I like the confrontation part. You cant hide body language of a f'n liar.

It is a slippery slope, cheating in a fishing tournament and then before you know it, they are cheating in Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders.

conspiracy

The anglers committed criminal offenses. Due to the fact that the tournament director was apprised of the violation by the game warden, the director was absolved of his statutory responsibility to notify law enforcement. Although the OP doesn't provide the corroborating information, I'll surmise, based on a career in law enforcement, that the prosecutors were unwilling to accept charges. They would have considered the fact that if the anglers maintained that the bass they retrieved from the tree was not the one that they weighed in, there would have been no way to prove that it was. Unless the bass had been marked, chipped, or otherwise identified in a manner that would be admissible in a prosecution, there would be no way to prove the case. Had the director administered a polygraph, disqualified the offending anglers, and barred them from future tournaments, he might have made it very difficult for them to cheat in other tournaments. The word gets out quickly on those types. By refusing to take action against them, the director shirked his responsibility to the other anglers and enabled the cheaters to continue to cheat other anglers. People like them rely on the reluctance of others who take pity on them and "give them another chance". As an investigator, I found that many of my "first offenders" had long histories of turning on the sob stories and the tears to "get another chance" to commit the same crimes over and over. Cheating in a tournament is not an "accident" or a "bad decision". It's a conscious effort to steal from the other competitors.

they admitted to the warden they untied the bass they caught the day before, and weighed it in..........

i have friends fishing the legends, but i won't tell them about the cheating bass fisherman.

i wouldn't think the people who take 15% from entries to organize a tournament care all that much

Do you have proof that they cheated in the tournament where you saw their names? If not, then what are you going to report? Are you going to call the TD and say "hey, these guys cheated in a little club tournament two years ago so i'm sure they're cheating in this one"? Is their cheating in the other tourney documented?
If the TD didn't press charges the LEO may not have filed a report. And, if you report it, What's the TD going to do, DQ them? And if he did, and i were them, i'd sue you into poverty if you didn't have proof that I cheated.

That's just my 2 cents.

Was the tournament director's name Joe Paterno or Art Briles?

You would sue someone for reporting on what was witnessed in person by an officer of the law, then confirmed by witnesses after they turned in the fish?

Unfortunately, if it's not written down - it didn't happen. I would assume after this amount of time, it would be he said vs he said.

No sir. I said if he reported them to the current TD and TD DQ'd them based on that accusation. He has no proof that they cheated in the current tournament. Just his recollection that they were accused of cheating in a tournament 2 years ago. And if there's no report filed by the LEO, he has no proof of the prior accusation. Especially given that there were no charges filed. As we've seen in recent weeks, TPWD takes even the smallest violation very seriously when there is money involved. Seems to me these boys could argue that the LEO didn't find any wrong doing and thus, didn't charge them. I was cautioning him to be careful with what he chooses to do.

Most tourneys have statements in their rules like this one. “ Any previous conviction, charge, arrest, or investigation for a felony, a crime involving moral turpitude, or a crime related to, arising out of, or involving any fishing tournament.” In my mind more than enough to let tourney director know they should be DQed from being eligible to participate in the current tournament . There was an “Investigation” and it’s logged somewhere by Warden, even if it’s only a radio log. If not, he’s an idiot.

I'd probably put an anonymous note in a strategic spot if able.

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The original post states that the tournament director did not want to press charges. I have a problem with a decision being made to not press charges based on the tournament directors desires. The tournament director is not the true victim as he is still getting his percentage no matter who he disperses the winnings to. The other anglers are the real victims in that they are the ones that will lose a monetary value to the cheaters. I think if any angler in the tournament wants to press charges then the charges should be filed.

This type of information needs to be shared with other tournament directors. The Legends director should know about it if it is the same two men. He is not able to disqualify them from the tournament based on the situation at Coleto but he could refuse to allow them to enter future tournaments. Even better is they should be the ones that get a "random" polygraph anytime they bring in a good stringer.