Nosir mine had way way more turtles than that. As soon as imgur updates or clears or whatever I will post the Pic link. And tournamnet directors arent careful with your meat when they inspect a fish for cheaters stuffing weights.

I've been using postimages.org these days

Aggie classmate of mine went into law enforcement, including years with DPS. He made side money by giving lie detector tests at fishing tournaments

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Lie detector tests for ANYTHNG are also a bit of a mind game

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There is a reason they aren't admissible in court. Honest people who are nervous can fail, psychopaths who are guilty as sin can pass with flying colors.

Wife had to occasionally take one for DoE clearance, but it wasn't necessarily a problem if you failed.

A well executed polygraph can take an hour or more per individual.
Few tournament fisherman are professional criminals that have mastered how to control their respiration, blood pressure, heart rate etc.
A good experienced polygraph administrator can eliminate skewed results due to nervousness/anxiety etc. very quickly.
With the current state of the art equipment and a well trained certified polygraph technician administrator it is really hard to skew results consistently.
Bass tournaments have been using them for over three decades….and in my career in the industry, I've rarely seen a failed polygraph (which is rare in itself) be challenged by the participants.
Participants are aware that if they are in the money they will be given a polygraph. It's part of tournament entry forms that all participants must sign saying they agree to take the polygraph if needed. That in itself has served as a pretty good incentive to not cheat.
Rules of tournaments also still must imply a certain degree of honesty and fairplay and self honor for the good of the sport.
To manipulate or knowingly fish tournaments with the pre meditated intention and effort put forth of trying to find loopholes or clerical errors or technicalities of the rules in order to win has, in my opinion, never been really exploited by any tournament fisherman I have known in my career.
Cheating is always going to be attempted in any sport involving money as winnings. However, for the hundreds of bass tournaments that take place on any given week throughout the year, the instances of blatant cheating are extremely rare.

Even though Texas has no laws saying that a person has to have a certification to weigh in fish at a tournament, our beloved University offers a fun course to obtain the ability to be a " Certified Weighmaster". Centered around saltwater tournaments it has good info on freshwater tournaments as well.
Anyone wanting to volunteer or become involved in any of your local tournaments should enjoy the course.
I am attaching a link if anyone is interested. The course is available on-line and the cost is $35.00
https://texasseagrant.org/focus-areas/sustainable-fisheries-and-aquaculture/weighmaster-training-program/

Gunny456 said:

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Even though Texas has no laws saying that a person has to have a certification to weigh in fish at a tournament, our beloved University offers a fun course to obtain the ability to be a " Certified Weighmaster". Centered around saltwater tournaments it has good info on freshwater tournaments as well.
Anyone wanting to volunteer or become involved in any of your local tournaments should enjoy the course.
I am attaching a link if anyone is interested. The course is available on-line and the cost is $35.00
https://texasseagrant.org/focus-areas/sustainable-fisheries-and-aquaculture/weighmaster-training-program/

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I did basically the same course back in 2011. Can't remember what/if I paid (fishing club may have paid for me). Still have the book/manual/guide or whatever it was called.

Thankfully our club didn't have any cheaters or bad actors (although some seemed to be on their high horse with their Viking boats).

Fished a tournament out of POC that paid a lot of places. The rules stated that each team could only win in one division and the divisions are:
1,2,3,4,5 place trout
1,2,3,4,5 place slot red
1,2,3,4,5 tagged red
And on and on for flounder, sheepshead, black drum, gaftop, big any fish etc.... a lot of places so they get a lot of winners. Not big payouts just let's a lot of people win for fun. First place in any category wins a lil money but second doesnt even cover half of the entry fee etc.

As I said the rules very specifically stated the teams could only win in one division and listed them. So we targeted bull reds. Well we won first thru fifth.... swept the division.

The tournament director balked and said it was a mistake and they meant to say that teams could only win one place.

Like I said more of a fun participation tournament but my customer wanted me to fight for the money. I pushed it some as im supposed to for my customer but I knew the tournament director wasnt going to give us more than one check.....

Won first and more than one place in that bull red division three years in a row with the same team. Tournament director never forgot and his rules are much more specific to one place now. He smiles every time he hands out the check knowing we got the best of him more than once.

Its all in the rules.

We won the Freeze Out in POC one year. They had a boundary line that went across land. There was a back lake inside the boundary line but we would have to go outside the boundary to get in there.

Well there was a significant oyster reef in there that puts up some big trout.

Long story short we asked specific if navigating outside the boundary but fish inside the boundary was permitted. They confirmed yes that is legal for their rules.

We won in that back lake and people protested as they had seen us run outside the boundary. Tournament director stood by his word that we asked the question prior and he allowed it.

His rules and boundaries changed after that.

definitely big money to be had.

I listened to this podcast a while back that talked about cheating on a walleye tournament.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dead-fish-tell-no-tales-part-1/id1796235259?i=1000700304681

Lie detector tests are definitely not like you see on TV.

I guess but that's kinda something.
That would be like entering a car show that said it would give a place trophy for 1,2,3,4.
I wouldn't expect to get four trophies because I placed 1st.
So the TD paid you guys a check for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th? Interested as how he handled that with the other anglers.
Did he pay other third place guys 4th and 5th also….as an example?

Negative.
We pulled a check for first place only.
Our bull red that would have been 5th place was 2 pounds heavier than the team that got paid 2nd place.

Rules in that tournament now say can only win one place.

Gotcha! Sounds like you guys kicked butt and had a lot of fun. As you said…that's what it's all about anyway.
Tight lines Steve.

Why not get a hand held metal detector and sweep it over the fish and see if it goes off? If it does, you cut it open and take a look, as the hit could be from an old hook that the fish ingested with a live bait perhaps. It if is anything used just for weighting the fish, bust them. This would at least account for metals used to weight the fish.

Ahh someone beat me to it, stuffed with baby turtles ehh.

Junction71 said:

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As a TPWD employee in the 70's we worked one of the first big tournaments on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The tournament officials just ask us to be observers. The last team to come in had a winning string or close.. Back then all fish came in on stringers and mostly dead. The stringer of fish did not look like fresh caught fish, faded look. Tournament officials ask us to look and give an opinion. Several fish were obviously egg-laden females so we cut one open. The ovaries were still frozen with ice still on them. I thought we were getting ready to see a lynching right there. Evidence was solid so they were disqualified.

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Put'em on ice boys

Biz Ag said:

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Man arrested, accused of putting weights inside fish during tournament in East Texas

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WOOD COUNTY, Texas A Texas man was arrested and charged after authorities say he tampered with a fish and manipulated its weight during a fishing tournament on Lake Fork.

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Curtis Lee Daniels, of Willow Park, was arrested and charged with violating fishing tournament law. Because the tournament's total prize value exceeded $10,000, the charge is a third-degree felony.

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Made a real bass of himself.

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And carp about it.

IIIHorn said:

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Biz Ag said:

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Man arrested, accused of putting weights inside fish during tournament in East Texas

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WOOD COUNTY, Texas A Texas man was arrested and charged after authorities say he tampered with a fish and manipulated its weight during a fishing tournament on Lake Fork.

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Curtis Lee Daniels, of Willow Park, was arrested and charged with violating fishing tournament law. Because the tournament's total prize value exceeded $10,000, the charge is a third-degree felony.

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Made a real bass of himself.

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And carp about it.

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Excuse me walleye I show myself out.