Are You Kidding Me?…ANOTHER Cheater Caught This Week In Bass Tournament… 

There are way to many tournaments. Local lakes here in NC have terrible fishing because they have 5000 tournaments a year. And you have guys in their boats just cruising down the banks trying to scan their screens for fish when all they are doing is ruining the whole stretch for anyone trying to fish naturally. Cheaters suck and so do livescopers

Another option is to eliminate team tournaments and have a random co-angler. If there aren't enough Co's, then you don't fish!

I’m glad I dabbled in tournament fishing and got out of it on a good note. I’d be pissed to find out I had wasted a bunch of time and money only to find out the game was rigged from the start.

lifetime tournaments ban. every time. But hard to enforce unless directors pass around a list of the cheaters. And that is only good AFTER theyre caught.

I'm a lifelong resident of Northwest Indiana. Shamefully the cheater is an Hoosier reported by the local newspaper. He caught the fish the day before in Indiana Lake Michigan waters, put them on a stringer and hid them up the river. Pulled them out on tournament day and weighed them in. He was turned in and the DNR staked out the spot he hid the stringer. He was arrested at the weigh in.

Quit tournaments years ago too much shenanigans for me people pooling bass for one team to win then split money. Most of these people are there for one thing to steal money not for love of bass fishing

I recently heard from some anglers who really won lots of tournaments decades ago. One trick they had was a beaver pond. There was a beaver pond at the back of a long shallow slough in our local giant reservoir. The buddy team would troll and then use “ push poles” to get within casting distance of the beaver pond. In the weeks before the tournament, the team would stock the beaver pond with heavy 4 pound plus largemouths. Then on tournament day, they would approach the beaver pond quietly and throw over the dam with swim jigs and floating frog baits using heavy braided line. They would pull the bass over the dam and to the boat that was floating in the reservoir. They would “re catch” the released bass in the pond. Several Rangers boats were won using this technique. All polygraph tests were passed. The anglers caught the bass in legal natural water.

Winning is harder and harder these days, life is expensive. People are greedy for money. But 👀 are watching.

This crap happens all the time in partner events or events that allow you to fish alone. That is why I don't fish club tournaments anymore. The DEC should have waited until the guy took the first place prize money, than it becomes a real crime.

I caught guy in one my jack pot tournaments years ago go. I wish now I had turn him into law. In Texas now, if you’re caught cheating, you cannot buy a fishing and hunting licenses anymore.And pay big fine and jail time.

Keep letting us know about this ! Thanks Randy !

This reinforces my comment on the last video. Where there's money involved, it brings out the worst people, and the worst in people. It takes strong principled person not to cheat. And we have fewer and fewer people like that these days...

As an IL resident, this is disappointing to hear, but the “s” at the end of our State name hurts more! 😅 Love your content Randy- I’ve learned so much from you and Matt Stephan this year. Helped me land 5 bass over 4 and two over 5 just this season. Thanks so much and stay safe!

The good news is, the guy who got caught cheating in Lousiana stuffing weights in bass has a rather deep criminal record with multiple drug and assult felonies. So when his day in court is due, he might ACTUALLY face a stiff penalty for his crimes. If you have no criminal record and get caught....no judge will give you a harsh sentence. That moron that put weights in the walleyes got caught 4 months later for poaching deer!!! So you can see they aren't learning their lesson.

I had a buddy tell me about this a week ago, and I couldn't find the info on it. Thanks for the info randy

For offshore fishing we use observers on the boat. They are rule following fisher people that don’t charge mush to hang out on the boat and keep an eye on things. People are randomly selected and they stay out of the way. It’s easy.

How about a short video on how you tie to various lures/baits,etc. for example, do you ever use swivels or do you tie directly? What knots?

I remember many years ago, when BASS had a 150 HP max limit, some guy had his win taken away because it was determined that he had put 175 HP Decals on it. I also actually had a guy bring his boat in with his new 175 Merc into our shop wanting us to order 150 XR2 decals and put on it.

