Don't Mess With Texas...

[Bill Gunn]

They take their bass fishing seriously...

Who knew that bass fishermen take their sport so seriously? A Texas fisherman does now, because he's headed to jail for 15 days for trying to rig a tournament.

Robby Rose was given that sentence, plus five years probation, for trying to win a big-bass competition by stuffing a lead weight inside his catch.

The ruse was detected during last October's Bud Light Trail Boss Big Bass Tournament on Lake Ray Hubbard near Dallas. Because the grand prize was a $55,000 boat Jones' offense was a felony. He pleaded guilty after an investigation by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

"Cheating is cheating," lead prosecutor Alex Imgrund told the San Angelo Standard-Times, "and neither the fishing community, nor this office, will tolerate it."

Jones, 45, will suffer the additional penalty of losing his fishing license while he's on probation.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2010/04/cheater-in-fishing-contest-going-to-jail/1

Good !!!

We had a case here in NY where a guy shot a deer, and entered it in a local "Big Buck" contest. Then he shot a second one, and the bar owner let him break the rules (and the law) and enter the second buck in place of the first.

Bar owner lost license to sell booze.
Hunter lost job (prison guard for NY state)
Hunter going to court for many game, and law infractions, some very serious. For what ?? A stupid deer, and a relative few bucks (compared to his job and the fines).

Sometimes "Stupid" is really painful, and rightfully so.....

[Bushman]

That is the trouble with those big contests, too much money or big prizes at stake. We have a big Cabela's walleye tournament here in the Bay every year and the prize money is big and so are the boats that come to fish it. Even lots of the little contests attract the cheaters. You only read about the guys who get caught, but some of them had concocted pretty ingenious plans. Then again some not so ingenious like the northern down the pants leg. Yuck.

[purple heart]

How does that old saying go?
Something like "It only takes a LITTLE money to corrupt BIG.
If you want to ruin a good thing just add money.

[ncboman]

If you want to ruin a good thing just add money.


That's why you can't take it with you when you go. :biggrin:

[dave-t.]

A guy here at a local county lake was rigging their bi-weekly small time tournaments by fishing through the week and tieing big bass to logs and dead trees with fire line to be picked up later durring the tourny.

I also knew a guy at one of the state run trout parks that would sell you 4-5 trout (limit 5 at the time), and for a little extra, he'd show you how to catch the 5th one on your own. What a deal! He ended up getting banned for life.