If two were fishing the day before to collect fish, and only one was fishing the tournament. There looks to be some degree of story that might be interesting to hear. The old saying possession is 9/10's of the law. I would hope the boys man up, talk to the tournament directors and see if there is anything they could do to make it right. I think it would be much more of a growing and taking it like a man to try and make things right. Whatever it would be, it would definitely help the boys and possibly turn this around eventually to be something other than it is currently. It's going to be hard on them, but I genuinely think them performing some kind of endless community service and helping out all the parties affected might make this right. Heck, I would even say that I would want them to personally apologize to everyone who was in the tourney and take what words of wisdom, or words of "choice" they had to listen to. I am not up on the possible charges that could be on the table, but if it gets into the territory of a felony it could ruin a possible job in the future. It takes a big step to actually look someone in the eye and say "I am sorry".. Those who you protect, you make weak. I would really expect the boys to try and stand up, kick denial out of the way and become a man. Best thing they could ever do right now, and at least share something that will set an example for others..


Enough said by me, but if no charges are to be made I expect some growing up and taking accountability for what has happened. I think I would say there might be 1000+ hrs of community service centered around fishing, tournaments, and picking up trash at all of the lakes.

Would encourage others to think of something to help the boys and post it. I know, I know.. I also was saying a good ol'a$$ whooping was in order and it might have already happened. Prayers for the Kid, and his Mentor who "Has a long row to hoe, right now.".


And for the record, i do not know them. But I am hoping my son fishes on the BN fishing club in two years when he gets to HS. Truly a black eye for the team.

Prosise

believe me i do not condone cheating but these guys have taken a beating like probly no other folks that have been caught cheating .they are young men an have a lot of life ahead of them if they make amends an that would be what ever that folks that ran the tournament would decide on would be fair an after that give them a fresh start after all this i doubt these guys would ever do anything like this again . again there should be some form of restitution that would make the folks an their folks that fished the tournament ok with surely there would be a compromise that could be reached .

I'd like to see them do community service at all THSBA tournaments wearing shirts saying I cheated. Make them talk to kids about what they did, and why they did it. A lot of teaching/learning can come from this for all these high school kids. 99% of all tournament anglers fail every weekend. There's only one winner. I think too many of these kids are being taught, or seeing win at all cost. That's just not what this sport is about.

When I first heard about this, I text my buddy and we threw around what if's...

What if this were my son?

Well, after he could walk again, yes I would have put my boot in his arse!

The punishment would be:
1) They pay back every $ they stole from the tournaments
2) They do some sort of community service, like above, boat washes, clean up around the lakes, etc. 2-5 hours for every dollar they had stolen.
3) They volunteer at the local lakes and do some of the daily things the lakes need: Trash, bathrooms, etc. 2-5 hours for every dollar they had stolen.
4) They apologize, in person, to the trail(s) anglers they've stolen from

Then and only then, would I allow them to step foot in a boat and back on the water. They are banned from just about tournament around here, so there's no need to talk about that.

Probably because it's on a local level and directly affects more people than the Sprague deal. Maybe also because it appears very little was done about this even though Donnie took it to law enforcement.

It's also totally different on the level of severity. I know someone will say, "Rule breaking is rule breaking..." I think (opine) blatantly flauting a no info rule is different than attempting to rig the event by pre-staging fish so you don't have to "catch" them. Sprague is bad, and he deserves the DQ. This is on a totally different level.

For those that like the traffic analogy... Sprague is like running a red light or changing lanes without an indicator. This is like intentionally ramming another car at a stop sign!

I will confirm that one of the guys has personally reached out to me and we had a pretty good conversation about all of this. I will make a post this afternoon as to the details of the conversation we had.

I heard (this is just rumor, so not sure if it's true) that one of the boys is reaching out to make amends. And that he has offered to do community service and whatever it takes to make things right. Personally, I would have them do one year as gophers for the working man's tournament Donnie hosts. I might also have them do service time at their local Salvation Army store once a week for 100-200 hours.

Make 'em clean up trash around the ramp and parking lot, cook hotdogs for the anglers, and whatever else is asked of them within reason.

I will confirm that one of the guys has personally reached out to me and we had a pretty good conversation about all of this. I will make a post this afternoon as to the details of the conversation we had.