This FLW Incident

It seems that nobody has any facts on the possible cheating incident at
Atchafalaya. I scanned the net far & wide for the past 2 hours, and only
found confirmation that for the second straight tournament angler x has had
a day's catch DQ'ed. This angler has been the hottest guy on the
bfl/everstart/flw circuit for a couple years now, rising through the ranks,
winning tournaments & catching bigger fish than everyone else at a Tiger
Woods-like pace. I know nothing yet of what really happened, but if the
gossip I read tonight proves to be true this will be a serious blow to
pro-level bass tournament fishing. It would be an injustice if the facts in
this matter aren't brought to the public, an injustice to all who fish
tournaments honestly & fairly. We can only watch this story play out, and
pray that the accused is innocent.

I certainly hope he is.

Warren
--
http://www.warrenwolk.com/

Go-bassn wrote:
It would be an injustice if the facts in
this matter aren't brought to the public, an injustice to all who fish
tournaments honestly & fairly.


I don't understand FLW's rationale in not releasing the details. They DQ'd
his catch, so they must have evidence of some wrongdoing. To leave the
nature of the infraction up to the imagination of the fishing public can do
nothing but invite wild speculation.

RichZ©
www.richz.com/fishing

go-bassn wrote in message
news
I know nothing yet of what really happened, but if the
gossip I read tonight proves to be true this will be a serious blow to
pro-level bass tournament fishing.

Warren, you're a lot closer to tournaments than I am, but many sports have
been tainted by scandal and survived quite well, and I don't see why bass
fishing couldn't also.

It would be an injustice if the facts in
this matter aren't brought to the public, an injustice to all who fish
tournaments honestly & fairly. We can only watch this story play out, and
pray that the accused is innocent.

I would think he's got to be guilty of SOMETHING. In our litigious society,
I think FLW had to have some pretty solid evidence before DQing him, or else
they're dumber than dumb. But I agree they need to clear things up.

You are 100% correct Marty. I said a cheating incident at a high-level
national tourney would "be a serious blow" to the sport, not that it would
do the sport in. Bass fishing is far to great a sport to ever be done-in by
a rulebreaker of any level.

And yes, it's clear that he indeed commit an infraction, but if you delve
into the subject you'd see that the same angler had a day's catch DQ'ed in
the previous tournament for commitiing another infraction - leaving his
co-angler to go to the restroom.

Point being that there is quite a range of severities involved in the
definition of "infraction".

One more comment, for FLW officials AND the angler himself to keep
closed-mouth on the nature of this penalty is no less than a simple
invitation to the angling public (not to mention the anti-angling public) to
speculate & spread rumors. The more time goes by without a statement, the
public reasons, the harsher the infraction must be.

As far as I can tell the only comment made on the subject by the angler
himself was he didn't violate the points of the rule concerning mind
altering substances or committing felonies. I'll paste the rule in its
entirety following this post. He claims to not know what he did wrong,
saying that FLW officials didn't tell him. The FLW rule that he violated
was a sportsmanship-based one, and a very broad one as well.

As you say Marty, all sports go through high points & low points. But I've
never heard of a single case where an athlete was punished by his respective
league's governing body without being told what he did wrong.

In his defense both of his co-anglers in this tournament claim to have had a
great time with him, and neither noticed anything out of the ordinary during
their time on the water with him. In addition, camera boats supposedly
accompanied him during both days, apparently never getting out of sight of
his boat. These factors would seem to be in his favor, but a troubling fact
remains.

Why hasn't the angler himself spoken up? He surely is aware of the rumors &
accusations against him. Why hasn't he defended his reputation? I, for
one,would love to see him do it.

As a fan of the bass wars & as a tournament competitor, I certainly want to
know the details.

Warren

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLW Tour Rule 7: Sportsmanship
All contestants are required to follow high standards of sportsmanship,
courtesy and conservation and to conduct themselves in a manner that will be
a credit to themselves, to FLW Outdoors, FLW Outdoors' sponsors, the sport
of fishing and FLW Outdoors' efforts to promote the sport. Examples of
conduct not complying with those standards include, but are not limited to,
the following:
Consumption and/or possession of alcoholic beverages or any kind of
mind-altering substance during registration, the pre-tournament meeting or
during tournament hours extending through the weigh-in procedure.
Abuse of, or addiction to, mind-altering substances.
Conviction of a felony within the past 36 months.
Any other words, conduct or actions reflecting unfavorably upon efforts to
promote safety, sportsmanship, fair competition and compliance with
tournament rules.
In case of any conduct not complying with the standards, FLW Outdoors shall
have the right to refuse any application, or to deny a confirmed
application, by returning the entry fee of a previously accepted
application, or to disqualify a contestant.

Do you think the American public really cares about professional bass
fishing?
Watching a T on the tube is like watching bumpers rust. JMO

Do you think the American public really cares about professional bass
fishing?
Watching a T on the tube is like watching bumpers rust. JMO

From: (AJH)

Reading you'er post are even worse. Get a life. JMO too !!

--
The most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no
trade-in value.
Good Fishing - Moe
Moe's Guide Service (Lake Okeechobee) - http://moebassguide.com
Outdoor Frontiers http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com/index

Not the american public, just about 6 million of them AJH. What's your
point?

Warren

"AJH" wrote in message
...
Do you think the American public really cares about professional bass
fishing?
Watching a T on the tube is like watching bumpers rust. JMO

If the public doesn't care about watching tournaments on TV then the
companies that spend 100's of thousands of dollars on advertising must all
be nuts.That post makes about as much sense as watching a bumper rust.JMO
AJH wrote in message
...
Do you think the American public really cares about professional bass
fishing?
Watching a T on the tube is like watching bumpers rust. JMO

"AJH" wrote in message
...
Do you think the American public really cares about professional bass
fishing?
Watching a T on the tube is like watching bumpers rust. JMO

Yes, I think that a good percentage of them do care about professional bass
fishing. Afterall, where do you think that many of the innovations, new
techniques and products come from? These come from tournament fishing,
where the participants and the products used must produce fish.

You can thank tournament fishing for boat hull design improvements, overall
boat design, better reels, better rods, better lines, new and innovative
lures, and techniques. The current wave of catch and release to improve the
fishery comes directly from tournament fishing.

Personally, while I don't fish a lot of tournaments, the ones I do, I enjoy.
I also watch the tournament shows because if you really pay attention to
what's being done, where and when, you can actually learn how to improve as
an angler.

Whether you watch tournaments or not is a personal choice. Personally, I'd
rather slam my private parts in a door than play golf, but you don't see me
making negative comments about golf on a golfing newsgroup.
--
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers
http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com
G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods
http://www.herefishyfishy.com

Up your's Larry, Curley or Moe!