I’m not a serious fisher myself, but this incident didn’t give me a bad impression of competitive fishermen. In fact, the strong reaction from the crowd told me just how serious these competitions can be and just how scummy someone must be to be willing to cheat in one.

The fact that they didn't need those 8 lbs to win, but it only got them caught, is a case of poetic justice. It also reflects their utter stupidity.

Inside edition had a story on it Tuesday and they said that the accused had over 1.5 million in tournament wins. That calls into question every tournament win they ever had.

My brother had two friends and one of them stole 10,000 dollars. The guy who failed the test turned out to be the guy who didn’t do it. The guy who passed the test ended up getting caught with the money. That test ain’t worth the money they paid to build it.

My grandpa worked for a book/magazine publisher for years where he became a foreman. He had done it so long that one day, one of his employees handed him a box to ship and my grandpa told him he needed to add one more book to the box. The employee didn't believe him until they opened the box and counted. So, these guys that fish day in and out can visibly see and feel the weight of a fish. It becomes second nature.

My buddy I work with doesn't fish and has heard about the cheaters. It's crazy how viral this has gone

Bass fisherman here. I think the way you have conducted yourself and the way you have kept us updated is a testament to your character And your commitment to the sport. We got your back and thanks for sharing the facts.

I just wanted to say thank you and good job on the video. I have absolutely no knowledge on how these fishing tournaments work. But this is the only video that I found that explains everything I wanted to know about how they were caught.

I'm glad you said that Os4hwks, I was thinking the same thing! Garrett makes a very good handheld MD. I tell my fishing buddy all the time that they should have them in the little tournament's that we get into. Also, they can detect Tungsten as well.

When he asked for that knife one of the cheaters immediately bailed out of there in a hurry.

I have fished many walleye tournaments on Lake Erie in Ohio, and the one thing that is for sure is that most of us can look at a fish and tell you how much it is going to weigh. To within a pound either way. A 24" walleye will normally weigh 4 lbs. A 25" will be 5 lbs. A 27" will go 7 lbs. A 30" will be right around 10 lbs, give or take a half pound either way. Those walleye were nowhere near 27" walleye. They were closer to 24" to 25" long. And they should have weighed 24 to 26 lbs on the scale. Glad they got caught cause now I can enter the fall brawl and the walleye slam with the hopes that the cheaters out there maybe a little more scared to cheat this year. And we maybe get an honest event for a change. I hope anyway. lol

Randy, I never seem to get it where is the honor and integrity. I’ve been brought up the old way where theses two things were big in my day, and I still teach it to my son, that if you practice this in life you will always come out on top. One saying I have always use is this. If something is worth found it’s worth doing the right way. Thanks John friar

I admire the restraint of this mob. They saved those two wretched souls.

Being a former tournament director, I once had to disqualify my friends for coming to a weight-in late. 1 pound per minute. And they were 15 minutes late. Also they would have won had they not be late. It Wasn't easy and they weren't happy. Definitely Not an easy job.

They were friends with the tournament director you say ….. first thing that comes to mind for me is the fact that these dudes have been accused in the past plenty of times. So when people get greedy and take and take and take, when caught, act surprised. I have a gut feeling that there’s more to these guys just cheating. SOMEONE ELSE or OTHER PARTIES are involved with this scandal. There’s no way you can steal over 3mill in tournament prize money without paying people under the table. Don’t lose sight people that it’s just two that were involved. There’s more people involved that got fed under the table for this to go on as long as it has. Start digging into that as well instead of shedding the spotlight on the two individuals.

One thing about thieves, sooner or later they always get greedy.