Cheating goes beyond just money and into notoriety. The cheating scandal that most affected me was when it was discovered (and admitted to) that the great musky fisherman, Len Hartman, and his fishing partner wife, Betty, cheated by falsifying their catch weight records from the St. Lawrence River. In my younger years, I trolled that river annually in the fall for musky from only a canoe with a 2-HP Yamaha. I was obsessed, and surrounded by the mystic and aura of history. Turns out some of that history was fake, though monsters do live in the river. It was a big letdown and the world became a less mysterious place when that came to light. Sad.

Thanks for the videos Randy. Would be great to see you balance out what you post with more positive videos. Thank you

I'm shocked they so tourneys on the calumet. Where I work one of the minor branches of the calumet rivers runs thru there and it goes thru multiple steel mills and rust belt cities in Chicagoland.

Whenever there is a competition, there will be those small few who think they can get away with it. I have been a long time competitor in a completely different thing and there too, cheaters are caught. It's a small community even as a global sport, but when you're labeled? with hobby/sport forums and chat boards, you get marked as a cheater? You're done done for good. But for fishing? It happens so much, has always happened and obviously continues to happen. The number one thing that needs to happen is being blacklisted through a national database, out there in public, no bullshit, facts and proof - black and white. I don't really care what happens to them legally and all that, but they can not ever for the rest of their lives enter shit. Put em on a "WANTED" poster, circulate them to all the fishing orgs holding contests. The only solution to preventing it is as you say, eye's on every boat, and they have to be eye's who can't be bought or go into cahoots to pull shit off. I've heard of that actually happening at least once. If ya think those guys that always win might be cheating? They just might be and that can be obvious in the statistics, but still, even that is not enough, you gotta catch em. Weights in fish I think is the least of it. Stashed fish I believe is more a problem. If you follow the walleye comps on the great lakes, Erie for me, you'll see comments after final weigh-ins. white eye;s of half dead fish that don't look like they were caught in the last 3 days kind of thing. But boy, you get caught? Hope you got a fast boat and are quick on the ramp getting the fk outa dodge.

Its probably been going on for decades.

I bought pair solar bat shades and safety glasses. Giving30% off for Father’s Day right now. I when-from your link at time. Thanks for your helping fisherman too.

Anglers are forced into cheating do to Forward Facing Sonar being banned. 😅

I remember a crappie tournament I was in. There was this spot back in a cove that I wanted to fish because I knew there was crappie there. Anyways a competitor was already there, no biggy but the spot was also being blocked off by another boat that was not in the tournament. I eventually move on after trying other parts of the area. Turns out the other boat driver was the father of the guy in the tournament. So at the very least he was helping guard a hot spot for his son but it was also a hard to see fairly secluded spot so he could of been helping hauling in crappie too. The guy placed pretty well in the tournament to to it off. There definitely needs to be people watching, people will play dirty on all levels.

Just stop tournaments

The penalty is not strong enough, they have to make stronger penalties

The problem is that people are now putting themselves so deep into debt just trying to compete that they have to resort to cheating just to pay the bills. There are guys fishing amateur level tournaments now that are buying $100,000 boats. You gotta have a full time job to afford a $100,000 boat and if you have a full time job you probably don't have enough time to put in the work on the water that it takes to survive on tournament earnings, so you become desperate. Desperate people do desperate things.

Portable x ray machines aren't that expensive, and anyone caught cheating should face criminal charges as well as a lifetime ban from any tournaments... simple solution ;)

It’s going to take one ballsy judge to go full tilt with a punishment. A lot of these charges carry significant jail time but it rarely gets handed out

I totally agree that there is way too many tournaments and way too many tournament trails. What they need to do in most all of these states is limit the amount of tournaments each lake can host per year. Outlaw tournaments during the spawn. Make bed fishing illegal in a tournament. And limit the number of boats per tournament based on the acreage for that lake. For instance here in Kansas they do have a rule that you have to have at least 10 acres of water for every boat in your tournament when you get a permit. And a lot of times the guys that are tournament directors here in our state are hosting tournaments with no permit. And the ones that do get a permit to be on the lake often times more boats will show up then there is acreage for those boats but the tournament directors don't turn them away because there's no one there to police it.

