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.