Agree 1000% Randy; Tournament directors have a very tough and very thankless job. Anytime anything goes wrong, theres any controversy, a couple tournaments suck and have bad conditions, etc... anything like that, they are getting criticized. BE KIND TO YOUR TOURNEY DIRECTORS AND THANK THEM OFTEN FOR THE HARD WORK THEY DO. I know a tourney director who had to dq someone for breaking a rule that was in writing, in the rules, and he confessed he did it, that he didn't know it was a rule. He woulda won, and ended up they had to dq him. The rule wasnt cheating or anything like that, it was more a technical rule, like he still likely would have caught the fish to win, it didn't really affect anything other than allowing him to be able to fish a bit faster and catch more fish out of a fired up school.....but you break a rule, your gonna get dq'd, or take a penalty depending on the rule. Not knowing is no excuse when it's in the series rulebook. So anyways, the guy gets DQ'd while talking to director on the phone on way home from tourney; and he immediately starts cussing out the tourney director and calling him all the names in the book. Still the director was calm and trying to explain why the rule is in place, but guy isn't hearing it, he continues insulting the tourney director and cussing and making veiled threats. So then the guys wife (who knows nothing about fishing except that her husband would have won but got dq'd) She goes on fb and social media and starts trashing the tourney director and threatens to sue him and sue the tourney series etc. So, the director banned the angler and his wife from any tourney event or awards for life, and since the tourney series is a state trail of a much bigger series, he sent all the messages about sueing to the main series legal team. The guy who is a good angler will probably not fish any tourneys in the state again because no one will have him. Especially when they tried to take it on social media and trash the series and director......that was worse mistake they ever coulda done because then they pissed off nearly every other tourney angler in the state who knew and followed the rules and they completely made the guy's wife who posted sound and look like an uneducated idiot. All he had to really do was handle it with some type of dignity, learn from it, and move on and he likely would have won another one before too long. But that is a typical few days in every tourney directors life.......those type situations and many, many, others as well. You gotta also understand that this happened after the awards ceremony and all that. So after all this, the director had go back through and post new winners, adjust all the placements, all the points, and change who the compensation went to, etc. All that is a nightmare to deal with, esp when theres only one director and not a huge team behind the series like a bassmaster or MLF would have. So thank your director, early and often; and if controversy happens, handle it with some dignity and respect......you can always punch a hole in the wall and throw a tantrum at home afterwards when no one is around.

What's sad...from what I understand, if they hadn't cheated, their fish would've still probably won the tournament. It's poetic justice lop

What's worse is people who hide giant bass in the lake and pick it up mid tournament

That has been everywhere, on the national news everywhere! It’s crazy how the only way the fishing community gets press like that is when something bad like this! Sad,not to mention everyone are pissed about the fish having to be put through that and rightly so

My mom has never fished a day in her life but she came across the video of that weigh in and asked me about it,so I explained everything to her.i think this story is world wide now

Idea for tournament directors! There are hand held metal detectors that look like a small wand that treasurer hunters use to pin point targets, They for sure would pick up lead or other metals inside a fish! One brand I know is Garret Wand!

Thanks for the explanantion of how it went down. I earlier had seen a video of the director explaining what happened and being suspicious he simply asked them to turn the fish over. The cheater protested but did in fact turn them over and now I'm sure he wishes that he didn't hand them over and just say something and leave. He probably thought they were going to just be re-weighed and didn't think they would be cut open.

We throw back 4-5 pounders in PA. We fill the boat with 7-8 pounders and citation walleye. The fish 4-6 miles out in 100+ FOW are much larger than the western basin fish they catch closer to shore.

“There’s probably people out there who are just nervous and would send up red flags for a polygraph test” That would be me😂 100% me. Always been afraid of those tests for no reason.

Great video randy. I've really become a fan of your videos over the last few months. Keep up the great work. As far as the cheating goes, couldn't they get some sort of portable xray or lead detector? I know it would be very expensive to buy one of these, but in a tournament where there's thousands of dollars at stake, I think it could be effective.

It is sad that there are people that do things like this and they need to ne held accountable for what they did. Hope that you do good out on the water and the background scenery is awesome!!