Randy how do I get a lake map breakdown from you?

Sounds like you were talking about Mike Long.

This has been going on since the 80’s. It’s sad people are just now figuring it out.

Wanting to get something for nothing has always been a thing. I think, however, it is getting worse. When I see people on Facebook especially, braggingly showing off all of their dead fish. They often admit to going over the limit, and, sometimes admitting to not having a license.

Cheaters everywhere

Even with all the exposure of cheaters getting caught it doesn’t seem like cheating is going away anytime time soon.

What's sad is, this not only tarnished the image of tournament bass fishing. But that kind of behaviour affects the fisheries also! Those people that cheat are not sport fisherman at all, conservation. Is not their mentality. I wonder if he had a fishing liscience also. It's people like that that ruin our lakes!

Team leagues should only be draw tournaments, and no fishing alone. That would eliminate a good bit of the cheating. The smaller leagues aren’t going anywhere as popular as the sport is, and they aren’t likely to be able to have marshals.

A good deterrent is serious across the board penalties on a state level and make an example out of cheaters. Your view on smaller "jackleg" tournaments is condensending.

10 years from now drones will follow every boat and every entrant will have their entire second on the water live streamed.

He was from St John indiana

The “S” is silent 👌

Some of us just suck and know we suck and just do it as a donation and the enjoyment including myself lol 😂 id never consider cheating to win anything no pride and no balls involved in that win

What's up with this Ohio stuff, first we had the walleye guys, from Ohio and now this? Could it be the rediculously low penalty the walleye cheaters received be contributing to this? Poor pre-trial prep etc. and the fact that the judiciary doesn't care to enforce the law leads to more cheating.

Seems to me that non of this happened in the Draw Tournament era of the sport

I am really enjoying just fishing without participating in all the tournaments hassles and expenses. Marshals or real Co-anglers.

Draw tournaments keep this honest 🎣

The “S” is silent in ILLINOIS..

Now think of the poor guy who one day really catches a bass that actually swallowed a lead weight. 😂😂😂 It will happen!

Not surprised

… Un fkn-believable..I’m old school , if you can’t trick / fool a fish to catch it legally wherever honest rules apply, Stay home and don’t fish..👀

[picture this] A 49 year-old grown man, wakes up @ Zero Dark Hundred, with coffee and tackle in hand, then en route to to his “tactical waypoint” he previously set while on a recon, the day before, while practicing. He then stuffs a couple Largies (poor bastards) with lead weights, while conducting this operation wearing an L-Shaped flashlight (red lens only) and Vietnam-era tiger striped cammies, licking his chops he’s so excite. All-while, super proud of his planning, execution and accomplishments all before take-off at 0630. The kicker is, it’s just another day for him, as he’s hob-knobbing with fellow anglers and BS’ing the FFS conversation, Bedford the sun even pops up. As he’s tying his FG braid to leader knot, thinking he can damiki rig his way to a W, even without FFS..He doesn’t care, the day will be over soon enough. All he wants is the W, bragging rights and a shot at the grand prize consisting of $50 wal mart gift card and a pack of Bass Pro “Stickos” with half the pack empty already, as the tourney director was throwing wackos while bed fishing the spawn at Lake X 2 weeks ago. He actually caught a slab. A nice 6.3, on 10lb braid to 6lb fluoro. Now here we are talking about it Blaukets Intuitive Angling “Optimistic” episode

It’s so simple. Lifetime ban from tournaments, and never allowed to get a fishing license again. Period end of story. Dude should also have his gear confiscated.

