The conduct of those angry fishermen is commendable. They still maintained their decency and only expressed their anger in words, without attacking and physically harming the cheater that screwed them over and stole their money. Gave him the "I'm mad AND disappointed" treatment.
Yeah I thought that.. it was super crazy aggressive but without any actual physical assault or even breaking any laws (well technically thats not true, but no one including the cops will give a shit, considering the circumstances). Big respect to them!
Even though they clearly got caught, I'm obv not disputing that.. What does a lie detector have anything to do with it? Is that some weird/silly idea some organizer came up with as some kind of stipulation? Anyone with even cursory knowledge or as much as a glance at a Google search knows that lie detectors are notoriously unreliable, there's a reason why they aren't used in courts etc. If you're just a naturally anxious person, much like myself, every answer you give would read as a "lie", even the shit like giving your name, because all it does is measure your heart rate, and perspiration maybe? Idr, it's been awhile. All the measured things are things that are naturally elevated in someone who's nervous, in general, even when not guilty of anything and telling the truth, hence not being reliable. Not to mention, I guess it's a bit of a complicated process to even calibrate and set them up "correctly" at all to begin with. Tl;dr lie detectors are just riddled with problems, hence why they aren't actually used for anything "serious"
They ended up pleading guilty to cheating at the tournament and unlawful ownership of wild animals, receiving 10 days in jail, a 1.5-year probation after jail, a 3-year fishing license suspension, a $2500 fine (can be cut in half if they donate to an organization that focuses on fishing or children), and one of the cheaters had to surrender their boat. Some additional felonies were attempted grand theft and possessing criminal tools but they were dropped.
@@Jess_Egg That's not even close to enough punishment, If it's true that he's made 3 million over the years from cheating and 300 thousand in one year alone, then he's definitely thinking to himself that the 10 days in jail, 2500 dollar fine, plus a boat was totally worth it.
@@BeanCasserole-wg7wuthe 3 million was probably not all cash but cost of things like the boat, any equipment he won, plane tickets, and any coupons or gift cards
@@chopupyourwife6193 So funny you mention that, I was literally just chatting with my grandfather for the better part of an hour about walleye fishing and decided to give it a shot. Can't wait. Loaded up my rods and picked up some leeches, headed out to the lake today to try and hook some. 👍
My dad used to be a professional fisherman, at one point he was fishing at the absolute top level of red fishing, and seeing this made me upset because I know people competing at this level have to put in months and months of pre-fishing, and it takes a huge amount of effort, so for someone to come in and just snatch that away illegitimately must be heartbreaking for the people fishing legit
@@reptiles02-bd3ep Yeah but then you'd lose. I don't get the concept of how "honing your abilities with something = you become better at that something" eludes you. On one hand, I understand that most fishing people encounter is a very straightforward, simply thing, and they may assume that's just all there is to it. But also I expect people to be able to realise that if someone is being done at a professional level, AND someone has just directly stated there's work involved in getting to this level... well, there's probably a bit more to it there than there would be in the average cases.
@chairmanwon there's actually quite a bit that goes into it. Different tournaments restrict how much you can go out on the water the tourney will be on (some have no restriction, or some have 2 practice days for example). the anglers will go out partly for simple practice, but also to mark/map spots, look at where baitfish are settling, and find out what baits and lures are effective in that location. All of this helps you make sure you're fishing the right spots with the right lures
@@trianglemoebius That kind of thing used to confuse me too. What you have to realize is that "people are idiots" is not just a meme. It's true. Most people are about as dumb as a rock stuffed into a fish, like Sparky here.
From what I heard, they normally only added smaller weights to their fish to avoid an experienced fisherman from being able to eyeball the size of the fish vs its weight, but in this tournament the 2nd placers were really close and the cheaters went overboard with the weights to try to pull further ahead.
This tournament happened like 15 minutes away from where I live, every fisherman was to bring back six of their biggest fish and they went by total weight, pretty much everybody who brought their bags in weighed around 16 lb. Their bag weighed almost 33 lb for fish that looked almost identical to everybody else's. They only needed 16 lb to stay in the tournament but the way they cheated was so blatantly obvious to anybody who's ever participated
Like legitimately all they would have needed to do to stay in and possibly win the tournament was to put a single weight in two different fish and they would have been totally fine bringing an 18 lb that would have been an extremely commendable and believable number, these guys chose the nuclear option
Charlie sponsoring professional fishers would actually be so on brand. Like imagine rocking up to the lake or whatever with a big ol' Team Moist jacket.
