This contraption/device was found at a lake in San Diego last Monday, ahead of a large (for that area) team tournament on Saturday.

Some say its something nefarious, made for keeping bass in the lake to be retrieved at a later date during a tournament. And others have said it looks like a homemade lure retriever. Keep in mind that in this area, throwing big trout imitating swimbaits is popular. And some of those baits cost anglers in excess of $500, so they'll go to extreme lengths to retrieve them when hung up.

Also, there has been some history of cheaters in that area as well (like a lot of places where bass tournaments are popular as you know). So people are on heightened alert looking for anglers up to no good.

What do you think? I no longer live in San Diego (Dallas now), so wasn't there personally to see it. This photo was posted on a website about San Diego fishing, link below.

More here: Cheating contraption found?

Lure retriever? Ya right. That's called a diving suit if I lost a $500 lure.

Looks like a cheaper set of mud and snow chains.... They make some out of cable for cars and light trucks instead of using chain.. had a set for the wifs car sure looked like what I see in that picture..
Minus the yellow rope.

Were it not for the clips I might consider it some sort of concocted lure retriever. The yellow nylon rope is what has me wondering just how smart they were when they made the thing if it was to be used to stage fish for cheating. Like the article said, it wouldn't be the first time contraptions like this have been used by tournament anglers. Sad but true.

Thats a route a lot of guys take also. Lakes are generally clear (not this one though), and water is mild. But water contact (swimming) is illegal, and the lakes are small so you have to be sly about that to pull it off without getting a $500 ticket.



Does indeed look like tire cables. But tire cables don't have metal stringer clips and lead pyramid weights attached. Nor would you expect to find tire cables in a lake that has never seen snow, nor have a road within a few miles of the sight it was found.

I see what your saying now....The weights and stringer clips were definitely added...I can almost guarantee you that contraption started life as a mud/snow tire traction device.. notice the beads attached to the top cables--those go thru the slotted piece on the bottom cables so you can adjust for tire size.

Sumpin fishey going on round here.....Could be they just used what they had... by it being weighted on the bottom then having the stringer clips spread apart they could keep several fish on that contraption with them all having no marks like they had been in a trap or a basket...only marks would be from stringer clips--which most all fishermen use for culling purpose.. pretty dam clever..

Looks like if the bottom is weighed down and the top has something that floats tied to it. Someone could throw that in deeper water with bass on it and during tournament time take a rope with a large treble hook and hook it and pull it back up. That would be the purpose of all the rungs.

as said those are definitely tire cables, bottom left you can see the attachment point next to the lead wght.

probably made to lay on the bottom and be snagged later, no other reason to put stringer clips on it if a lure retriever.

I could see it being a lure retriever that someone would throw and drag around an area - except for the stringer clips. That kind of kills that theory.

In those clear lakes, a box or cage with fish in it might be easily found. That device with 5 fish clipped to it might not be seen as easily, and it probably wouldn't show on sonar or it would just look like a piece of brush holding fish. Pretty easy to drop a hook down and grab it up.

Maybe the guy was trolling around for expensive rod and reels and lures. Probably isn't something you would want to be seen with no matter what it was used for. Or sink it around a good looking stump in deep water and check it after each tournament.

Just thinkin here....
I always envisioned someone cheating as having a wire basket of some sort. The reason being is that if you put fish out on a stringer, turtles will eat them. I've had it happen as a kid with crappie and bream.
I really can't see a bass surviving long on any sort of "stringer" mechanism but, then again, maybe they don't have turtles in CA.

That pic cant be from California them folks are to big.That looks more like the skeeter owners tourney on fork to me.

Giant Stringer!

Looks like some kind of ladder or a devise someone would use on a kayak.

Think its a California arig.