Here is an interview from the guy that got caught stuffing a 1lb weight down a bass' gullet in Texas....He shows absolutely no remorse and blames everything on Bass Tournaments in General...
I thought I was going to vomit when I read this....
No prize, just jail time, after fishing tournament scandal
12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, April 15, 2010
By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
rabshire@dallasnews.com
Robby Rose, family man, business owner and bass tournament competitor, admits he put a 1-pound lead weight down the gullet of a fish he caught in an event last October at Lake Ray Hubbard.
At stake that day was the tournament's top prize, a $55,000 boat.
But Rose says there's more to the story.
"Am I sorry about it? Could I have handled the whole episode better?" he asked at his Garland home Wednesday. "Yes, of course."
But he insists he wasn't cheating to win the prize, which was the charge he pleaded guilty to in a Rockwall court Tuesday.
His plea meant a felony conviction for attempted theft, 15 days in jail, five years' probation, a $3,000 fine and suspension of his fishing license while on probation.
Rose says that the fish was big enough for second place before he weighted it and that adding the illegal pound didn't make it a winner.
"Second place was mine to do with as I pleased," Rose said.
Tournament officials, game wardens and Rockwall County prosecutors beg to differ. They say the added weight would have won him the boat if it had gone undetected.
"Cheating is cheating," said lead prosecutor Alex Imgrund. "And neither the fishing community nor this office will tolerate it."
Rose, 45, insists he was just trying to make a point.
"It was a right cross to their jaw," Rose said. "I wanted to embarrass the sport."
Rumors about how he had won other tournaments in his 10-year fishing career are all based on jealousy, he said.
"I've been bullied by tournament officials for the last eight years," he said. "I've passed more polygraphs than any other fisherman."
Rose said he passed four tests in 2009 alone.
"I have never done anything like this in my fishing past," he said.
"I do apologize. I snapped. I lost my mind."
He was also upset that tournament officials were going to cut the fish open to see what was inside.
"They were going to slaughter my fish," he said. Instead, he "regurgitated" the fish to retrieve the lead weight, which he said he always carried to help clear his lure of underwater tangles. "I know how to regurgitate a fish to see what it's been eating."
Capt. Gary Collins of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, whose game wardens investigated the case, said the 9-pound fish survived the ordeal and was released back into Lake Ray Hubbard. Today, Rose will be released back to county officials to be booked for his jail time.
Rose said the October tournament was going to be his last because "it wasn't fun anymore." He said tournament officials wanted to assign an observer to watch him fish in the tournament. He fished without an observer that day.
"If he was catching fish correctly, he would have been happy to catch fish with an observer along to prove to the fishing community that he was not a cheat," said Bo Crawford of Birmingham, Ala., a certified financial planner who also blogs and podcasts about fishing at armchairanglers.com.
"We've heard of it before," Collins said. But most cheaters use several small weights because one big weight will make a "glob" on a fish. "This was the first time I know of – anywhere – that there was a 1-pound solid weight."
After Rose turned in his fish, tournament officials noticed an irregularity. Instead of swimming around in the tank like other caught fish, his bass sank to the bottom.
"With a weight that's one-tenth of the fish, it's going to go down," Collins said. "It's not going to be able to swim."
It may speak to a concern about tournament fish tales that winners are routinely polygraphed.
Collins said a more common way to cheat than weighting a fish was to catch a few big ones in the days before a tournament and "stake" them to a tree or stump, then collect them on tournament day and claim them as fresh catch.
Crawford said the Rose case is what fishermen from all over the country wanted to talk about.
"I've had more hits on my blog about this than anything else," Crawford said. "Yesterday [when news broke of Rose's guilty plea], I got more hits than in the whole month of March."
Crawford says some things Rose has done – fishing solo and winning contests against two-fisherman teams, for example – raise questions.
"These guys are hard-core," Crawford said. "Tournament fishing is a major family commitment to travel and compete."
Now anybody who ever lost a tournament to Rose has to wonder.
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I wonder how often this really happens? Sucks that it does, and probably goes uncaught a lot more than this. Does lead attract to a magnet? Maybe you could test that way! Then people would find ways to weigh them down other ways. Here's a thought with a 9 pounder in the box; put a fish barely a keeper in with it and see if you can get them to become one!!!! Seriously though, not cool Rose!!
1jav
Don't you know that everything is bigger in Texas? That must mean even the jack a@$es. Things like this are what make me not want to pursue tournament fishing in the first place.