As much as I laugh at how angry they are, I also understand how they feel. I would assume that these are all honest folk that all know each other well, so to do this would be almost like scamming your friends.
@@merdoc81 and they all wake up at 3AM to get boats in by 5AM and spend 100s of dollars on rods and tackle they will eventually lose. It’s a whole deal to prepare and go to a tournament, I would be upset if I did this multiple times a year and only cheaters were winning.
One of the event coordinators felt the fishes stomachs and could feel the weights, he then asked for a knife and cut them open to prove his suspicions. These guys have been on the radar as being cheaters for a while now, one co angler even failed a polygraph test and they got disqualified from a previous tournament. These guys have been watched for like two years now
for the record, the main prize here was 45k… this wasn’t just some small random competition, and the man in question has also been caught cheating before, so this was a long time coming. he’s made over 2.3 million in profit from these competitions over the past 10 years (such as sponsorships, physical awards like a boat and prize money), so who knows how long he’s been cheating.
The worst part is, they probably would have gotten away with it if they weren't so greedy. Anyone with any experience in fishing could look at those fish and tell the weigh-in was off. It's like someone would be handing you a regular-sized dog and claim it weighs 3 lbs.
I am surprised that he got away doing this for so long. Putting stuff in fish to manipulate weight is such a common sense cheat I am shocked that they had no work around this except trusting people with their integrity.
As a fisherman and a poor man I'll tell ya the prizes are no joke. They're actually more than my annual income some times. Cash, boats, 4 wheelers, dort bikes, trailers, skidoo's seadoo's etc... all worth a lot of money
We flat out reward a million dollars for the heaviest marlin every year! Ocean City Md, summer if you're interested! Micheal Jordan and his team like to participate! Many ppl show up just to see a glimpse of him on the water!
The problem is so many people looked up to him and his team.. he had the largest sponsors and won the most money. Sad to see that happen and it’s something seen many times in the past
As a competitive angler, it’s absolutely hilarious to me that it’s gotten this big. The way they caught the dudes was that people were extremely skeptical of their cumulative weight in comparison to the size of fish. It was 8lbs of additional weight added on top
I think I’m most surprised that it didn’t get physical. Those fishermen seemed very dignified with how they only expressed their anger verbally. If this had been a video game cheating scandal, it would’ve not only involved a lot more slurs, but also physical aggression amongst two land whales
Excerpt from Reddit: "As a competitor in a very low stakes annual fishing tournament, the full length video is absolutely enthralling. The first 14 minutes or so are outwardly boring, because each team is coming up to weight their 5biggest fish and the weights are in the teens, low twenties. Then, with the leader at 23lbs. Or so, these mavericks roll in with 5 fish weighing over 33lbs. Outweighing the leader by an average of 2lbs per fish, which is pretty unbelievable in any circumstance. The crowd is talking amongst themselves and there's a bit of disbelief, but no hullabaloo. Then they take their winning fish, hold them up for photos and the rest of the teams to see and any experienced fisherman knows roughly the weight of any given fish and you can hear the cognitive dissonance in the crowd. Then the 'winners' start to take their fish and leave when the judge/official calls them back over and chats with the guy in the video for a minute. It looks like the official presses him a bit. Like gives him the chance to come clean or withdraw from the tournament. Maybe he's testing him. You can tell by the body language that something is up and the crowd starts to murmur from a distance away. The official grabs a knife from his assistant and a fish and drops it on the ground and slices it open. Digs his hands inside, then holds it up like a beating heart in the temple of doom and yells "WE HAVE WEIGHTS IN FISH!!!" The crowd erupts and surges forward and this video begins. These guys have swindled anywhere from $300k to millions of prizes including a brand new boat"
That dude desperately screaming “call the cops!” Had me rolling lmfao. Imagine being the police officer called out to a giant crowd of screaming fishermen 😂
As a Southerner I can confirm that "Don't cheat in fishing" is one of our 10 commandments, alongside "Raise Hell, Praise Dale." Edit: For those confused, Praise Dale is in reference to Dale Earnhardt, arguably the most famous/influential NASCAR driver to ever touch the track who tragically died on track.
My thing with cheaters is they never know when to quit. Dudes had won all that money and were getting away with it, but still kept risking it. It becomes an addiction to them until they get caught
I was the son of a pro fisher on Lake Lanier. There were all sorts of ways you could cheat but this one I’ve heard of but never seen someone actually get caught doing it. I honestly feel bad for the other fishermen because some of these guys have pride in what they do and spend hours from 4am to 4pm in all weathers battling the elements to catch a spot or largemouth or whatever you fishing for that’s just a few ounces heavier than your smallest of your five.
