A lot of guys have already heard this one but...

Last year in JCO me and Dustin fished the first event at Fork. We get an early bite on Traps in Glade and they are biting good. I tell Dustin to throw em in the livewell thinking we can legally have 10 fish in the well. So we are catching these fish right & left and I am keep track in my head of how many are going in the box. We catch a couple slots and throw them back and keep chunking.

When the action slows a bit I go back to the well with my culling beam and start pulling fish out. My Bullet has a black livewell so they are hard to see. I put culling clips in our "limit" and we keep fishing. Little did I know I had missed one...

We upgrade our limit through the day and have a really good sack I think to myself. We are pumped as we head in. We get to the Minnow Bucket and tie up to the dock as others are coming in. Dustin starts pulling fish outta the well as I hold the bag. He gets all our fish out and says, "Hey there's one more in here."

All our fish look close in size so I get the culling beam out again and we start culling right there at the dock, not realizing we have already broken TWO rules. We walk up to weigh-in and hand over our bag.

Mark announces it is a new (for then) record weight for Unders in one of his events. The sack goes 11.96 and we are stoked! Dustin goes to the polygraph and I start talking to my buds like I am KVD or somebody. A few minutes later Dustin comes out and gives me the thumbs up telling me he passed the poly. We break out the champagne and start celebrating our first win.

A little while later Mark comes over to me and looks like someone has just died. With his head hanging low he tells me we have been protested. I am shocked and ask why... He goes on to tell me that a couple of boats saw us culling at the dock. I confess and tell him the story of how our morning started.

There is a rule in JCO (and most other team events) that does not allow any team to have more than FIVE fish in the livewell at anytime during the event. So we had broken two rules... Culling at the dock and having more than 5 fish in our well... We were just fat, dumb, and happy to have caught the fish....

So, Mark tells me I have the option to withdraw my catch and take a ZERO for the first event. We immediately agree to do so and rather than First Place, we start off the year with a Big Fat Goosegg! Now every time I see Cameron he calls me "Sixfish".

I guess I earned that one...

+1 I usually feel the line for knicks and cuts but sometimes forget and end up losing a fish on the hookset or right at the boat. I need to get in the habit of re-tying after every fish

I have had so many bad experiences with a net that now I do not carry one. If you are in my boat you either flip it or lip it.

I pulled off a very well thought out, bone-headed move, in a tournament last year.
Started the morning with a 4pounder, immediately followed by a solid 3.... third fish (in about 20 minutes of fishing)was maybe 2 pounds, and was bleeding badly... rather than keep this fish, and have it die in the live-well (which I figured it would) I threw it back, knowing that if it died, I would not be able to cull it, and therefore be stuck with a 2pounder, minus a 1/2 pound dead penalty.... no problem, they are bitin' and limit would be easy, right?......WRONG!
Three hours went by before another keeper bite (about 2.5 lbs) A couple of hours later, I caught a 10.02, which was the last keeper of the day.
So, we end the day with 4 fish.... 19.5 lbs .... thing is, the winner had barely 20..... so do the math, 2.00 - .50= 1.50..... add that to the 19.5 = 21.00.... hmmmmm, seems like maybe I culled the most important fish of the day! complete boner

there is a lesson to be learned here, never assume anything, put it in the box, and baby it... watch it for a while, sing to it, whatever, but don't throw it back thinking a limit is a sure thing!

I bought a new cranking rod and used it for the first time in a Media tournie.I had 5 fish on and five fish jump off including a 6 pounder.Figured I lost 18 pounds that day which would have won easily.I couldn't figure it out.Got home and looked at my old rod compared to my new rod.The tip action was 3 times as fast on the the new one. It really had no backbone at all compared to my usual cranking rod.My hookset had been way too light all day.I will never use a new rod for the first time in a tournie again.

I dont care if I barely had the thing hooked or not, the net man needs to pull his head out of his butt and get the net ready ASAP. I guess I'm still confused why the dude took so long?

i think Casey is referring to the fact that he caught a fish on the first cast.... but that the whole ordeal got in his head and caused him and his partner to get out of their game mentally....

The first time I read it, I was under the impression that your net man simply didnt get the net because he thought the hookset was bad. After re-reading it, I see that he was just a bozo for not getting the net in the first place and you were mad at yourself for waiting for him. Either way, the guy still needs to pull his head out, LOL.

capp and i were swinging fish TO the boat, just not INTO the boat on the first tourney we ever fished together on Cedar Creek... we lost a GOOOD check because we were in too big of a hurry.... we both laughed after it was done and said.. DUH!! we will be using the net from now on in tourney.. LOL!

Almost did that once myself. The fish was up on the rail when I finally put the kung fu death grip on it. Finished second, without that fish wouldnt have made a check. Im a lot more carefull now when taking them out of the live wells.

Getting married to my first wife!

Now that is funny right there!

My biggest mistake which has happened MORE than once is failing to check the line tie on the hook after you boat a good fish. I have lost more than one nice fish when using braid, just because the knot is down at the eye opening and I forgot to reset it, so you set the hook the line pulls out of the eye and you kiss another one goodby.

Have solved this problem partially by going to welded hooks but on some rigs I don't use those hooks so it's always remember to check the line tie.

I dont think it was a stupid mistake.....the net man should of been there....obviously he was bass struck

stepdad finished second overall one year back in the 90's at the McDOnalds FORK tourney.. his partner was opening the livewell looking at the fish and it jumped up and out... onto the deck in the middle of the lake... both guys hit the panic button and dove on the fish.... pops missed first place by .05..... I believe stressing that fish made the difference in first and second place and a LOT of money! he won a small boat, but shoulda won first had his partner(RIP) not been jacking around with the livewell! LOL!