People watching that weigh in also knew the huge 33lb weight was off as soon as they saw the digital scale display the numbers. They can be heard clearly verbalizing their disbelief. Let’s hope the tournament is not negatively impacted by sponsorship withdrawals or competitors walking away in future. Tournament officials need to implement positive rule changes asap.

Randy, I believe most metal detectors will pick up lead if properly set. There are handheld ones (Pinpointers) that would make it easy to check a suspicious fish. Keep up the great videos.

What about just doing it by length? The kayak bass tournaments do it and it works really well.

I have fished with a charter the last 2yrs now, our Captain has fished against these 2 guys multiple times. There has been suspicion for a long time due to these 2 winning repeatedly

Xrays and metal detectors are one tool, but fish could still be stuffed with nonmetallic objects. Things that wouldn't show up on an xray or metal detectors. Saw one post mention ice. Randy keep us up to date on any rule changes that come about as result of this.

I caught a 7 lbs Walleye when I was young. It was three times the size of those fish 🤣🤣 I got pictures to prove it lol 🤣

we interviewed Jason Sunday night on Ike Live. Seems like a good dude, sorry he was put in that situation but he handled it well

The story was on ESPN two days ago. Let's not convict em yet Randy....they may have been on that early Fall lead bite that we all love 😂😂😂

Good synopsis, thanks Randy. Ad no it does not look good on our sport!!

Tournament fishing has never had so much media attention. Crazy. Cool

The response from all the fisherman, director, etc. were all professional. I can understand the cuss words and all but the control everyone displayed was commendable.

That’s why I think they should all go to length vs weight (CPR) catch, photo - measurement and release. No need for livewells, the fish are less stressed and with standardized measuring boards no guessing. I’ve caught 23” fish that weighed anywhere from 5.5 lbs to 7.5 lbs but 23” is 23” and wouldn’t matter if the fish was weighted lol. Check out tournament rules for KBF and other kayak tournament rules.

Wish there could be some kind of rule or law that if you ever get caught cheating then you have to pay back all your earning from every tournament before that.

Great explanation, thanks!

The average for their 5 fish they came in with was better than the big fish up to that point, if I am not mistaken.

Thanks for the update… check out Robby Rose down here in Texas, this guy was fishing by his self and winning everything for a couple years. He was caught in 2020 doing the same thing. Can’t begin to tell you how many boats, side x sides, 4 wheelers and cash he cheated people out of and like you side people was whispering cheater and they finally caught him. After it was all said and done he received 5 year’s probation and Jose his hunting and fishing rights for that period.

Randy keep up the pod casts...ie do more videos your a seasoned angler I wanna hear what YOU think best way s to fish whatever lure watched ur whole career.... much love. And thank the Lord for giving us fishing

Hey man glad you are keeping it real my name is Brandon McConnell I don't want to degrade any work you have done 👍 I appreciate you guys, I'm only here shinning the light 🚨 these guys have disgraced their family and I feel sympathy for there family's because they didn't know any better that these anglers felt they had to cheat to win. My thoughts and prayers are with those who didn't know, that they were doing this.♥️

What do you think about a metal detector…. Or maybe an X-ray machine to test these weight ins ???? Just a suggestion but something useful has to be put in place !!!!

The thieves should be charged with animal cruelty, fined, all equipment seized and banned from further events.

I work in HR IT and had a coworker come by first thing this morning and tell my team to pat me down for lead weights. I had to laugh. He knew I was a fanatic fisherman and he is not, so even people that don't fish are making jokes about it.

I’m sorry, but this took far too long for tournament directors to figure out. The scumbags were suspected for years! I would expect more with so much money on the line.

In order to avoid cheating every boat needs 2 Go Pro mounted from the organization and as Matt Stefan suggested few days ago maybe a scan to see if something is inside the fish

Haven't fished in yrs this has caught my eyes

I think this could be a good thing for the sport. I am not a competitive fisherman but I have great respect for those who choose that as a profession. Hopefully this incident will result in measures taken at future events to prevent this from occurring again.

