A Total Backwater Adventure

  A dark cloud has been place on local tournaments, in and around Charlotte Harbor lately. Strong accusitions about trimming tails, and oversized fish, making there way to the bump table. Actually it has become more of a joke, then the importance that it should be. I have been a a professional tournament angler for years, no my eye is not on standings anymore, it is on the big prize, the pay dirt at the end of the day. In all the he saiad, she said, it's been hard to ,make heads or tails, out of which way our sport of fishing is going. I am going to share with you, some rights in my eyes, and some wrongs as I see them.

  First off, the issues of oversized fish making there way to the bump table, I find this hillarious. The state of Florida clearly defines the slot limit of a redfish as 18 to 27 inches. There is no grey area when it comes to this, if you have a fish that is over/ undersize the legal slot limit in your livewell, you have broke state recreational rules of possession, period.  One of the rules in all tournaments that I have seen "you will not break any state or local laws" really? But, tournament directors still allow anglers to bring in oversize fish, with no reprucutions at all. It is time FWC gets involved and tickets the tournament series, refuses to issue culling permits, and fines/ or arrest the anglers. Now I understand that you can not win a tournament unless you puish the issue.

How can this be fixxed you ask? it is simple and any tournament director that slightly cares about the future of our sport, can figure out. The state slot limit is 18 to 27 inches. the tournament slot limit need to be dropped to 18 to 26 inches. Anglers would still be going after the heaviest sack, but with no chance of breaking a state law. I dont know one angler who would try to get a fish by the bump table, that is an inch to long, after all there is no money in it. Simple solution to a very large problem. Yes the angler still breaks tournament rules by a oversized fish, but will not exceed the state limit.

Next up to bat, is the issues that have been place around the tournament issues on manipulating the overall of the by the way of scissors. tail clipping. Yes, it has happened, and I dont care who you are angler/ or not you can tell. A picture was circulating recently of a tail of a redfish that has been clearly trimmed. I have fished all over the southern United States, for redfish. I have seen it all from gators, sharks, dolphins, some redfish accure damage to the tail naturaly. But, I have never seen a straight cut on a tail, such as scissoors make. There was talk that the anglers had crabs in their well, and they must have gotten after the tails. What do I say about that, let me see. I weould have to through the bullshit card down on that one.

The problem is that in the ecomnomic times, tournament directors have been forced to lower entry fees, thus limiting the monies for lie detector tests, in these low entry  tournaments, money for the trail, has been put ahead of the cost of such tests. These test have kept aglers honest for along time, with the fear of them have to be hooked up to the scribble machine. I have taken these tests before you cant beat them, but the tour, can also manipulate the results by the questions that is asked. Did this happen I dont know, but I will tell you I have seen the pictures, and in professional oppinion, the tails were clipped. What has to be done, if a tournament wants to do events. Then manditory tests, to winners, and random tests on other anglers involved. The tour it self will have to suck it up and make less, it's the price of playing in the game. If they dont like it don't run the show. I can say this year, I can say is the worst. I have personally found and recovered fish pens, that serve no other purpose but to hold fish for a tournament. If the tournaments and directors dont want to protect their anglers agaist fraud. Well shame on them, they need to go away.

Yes it is not cheating, it is a criminal offense

In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation. Defrauding people or entities of money or valuables is a common purpose of fraud, but there have also been fraudulent "discoveries", e.g., in science, to gain prestige rather than immediate monetary gain.

Criminal charges should be held against such anglers.

If this blog has offended anyone, then the guilty of them have shined through, I am a very public person, with seminars, fishing classes and such. I am easily reached, to talk about this subject. I will also like to add that I did not mention any one tour. For the simple fact is every tournament  trail faces the same issues. But, it needs to stop.