I wish you guys can show me as much love as you show this channel ! I know I’m not as good as them but I still make entertaining videos and with your help 1 day we will get there together 🫶🏼🌟Thanks!!
As someone who fishes a lot it’s not hard to eyeball the weight of a species if you catch it a lot. I fish for carp a lot and I can usually guess the weight of the fish by less than half a pound, and those weights were most likely over a pound each, I would have guessed something suspicious is going on as well. Plus you could probably feel them in the fishes stomach as well.
That's how the tournament director knew something wasn't right and decided to check the fish because he's been officiating walleye tournaments for so long he can guess within a pretty close accuracy of what a fish weighs just by looking at them and their total weight was way over to raise suspicion.
@@johndough5854 I guess I don't follow what you mean exactly. I'm just saying I watched a interview the tournament director gave and that's what he said. There was about a 4 pound average for that area of the lake and these 2 guys 5 fish would had to of weighed like over 6.5 pounds a piece to equal the 33 plus pounds and the guys in the crowed were also questioning that weight so he decided to examine their fish and apparently his hunch was correct.
I know this is a year late, but it popped up now for some reason. Thing is, cheaters are careful at first, but they get cocky over time. I would imagine this dude started out by stuffing the fish with just one or two weights, so it wasn't all that easy to eye-ball. After a while, though, he probably started adding more weights to each fish, and it became more and more apparent. Couple that with the fact that this guy somehow keeps winning year after year, some people probably started whispering behind his back, saying things like "This season we need to come up with a reason to check his fish, because something isn't right."
Not gonna lie, I thought cheating in fishing is like bringing a fish that you bought at the store or throwing firecrackers into the water when no one is looking
My old neighbor was a pro bass fisherman and it’s crazy how much money there is in it. He won a decent amount from tournaments but absolutely balled out from sponsorships
Yeah for real, my neighbour was pro or semi pro, I know he won a few tournies made some good money off it back in the day, won a boat and a truck and sold them for a better boat and truck, later retired doing bait showings for bass pro and stuff. Definitely good money in it if you can make a name even somewhat locally.
My brother is a huge fan of fishing and has been on a few tournaments himself. When I've told him about this cheating action, he told me about one he's seen himself. The tournament he's been in was giving points based on the length of the fish, so that dude was stomping his fish to gain extra 2-3 cm. Dude almost got 3rd place if it wasn't for the fact that someone pointed that out. Dude got disqualified and banned from further tournaments. Edit: ok, i see a lot of people asking how did that cheater manage to stomp fish without leaving any marks, so there are 2 factors here. 1. This was a sea fishing tournament and they were catching flounders, which tend to have a damaged skin and are quite flat to begin with. I guess it wasn't too difficult to blame any stomp marks on that 2. Dude wasn't stomping them directly with his foot and instead was putting a board of some kind on them to even out the force through out the entire length.
As someone who’s been fishing for close to 2 decades, in local, group, and state tournaments, this is far too common in the fishing community. Love to see you look further into this Charlie. Tight lines 🤙🏻
@@Kumquat_Lord The fish is already dead, they should (I thought they did since like the 70s) cut every fish open. Pretty sure the meat is donated to local shelters, they should just have a guy check/filet every fish that's entered. You saw the video, takes 2 seconds to slice its stomach open and look.
I’m an avid ocean fisherman and whenever I go on a public charter it’s always a joke to add weight to your fish to try winning the jackpot, but this is the first time I’ve seen it in a major tournament
Some years back there was a specimen fishing tournament in my home island, the focus was sea bass. Anyhow, a guy broke into our aquarium overnight, got the largest one there and entered it and then won. Then they realised that was the exact fish that went missing, idk about authenticity but I've heard it still had the tag on it. Worthy of front press news back home lmao
Wait, he broke into an actual aquarium??? The fish zoo place??? Where you have alive fish for children to stare at and stuff??? Then he somehow managed to get into the sea bass exhibit, find the largest one, and escape????? I need to know more. Edit: OH MY GOD ITS REAL The guy was apparently an ex-employee of the aquarium, which explains at least some of it.
WOW. The amount of work people would put into cheating and winning is baffling. This dude literally had to plan so much in order to just cheat in a competition. That poor Sea bass too…
Honestly, everyone had been suspecting him/them for so long, he finally got too greedy and the weights didn’t seem to match up at all. Finally, the tournament director decided to inspect and thank god he did.