They won’t catch me though

Keep tournaments small. The smaller the more manageable.

Portable X-ray

Looks like you followed up on my comment (which mysteriously didn’t get published?) from your last cheater video. Also, the “s” in Illinois is silent. Hard to believe that in 2024 people still can’t pronounce it properly.

Id be a Marshall for sure.

Tournaments are where fishing and money meet. Get rid of tournaments.

Guys who cheat aren't anglers there crooks and should be banned for life after they recover from the headache they got from tripping on a big stick in the parking lot 😂 and fraud is fraud and to do so for money they should do 10yrs in prison and not a day less robbing a tournament should be the same as robbing the lottery ect.

Remove the Money from the Tournaments . Simple Fix 🤙 Plastic Trophy's only 🎣✝️

Just like the other cheaters, they will get a slap on the. There will be other cheaters as time goes on.

Buddy tournaments or team events do nothing but invite cheating. The two people in the boat should be competing either against each other or independently of each other. Aside from having marshals, which is often impractical, that is the only way to do it.

Put up a post office “most wanted” type display at every boat launch of the state they cheated in for public humiliation. Or just do what I did and that’s to stop competitive fishing. Tournament fishing has been getting more and more ridiculous for a long time.

Haven't we learned that cheating doesn't pay but bring shame to yourself and family? Geez. Why compete when you suck balls?

Come on man if you fish tournament your whole life you know cheaters about cheating not saying you cheat but I guarantee you you have heard of this your whole career, you also know a cheat has won tournaments before without being caught sorry that's what I think basically greedy people looking for an easy buck . Thanks for the info . Randy love your videos.agreed on Marshall ❤

Cheating is a normal part of America. It's taught in business schools.

Most bass fisherman that do it in competition are not nice people .not all but most

Wow guess the weight guys,taking a page from the video gamers🤔🤔

Na, that's too much BS for everyone doing the right thing to put up with. Put stronger laws in place. My suggestion is if you're caught doing this type of cheating in a tournament where you can win $30k or more, you either pay a $200k fine or spend a year in prison, no ifs, ands, or buts. Need stronger laws on the books and that'll solve it.

Maybe ban all tournaments Fish for fun

Interesting side note, the guys that started the circuit this douchecanoe cheated in have been fishing the area for years and years, currently guide on it, and have it essentially mastered. Then they started this circuit that they themselves also fish in. So they either make money by placing in tourneys or via other anglers’ entry fees. Not sure if this is how other “local” circuits work but seems sketch to me. 🤷‍♂️

Tournament fishing should be banned all together. Who tf thinks now a days this is a good investment of their time and money??? Its just a dog and pony show that creates more harm than good

So pathetic.

Do you see what happens when put money on the line Poeple are.very greedy

It’s pronounced ell-ah-noi you don’t pronounce the s at the end.

Or go back to fishing for 200 dollars and a trophy.

Speaking of cheaters Randy, Hank Parker is saying he likes MegaLive. So does that make you a cheater Randy making false claims that he's against FFSonar?

They got caught, good! Why obsess about it. Move on with your grumpy life lol

tourney fishing corny as a whole

So you mean having a co angler that is not their best friend could be beneficial? U always slam those back boat guys. This is why all them guys in the early years wanted co anglers. To keep everyone honest. Maybe u should re think ur stance on co anglers. U act like all these people Wana sit in boat for 8 hours in watch someone fish. How much of purse will this cost to pay these people?

go back to co anglers

Hey Randy, Illinois is not plural. It's time to outlaw fishing tournaments. They make fishing worse for everyone.

So is this really cheating when you put lead weights in bass and putting smallmouth on a stringer for the next days tournament. No outrage. No fight the good fight. No calls for banning cheating. Not 3 or 4 videos weekly on how to stop it. Doesn't seem near as bad on this video as Forward Facing Sonar does with outrageous rantings weekly that FFS are cheaters here weekly.