craig's natural response to Rooster's whisper would be a resounding "Oh it ain't dead!" or " No no, it's doing better with some C&R " or some natural reply other that what we saw which was more along the lines of "uhhhh huuhhh" as to confirm Rooster's concern about the deceased bass.

not that I am a detective, but I am not buying Crankin's explanation above for a second.

Because they did cull a dead. Now they are just throwing stuff out there trying to act innocent

Actualy he said "yeah I know, I know." Now they want people to believe it was alive. Lmao

If they had a valid reason that could not be verified, I am sure they would have let them take a polygraph. They still use them don't they? My guess is under questioning they left no doubt.

Not to mention, his defense in the message is no better.

His defense is literally "my partner just thought it was dead so he INTENDED to cheat, but since it wasn't actually dead, we didn't actually cheat." [censored] is hilarious.

Sign me up for the line.

memo to tournament anglers take you go pro out of your boat in tournaments.

Not to mention, his defense in the message is no better.

His defense is literally "my partner just thought it was dead so he INTENDED to cheat, but since it wasn't actually dead, we didn't actually cheat." [censored] is hilarious.

Sign me up for the line. [/quote]

Exactly what I thought. Well, we were going to cheat but the fish turned into a Zombie so it’s all good!

Or don’t be a cheating lying POS

So if nobody sees you, it's ok??????

Works for the liberals....

Ask anyone of the kids that my wife teaches in school what their parent(s) did to get prison time and the response is “they got caught”. Not that what they did...only that they got caught. It’s how many people raise their kids now days.

not ok to bend rules toungue in cheek advice

not ok to bend rules toungue in cheek advice.

And I abhor poor grammar....

Never fails....Stupid people think EVERYONE else is equally as stupid.

The cheating isn't surprising but them posting the video gets me.

Where do I sign up for the list to take a whipping call them cheaters?

Pretty crazy I've seen and done some stupid stuff but this is funny.

THIS!!!!!!!!

I wonder how many others have done this that fish Champs or other big events that wasn’t dumb enough to video it but also post it viral.......

“Hey, check that one that was struggling earlier. If it’s still iffy let’s cull it just in case”

Vs

In an attempted whisper “dump the dead one but don’t say nothin”

My first pro tournament was on Livingston in the middle of July. I had a nice limit but no ice or additives. I opened the live well up around noon and and my heart sank, I had three floaters. It was a Pro-Am but I was the only boat that didn't draw an amature. I knew I was gonna take a big hit at the weigh in, and no one would have known if I would have culled the dead fish (but me), but I sucked it up and weighed them in. That night I went to walmat and bought some please release me and froze a gallon jug of water. The next day all 5 were alive and frisky at weigh in. Luckily the three dead ones didn't cost me the W. I guess it's just how I was brought up.
When the tournament released the results, they reported all fish were released alive......go figure!

You don’t whisper on a 30,000 acre lake if you don’t have something to hide.

This is cute

Nobody cares what you abhor. This is about rolodex, boat ramp fights, big brothers and culling dead fish. Take your English lit somewhere else.

Can they do a lie detector? I think people should have the benefit of the doubt.

It was an attempt at humor. Wasn't aimed at you... But I guess you could take it that way. My bad.

Bryan , make no mistake use2fish is a Neanderthal but I think he was making a joke.


And Grandbass probably not a chance of poly now since when asked by td it was admitted. This team will be radioactive from now on there isn't much they could say or do to change the perception of dishonesty.

Yup

Nothing I ever say should be taken seriously. Ever.