My dad used to do fishing tournaments, he told me about some incidents of cheating. People have tried all kinds of stuff, from having their live well pre-stocked with fish, to people having some bass on a line in a specific part of the lake and retrieving them mid-tournament.
My cousin did as well only not on a professional lvl, i think he said it was "fish swapping" at the competitions he used to go to. He doesnt do them anymore, but he is still an avid fisherman.
I remember going to a salmon tournament and somebody cheated By bringing back a giant Alaska salmon They could tell because when they cut it open some of the insides were still frozen
As a 3rd generation fisherman, you absolutely nailed why we fish. Dolphins and whales took it even further and evolved to go back in the water permanently to style on these damn fish. Also, te weights aren't the smartest. Fish aren't supposed to die in these tournaments, and even a lot of casual fishermen can fairly accurately judge a largemouth's weight by sight alone. Of course you're going to be off a bit here and there, but if a fish is half a pound or more heavier than average, pros will take notice.
only one bigger fishing scandal i can think of. A guy called Mike Long used to snag giant bedding fish during tournaments and plant them in like floating nets in tournament lakes so he could just go grab them and use them as his bag. used to slash other fisherman's tires in parking lots too
Im not even into fishing but guys like this (that aren't the cheater) pour a lot of money and time into what they do and have years and years of skill and are passionate about it. They get that even the best fisherman isn't going to catch the weightiest fish all the time and constantly win. The full 20 minute video is really interesting where they show the live weigh ins and the crowd reaction.
"How could they get away with it," I think you got it in your previous sentence. I mean besides it being so egregious this time that the weights fell out, there's this thing called escalation. Liars tend to get more grandiose with time, so he probably STARTED small like you said... and got worse every time he got away with it until now.
I think he was reading commentary about a different tournament with the "weights fell out of their mouth." In the specific instance covered here, they brought a bag of fish that looked similar to everyone else's, the average weight of the bags was 16 pounds, but their bag weighed 33 pounds, which prompted further investigation. I got the exact weights from another comment, but the coverage read explained how they were caught. To clarify, they had to open up this guys fish to find the proof, the weights didn't fall out. Hope that made sense, lol.
@@Magna_Carta5 I mentioned that. BUT he was also wondering why there were allegations this was continuous behavior and whether that was possible. I'm saying it was, if his behavior had escalated to this point, rather than starting at this level of cheating.
My dad did this for me for an ice fishing tournament because my mom was super toxic and I never won a trophy, never did sports, was really just trying to survive my childhood, my dad got custody and I won my first and only trophy no cash or anything and he didn’t tell me till I was an adult. I cherished that trophy and tho cheating is wrong I can’t thank him enough. I’ll never forget it, it made me feel like I was a winner. So silly 😂❤️
Yeah obviously cheating is no good but since it was just a simple (but precious) trophy it was harmless. It'd be different if it was money. Great father award 😄
As someone who is an amateur fisherman I sometimes catch the pro fishing tour on tv occasionally but I don't really follow it, but oh my god this was absolutely absurd to hear I can't believe someone would actually do something like this and not expect to get caught
Wow if I was in those contests I’d be furious. He stole a ton of money from everyone involved, and they’ll probably never be able to get that money back
Man now i wanna be a fisherman that community seems so tight like their not even hating their more surprised and upset he was cheating they truly had respected him being the champ thats love
Oh boy, I can't wait for the next obscure cheating scandal, that I'll learn about from Charlie. It's probably going to be from the competitive paper plane throwing league or something like that.
@@loversandlosers Nah, he finds interesting stuff, but about 90 percent of it doesn't concern me enough for me to try and look for it myself. I mostly just enjoy his commentary, I don't watch him for news.
As a lifelong Clevelander there is an unspoken rule to NOT mess with Fishermen let alone the tournaments. This is one of the largest fishing events (if not thee largest) in the Midwest and as you can see these other Fishermen are PISSED off. I am absolutely certain this entire scenario could have been 100x worse and the fact these guys got away with no physical altercation is insane (I am not advocating for violence but trust me you do not mess with Erie Fishers)
Fishermen are definitely overlooked on their place in society. They always supply the freshest fish. They deserve more praise for their hard work. I’m not talking about sport fishermen (although they are somewhat important)
I wish you guys can show me as much love as you show this channel ! I know I’m not as good as them but I still make entertaining videos and with your help 1 day we will get there together 🫶🏼🌟Thanks
I am so glad that he made a video about this. Thanks for showing everyone that these cheaters are going too get caught no matter what! THEY HAVE TO PAY IT BACK!!!
