Cheaters Sometimes Prosper

I was messing around on the internet the other day and read a story about a guy caught cheating during a major bass fishing tournament. He had stuffed lead weights into his fish before the weigh-in.


It wasn’t just sticking a chunk of lead down the fish’s throat; he had a well thought out system with a treble hook tied to a short leader and then the sinker so that the lead wouldn’t go down the bass’ throat far enough to be detected just by feeling the fish’s belly.

He was caught when all of the fish which had died during that day’s fishing were filleted so that the meat would not go to waste. During the cleaning of the fish, the lead weights were discovered.

A little detective work soon narrowed down the suspects and at the weigh-in on the next day of the tournament his catch was scrutinized. All of his fish were discovered to have the added weights.

Because the prize value of the tournament included cash as well as a $50,000.00 boat, the cheater found he was not only facing the shame of exposure but also criminal prosecution.

Now here is the thing, this guy was a top bass pro with life time tournament winnings of somewhere around $300,000.00.

He had a well thought out system for adding the lead weights to his fish. A system that meant he had to rig up his hooks and leaders and weights with full knowledge and premeditation.

It wasn’t whim or a moment of careless desperation. How many times did he cheat? Once, twice, every time? No one knows but him and he isn’t saying.

If you do a Google search for “cheating + fishing + tournaments” you will find out that there are lots more examples; some funny, some stupid and some just disgusting. It makes for an interesting read.

It has been written that the quest for money is the root of all evil. It must be true if fishermen, otherwise the most trustworthy of liars, can be corrupted into being simply real liars by the prizes and cash of a big fishing tournament.