Caymas CX21, thanks!! I feel like I am dealing with a bunch of liberals. If they don't like the rules or the decisions made, they post it on public forums and tell everyone how wrong it is. HOPING THEY GET THEIR WAY. It won't happen Karens!!!!

I will never fish your series and do not know you from Adam, but I will say I respect you as a TD that will make a decision. Many TDs are too soft, passive and try to appease everyone. They do not want to make anyone mad so they can get them to come back next time.

Here's what I see from a 30,000 foot view......once again, I don't have a stake in this debate since I don't fish this trail; however, this lake is my home lake.

I can imagine being the TD for a trail like this is a tough job and being fair is the #1 priority.....nobody will debate that. If this was Joe Schmo that had been in violation, the publicity doesn't make it to this platform. This local "elite" angler has been very successful for quite sometime on two lakes that are within 15 minutes of each other and seems to have something figured out a way to consistently catch tournament bass that weigh over 4 pounds each (no matter the time of year) on a lake that has most folks weighing in at least one or two (sometimes more) 14" fish on every trip. Many of these anglers are top notch fishermen that understand seasonal patterns and know how to use mapping and electronics.....not your typical bank beaters. This alone seems out of ordinary but hey.....maybe he is that good!

Then there is the other side of the coin that many local anglers tend to focus on. I understand that he no longer fishes Bass Champs because they wanted to document his day on the water.....like they do with every other top notch stick. Was it a mutual decision for him not to fish anymore of those events or was it a personal choice, that's something only a few folks will know for certain. Some local folks have been confronted by him on the water by him when he thought that he was being followed and observed. I know (or know of) most guys that fish these trails that are located in Central Texas and none of them that I know of have seen him catch these big bags. These lakes aren't that big and with a 60-120 boat field there's not a lot of secret off the beaten path spots......you will be spotted and from time to time someone will actually see you wrestling a big one to the boat. All of these anglers I have mentioned do see him throughout the day, but its either on pad or graphing, or sitting in the shade. And lastly to my knowledge he does not fish any other trails other than the two that frequent these local lakes. If I had something figured out that would catch above average size bass.....I'm fishing every trail in the state!! Bass aren't that different from lake to lake . For the reasons mentioned above.....people are suspicious of his abnormal success.

He has fished Lake Belton as much or more than a lot of us over the last 20 years. The restricted area were he was spotted has been restricted for as long as I can remember. In a previous post on this thread the new TD and the previous TD indicated that they made " A hard Decision" to DQ him. It doesn't seem like a hard decision to me. Here's photo proof of his location. Here's the best example that I can think of......If the county accidentally knocks down the 35mph speed limit sign that's coming into town while mowing, does that mean that you can legally enter the town going 60mph because the sign is laying down? Regardless of their stated tournament rules concerning future entries after being DQ'd, a business decision was made via wording in paragraph #1. Would it have been a bad business decision to deny future entry to a local top tier angler that lives in the community, is retired military and does business with TBW?? I have no reason to believe that anything "fishy" took place in their final decision and I'm sure that both TD's are top notch guys that were forced to make an uncomfortable decision. I just hope for the sake of every other angler that fishes this trail that you get the same well thought out support regarding a rule infraction.....should the tables be turned. Just remember, you can seek shade in any of the marinas or possibly in your truck with you boat beached at the weigh-in site (with TD approval).

Once again.....just an observation from 30,000 feet.

Im pretty sure "shall" means mandatory or else it would say recommend or optional. I know in the code book world "shall" means it has to be done. I would imagine that goes along with most legal documents

Maybe he was asked if he was fishing in a restricted zone (which he wasn't).