Kevin acted like a jerk with his tantrum on the water after the incident. He should have just shut up and dished out a little payback when the chance presented itself.

I'm certainly not going to judge any tournament angler who fishses within the rules. However, if I did fish tournaments, I may disadvantage myself by not taking full advantage of a loophole in the rules because I consider whatever that action may be to be unsportsmanlike. I know, that sounds defeatist, but that's just how I am. Good thing I don't fish tournaments, huh?

Here's a different example I provided another TFF'er. Several years ago in an FLW event, David Dudley got a late boat draw for the first day of competition. So, on the last day of practice, Dudley went out and swung on every sight fish he could find. He did this to hopefully prevent the other competitors in earlier flights from catching those fish and having an advantage over him the next day. Now there was nothing in the rules to prevent Dudley's actions.

Would you have done it?

I'm not concerned. Transporting a fish is about greed, deceit, sloth, envy, pride, vainglory? Wow. Such folly when God's word is stretched to justify a weak position. Judge not, that ye be not judged. Done with this thread. The activities described by putting the fish in a hole that can't be reached by boat is unethical. Moving a fish from point A to point B is as ethical as sinking brushpiles. Nothing is going to keep them there.

Bass Champs Rule # 10

Permitted Fishing Locations: Contestants may fish anywhere on tournament waters accessible by boat, except areas designated as "off limits" or "no fishing" by state or federal officials, or within 50 yards of a competitor's boat which was first anchored (an anchored boat is a boat held in a stable position by a line attached to a weight with the trolling motor in the up position), or within 25 yards of a non-anchored competitor's boat unless otherwise agreed upon by the other tournament angler. The act of moving bass from one area of the lake to another confined area of the same lake at any time, whether or not during official practice days or competition days, is not permitted.

http://www.basschamps.com/basschamps/rules.cfm

I post this because there seems to be some confusion on re-locating fish.

I am just guessing, but it seems that the question is where they are being re-located. Must be putting them in a pond or something like that. The fish can't get out of, but the boat can be manipulated in. Wouldn't be that hard to get a small aluminum boat into some of these ponds that connect to lakes that are only seperated by a couple feet.

If that's the case yeah, highly unethical.

So, you are making public record of yourself saying that cheating and lying is OK in gaming/gambling and fishing tournaments? ...and that nobody should try and explain correct conduct to you? ...while you are trying to take OUR money? ...while we fish to the best of our ability still being sportsmanlike and ethical?

Sequestering fish to retrieve them later to win a tournament is like stacking a deck of cards or having loaded dice up your sleeve. Both are wrong on any account.

actually, marty stone did this very same thing a year or two ago on the bassmaster trail. fish on beds can be made to bite over and over. so, not only did he look like a weakling, he did so with ignorance. if it was a strategy, i would not judge. but, it was done in a small fit because of a later flight. i myself would never do such a thing but dont condemn those who do it. however, in these cases i think it was done out of spite and i know mr stone had a poor showing overall.

apparently we need clarification (if i missed it). are we talking about transporting the fish to an area from which they cannot move? i thought the original subject was moving fish to a "small cove" in which case there shouldnt be any questions about morals involved because the fish can leave and more than likely would. no advantage in that. if they are putting the fish in a whole from which they cannot escape then this should not only be a rule, but against the law.

Finally someone gets it. Thanks Joefishin & Aitsurido.
Right on target!

Yes we are talking about transporting to an area that the fish can not get out of but can be reached by rod & reel from boat.

I'm not a tournament angler so I don't have a "fish in this hunt" so to speak, but legalities and ethics can be very situational and hard to pin down, frequently.

Let me ask a question to the participants of this thread, those on both sides of this argument. Is it ethical for a tournament fisherman to have custom painted lures unavailable to other anglers in the tournament?

What about guys who have superior electronics on their boat that other anglers don't have? Unfair advantage or no?

Should anglers who've spent many years fishing a particular lake where a tournament is being held have a handicap when competing against guys who've never been on the lake before?

Would it not be more fair, and level the playing field somewhat, if only a set number of lures/baits of specific types were allowed to each contestant in the tournament? Then, the actual skills of the fishermen would be more accurately tested.

I'm not trying to be contentious, I'm really just curious if any of y'all had thought about those hypothetical issues. Since I'm not a tournament guy, maybe some of these things have already been discussed years ago. But I'm still getting an education, so forgive me if I'm asking dumb questions.

No, you took me out of context. I was speaking about...
Yeah, not so much, as one is like an alien abduction and the other is like building a Sonic where every day is Tuesday with free upgrades to Route 44 drinks and all the shad you can munch.
No, you are parsing my words. My post that you quoted pertains to what may occur during the surreptitious transport of the fish for the later use during a tournament. If all that I described may happen happens then everyone loses by default.

I take it Shacky and halfbasst are tournament partners?

I'm just a little confused, Shacky started the post, but halfbasst is answering the questions about the "small pocket of water" that is in question.

Shacky stated "small pockets of water" and halfbasst is saying the water they are placing them is unaccessable to boats.

I just want to make sure we're all on the same page here....

This post is going 100 different directions....

Can someone please clarify.....

They are also posting from the same IP. You guys may want to drop a PM to a mod so that we can verify you both are not one in the same. Thanks

MODS 1 Posters 0

Again, care to name the lake this is supposedly happening on?

joefish said, manipulating a boat to get in there, and if you can legally get your boat in, then those fish aren't trapped at all.

You could have also said in the very first post, that this is land locked pond from tournament lake, if thats what you meant. Removes all the speculation.

Again, here we are discussing cheating, to think this is true would require a witness to see them catch and take fish there to release in the first place. Otherwise, how would you know they are planted to begin with.

Second, you'd have to seen them do it during the tournament, and yet its being brought up and no one turned them in when they saw them.

How odd, someone knows all this first hand yet didn't tell the TD. Sounds fishy in the first place.