Too bad it's not that easy at a place where people hand in votes.... Thanks Randy!

The judge in this case should require them to stand at every event with a a sign around their neck saying “ I’m a Cheater” for the next 5 years

The question I have is, what prevents tournament officials from inspecting the fish of the winning team? I saw in another video that these dudes refused to give their catch from previous tournaments to a company that collects and donates the fish to food banks.

a young streamer I watch named Ludwig on his Mogul Mail youtube channel even had a segment on it... it went pretty viral.

How did they add the weight to the fish?

Probably a dumb question and somewhat off topic, but why are they weighing in dead fish anyways? I bass fish every weekend (not in tournaments) and I think there should be a rule that any dead fish gets excluded or even deducted from the live fish total rather than just specified weight penalties.

I like how the original BFL kept the coangler and boater draw to where it was hard to get the same paring as well as making each other sing for the fish.

Every tournament needs to start using gopro cameras or some type of video setup especially if there is big money involved. $1500 and up. And it needs to a camera that has a time stamp.

It's time all fishing tournaments have an official on each boat keeps it legal and keeps the fish safe a good catch and release practice

Thank you for the video. Personally I appreciate it. The point you was talking about a 7lb average isn't unheard of but it definitely doesn't happen regularly. Much respect sir.

The Tournaments that I've been in have rules and restrictions. 1. The fish must be alive at all times even at weigh in, or the fish is disqualified which may result in a fine by the DNR. 2. There is metal detector that discriminates all metals, that scans all fish before they are weighed. Any metal... the fish is disqualified. 3. On big purse events, there is a sponsor on all boats to account for any violations and to stop any cheating. Polygraphs are completely useless, they are not an exact science and can be fooled by many.

I’ve beat two polygraph tests. No I didn’t do it:) somebody stole at my work and they had everyone in the department take the test. Of course the company threw in questions like “ have you ever used a vehicle without authorization” which we all did , among other dumb stuff. I counted in my head from one to whenever it stopped. I would hear the question, answer and only thinking about the count. Haha! Crazy

I’m a Tournament fisherman in Florida and cheating is everywhere and these guys got caught and it’s sad this is a sport , we do Catch Photo Release on a bump board and all of our tournaments are required to have live fish

Please keep us up to date on the results of the criminal investigation and trial . As a Life Time member of Bass I think they might have to change some rules like teams to be spilt up in different boats .like Boater and Co Angler in Bass Tournaments. My 2 ¢ .

Well told my friend thanks

The cheating can happen in other ways too. When i fished a BASS state championship in florida i caught a 7.8 lber at which point my boater took back the front position at the end of the day he offered me all of his fish for my weigh in which would put me in the money. I refused, he kept pushing it and i kept refusing. It made me think how much of that kind of cheating goes on as well. Also lets not forget the Flw fisherman that was tying bass to tree’s from pre-fishing days on ockee then going and getting them on tournament day. Fish and game caught him by clipping the fishes tall. Another team was caught throwing fish over an embankment to a small pond. They were filmed casting over the embankment to fill their bag tournament days. You also have prefish fish put in crab traps and retrieved tournament day. 15 years of tournaments i have seen and heard of a lot of cheating but weights were always a myth for me.

I said my piece on the subject and I think we have came up with a calm collect solution for cheater's out there and it is this that they be know through background check's and if anyone cheats they will be found out and done with properly I think this is what is going to happen and if so this is the best news ever as far as situation's like this.

There's no link to the interview in the description

If you’ve fished for years, You can guess the weight with in 6 ounces……easy.

Youre totally right, polygraphs bascailly are only effective as deterrents. The actual efficacy of polygraphs to detect lies are basically none, because they don't measure lies at all, they measure "arousal". Honestly, the angling industry should be kind of embarrassed that they're even implemented at all considering how nonsense they are. Its only slightly less embarrassing than using a crystal ball.