Also a 1# weight is pretty big, 2.5" x 1" x 1" in lead. I wouldn't think this guy was concerned about the fish's health when he rammed something that big down its gullet but he acted upset when they were going to cut it open?
Cheating in any form sickens me. Someone, somewhere, on the other end, always has to pay the price. Its just another form of stealing.
I can understand why they suspected this guy of cheating for a long time. Rose fished by himself when everyone else had partners and won hundreds of thousands of dollars this way, no way this was the first time he cheated to take honest hard working guys money. I'm not saying fishing alone is a big disadvantage and some guys probably prefer it but I think it is more likely he was up to something.
What I want to know is how do you go about regurgitating a bass? If this does not harm the fish I could see this being very helpfull finding out what the bass are eating at the time.
Quote from: TCook on April 16, 2010, 09:57:09 AM
What I want to know is how do you go about regurgitating a bass? If this does not harm the fish I could see this being very helpfull finding out what the bass are eating at the time.
I was thinking the same the exact same thing Tim! Great minds....
If money is involved some people will cheat. I have run acros bass in cages right here in mid-michigan
That whole "I know how to regurgatate a fish" leaves ALOT of suspicion, IMO he's done this several times before...the only way I know how is to use a syringe with tube to check stomach contents...on a trout!
Quote from: Durand Dan on April 16, 2010, 12:02:37 PM
If money is involved some people will cheat. I have run acros bass in cages right here in mid-michigan
I remember hearing about that...The guys were using dog crates and sinking them..
That is why I favor draw tournaments....Not saying anyone cheats in the Wonderland open but 10 grand may tempt someone that doesn't give a crap about ethics...(Just using that tourney as an example)
Cheaters... I prefer draw tournament variations too when big money and prizes are the goal. I hate the feeling in team or individual events that my best performance may go for nothing because of cheaters. Not just in boxing or tying bass, but even in things like not culling or running no wakes. Anything that gives them an unfair advantage over those of us who follow the rules. A shame these people cause so much distrust among the majority of honest, decent people.
I have found cages on Lake St. Clair with big smallies in them twice. One was up in Pocket Bay in the cattails. Two big smallies. One bass had died probably due to the hotter, staler water up in there.
We had a rash of bass tied to shoreline rocks and wood for several years a while back here in Lansing on the Grand were fishing can be tough. I haven't heard about that being seen in the past few seasons. I hope whomever was doing it has stopped.
Team and individual tournaments are fun, but they do leave us open to a higher incidence of bruises to our sport. Not to say cheating doesn't occur in draw events. Just seems to be more rare.
We don't need the blemishes. Which is why I support strong punishments too.
I do like the fact that the Law is taking this very seriousley and he's looking at a felony conviction, that means he looses his freedom, his firearms, Fishing priviliges, respect from peers etc...maybe just maybe things like this will make people realize its just not worth all of that...a good lawyer costs more than the winnings!
I definitley like pro am's better for this exact reason.
it was interesting how many guys at work heard that report. you really don't hear much about tournament fishing until something like that happens.
Having fished the one on one series the last 2 years I have never seen anything out of line. they are a great group to fish with.
With money on the line people do strange things.
Quote from: ebond on April 17, 2010, 08:53:11 AM
Pro-am or observer formats are the most reliable. Red Man had observers in their regional championships many years ago. Being an observer (marshal?) is not much fun.
I would love to see more pro-ams at the local level. The only ones around now are BFLs. Maybe our new TBFM director skip Johnson can help get some new pro-ams started in Michigan! 8)
lmao Eric...Id have to start a circuit not a club to be able to start a pro am on the local level and I dont see the TBF of Mi being the stage to set that off from...but I know you allready have a trail started with the equiptment to run it with, all you have to do is change your format from team to pro am...go for it :D
My dad told me of an aquaintence he knew through work that was caging fish. He was on his way to being a top pro when he got caught. They took his boat and all of his gear, jail time and a fine. Then he lost his job because it was a federal offence. The trill of being in a tournament and the dream of winning big money or a boat really looses it's luster when you hear stories like this. He stole money from any one he was in a tournament with. Loser! >:(
It is very important that we police our ranks. There will always be a few twerps that will try stuff, but we just have to do our best.
They should shove a 1 pound lead weight down his throat. Or, better yet, they should figure out how much to put in him by his weight, to make it exactly the same as the fish. You know, the fish gets a pound, he gets 30. That'll fix him. ;D
I'm sure alot of the guys he fished against wish they could put some lead in him, not down his throat though ;)