http://bassfan.com/docktalk.asp?id=7592#7592

I'm really torn on this.

I'm a stickler for knowing the rules and the laws of any state I hunt/fish in. I'm always amazed that angler's are DQ'd for violations of rules they should be aware of. No excuse for that and it all falls on the angler, IMO.

But this one has a bunch of "what ifs" in it.

Was Karen Savik's DQ handled properly, IYO?

Discuss.

Is it that one state you can cull and the other one you can not?

If the tournament director said you must cull. I think it is chicken poop that they did not stand up for her!

I wonder what would happen if they put some other anglers on the poly and asked about culling?

The DQ was not warranted... If you have the TD telling everyone they can cull in a tourney briefing then, no matter the state laws are, the anglers were misinformed. I know that there is a caveat in tournament rules that says you must follow all state and federal laws, but that is not there to protect the TD from bad information given in the briefing. That rule is there for things that are not discussed in the briefing.

The whole event was a catastrophe and they used Savik as an escape goat.

The tournament director stated in the pre-tournament meeting that pros "must" cull when they caught their sixth fish of the day, and that co-anglers "must" cull upon catching their fourth (the limit for non-boaters was three fish). That account was supported by other competitors.

Why do you need a TD if they can't state the rules correctly to competitors, especially one that is apparently commonly misunderstood by many in that particular area.

ABA should stand up for Savik, what a bunch of ______!

Repost from Tom M. response from BassFan.....
RE: Savik's DQ � Angelone said cull. Then Sheehan says Karen must have misconstrued it. How? It was clear � cull.

Sheehan is trying to put the blame on Karen so he and ABA can avoid taking the responsibility for the mess they're responsible for. Sheehan and ABA threw Karen under the bus and over it, instead of admitting their responsibility in this. I guess that's how ABA stands behind their anglers. ABA did the interview and asked the questions. Do you think ABA would have done that if they thought culling was illegal?

Tom covers it all right here.... ABA is at fault, not the angler.

Wow! What a joke of an organization the ABA is. They should have to pay her fine as well as give her back 1st place.

Mistake by the director and her- should not be all her fault....just because she got a ticket they determined she should be DQ'ed???.... Why was Aaron Martens not DQ'ed a couple of years ago after he won the FLW tourny in Alabama and got a ticket for no fishing license?????????...I think he also fished a BASS event in Alabama a couple of months before(same year). It would appear he did not have a license for that tournament either......


She was honest about what she did....IMO it was a honest mistake by her and the tournament director..she sould not be the one to pay for everyones mistakes...

Here are quotes from the story. Angelone is the TD and Sheehan is the President of the ABA.

"By the time I contacted him, Angelone was no longer commenting on the incident and referred all questions to the ABA office. Sheehan said that Angelone simply delivered a "canned" briefing that's the same for all ABA events around the nation and that it includes a stipulation that competitors must adhere to all state and federal laws and regulations.

"She may have misconstrued it or something like that," Sheehan said of Savik. "They live there, and they should know the rules."

When asked if he was satisfied that none of the top finishers other than Savik had culled, Sheehan said, "As far as I can tell. Nobody else is admitting to it."

Well, not quite. Co-angler winner Howie Lee, a friend of Savik's, admitted that he culled and inferred in the newspaper article that the pros he fished with did as well. He wasn't issued a citation, though, and thus wasn't stripped of his title."

Talk about getting thrown under the bus! I'd never fish one of their events again with support like that.

She was issued a ticket, can't ignore that, DQ is the result.
Fair, no, by the tourney rules, yes.

Not a gray area rule, pretty well known by anglers in that area.
Still illegal even though the TD mis-spoke or had it dead wrong.
Have to know the State regs/laws first & foremost.

You can see by my statement above that I am a stickler for rules. However, I'm kinda leaning the same way as Mr. Dove on this one.

Rules and Laws are just that, however enforcement of them can be somewhat discretionary. It is impossible for a rule or law to address every possible outcome goverened by same. This is why enforcement of these laws are often left up the the discretion of the officer or warden at the time of the alleged violation.

There were extinuating circumstances here because of a TD from the outside not doing HIS job.

For Ms. Savik to suffer because of HIS oversight seems unfair to me. ABA should have applied some discretion in their decision, IMO.

+1

Biggest question I have is why is that TD still employed with ABA? His misinformation basically caused a whole tournament to be tainted. There is a lot of responsibility on his part to know the rules as well.

IMO the ticket was warrantable because a law was broken, but a DQ was not warrantable, if in fact, the TD mis-informed the anglers.

This kind of reminds me of the story Ike told in his book about being DQ'd months after an event ended for alledgedly fishing to close to a lock.

I almost hate to bring this up, but does anyone think that gender played a role in this decision? Two people admitted to culling and only one got a ticket and a DQ......

I can't believe that one the anglers at the meeting, who know the rules, didn't stop the TD and ask for clarification. Someone there should have raised their hand and asked him.