Thanks!

A spectograph could detect a foreign substance in the fish. Find any non-destructive testing technician and they'll be able to help you. I heard this story from a non- fishermen and I live in Spain. The cheaters were criminals and should be treated as such. Un saludo de España.

I remember 30 years ago fishing Salmon Tournaments in Ontario they were checking fish for lead weights. I remember asking my dad what they were checking for and he told me lead weights... it's the oldest trick in the book that you simply JUST DON'T DO IT!!!! Bye bye sponsors for those two!!!

Welcome to the Big League. Our Bank Anglers Assoc. tournaments have to watch for this all the time.

Well done to all the men NOT beating the cheaters up.

I'm not an avid fisherman myself, never been in a competition, but i think in a tournament like this it should be a regular practice to open fish with a knife if there are even questions or doubts and all those that enter such competitions should be ok with it

I have fished a few small tournaments and hated every minute of it! I just love to fish

I haven't read comments but can't figure out why there isn't a metal detector used at weigh-in on every basket of fish to remove the lead weight cheat suspicion.

Dan Patrick had a guy on yesterday and talked about it for 11 minutes, that’s when I knew it went WAY past the fishing world.

P why not a TSA quality scanner does the shooting of the X-ray and people will read it out about that but they can see into a fish if it's got any formatter into it

Would a metal detector like the ones the TSA uses have been useful? Not sure of the things that could naturally exist with in a walleye.

We have been talking about it at work in Aus and we all said how did these dudes walk out of there?

Polygraph machines are complex and do not "detect" lying, it's not that simple. A polygraph machine is an instrument, like a guitar...the polygraph examiner has to be extremely sharp and well-trained on how to interpret the device based upon baselines that are established with the person being tested. Each person will give unique polygraph results....it's up to the Examiner as to whether or not someone is lying. As an analogy...a guitar doesn't play itself, it's all about mastery of the instrument and knowing its ins and outs, becomes second nature to an experienced guitarist who has mastered the instrument. Same deal for a polygraph...you can hook a guy up to a polygraph, start asking questions, the results would be meaningless to the avg Joe. Whether or not the polygraph is indicating a lie is entirely based on the skill and experience of the examiner, and the baselines/deviations for each individual tested.

Haven't fished since I was 9 years old. But somehow, this interests me.

You can literally see the outlines on weights on their stomach in the pics of the holding the fish up

They were soft and squishy because they even cheated on the catch itself.

Just one thing..The fact that this dudes name is Jason "Fisher" makes me happy

Crazy how viral this has gone. I've overheard folks talking about it that don't even fish. Those clowns are lucky that the crowd didn't beat the living hell out of them.

Handheld magnetometer would work for any type metal

An MLF format would solve this. There would be a third party weigh master on the boat supplied by the tournament for the final day competitors.

Love to see the way they actually caught the fish in the first place , never mind putting lead into them and fish fillets . Did they caught those fish fair or pulled them out of a hat ?

Iaconelli had the tournament director on Ike live Sunday night.

I compete in bass tournaments and they have to be alive, when they are weighed. Do walleye die fast or something the reason they don’t have to be alive.

I caught an 8lb walleye about a month or 2 ago on lake huron and it was a tank. It did not look like any 5 or 6 I've ever caught. It's head was the size of a dog's.

As someone who doesn’t really fish and knows absolutely nothing about fishing tournaments, I don’t personally look at it as making tournaments look bad, I think the cheaters look bad and the tournament director looks good for not letting it slide under the radar.

If you watch in the video you can hear the guy who leaned in to the director tell him to stop amping people up, he knew things were about to go south.

I take a poly every year for my job and there is no way you just sit down after a tournament and hook up the machine and get an accurate poly. It's a half-day process to do a proper poly test. And a poly is not admissible in court for good reason, because they are not reliable.

Maybe implement some type of x-ray scans of catches before weighing