4 ms·

So how does the cheat work?

qup 3y ago
> Whenever I told friends of mine I was working on a story about cheating at bass fishing, they always asked the same thing: How in the world do you cheat at bass fishing? Let me count the ways, I’d tell them. > By far, the most common way people cheat is to store a fish basket or pet taxi under a dock, filled with lunkers they’d caught before the event, and then retrieve the fish while they were supposed to be out fishing. A variation on this would be to attach a string to a stump in the water and hook various fish to the string. This way allows fishermen to retrieve the fish while faking that they actually caught them, just in case they were paired up in the boat with a competitor. There was the story that Ray Scott told me about a man who showed up for a tournament wearing a full-length raincoat even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky — his partner later discovered the man had a string of bass draped around his neck. There was the guy in the U.K. who last year won a bass fishing tournament with a 13-pounder, only to have the second-place finisher recognize the giant bass from a recent trip he had taken to the local aquarium with his daughter. They called the aquarium and, sure enough, it was missing a big bass. People have been caught buying fish off of noncompetitors on the lake during an event, or sharing fish between colluding teams.
- kristjansson 3y ago
  > his partner later discovered the man had a string of bass draped around his neck Incredible. I guess you have to hope the other person catches early so they don’t notice the smell!
- ryandrake 3y ago
  There was a video[1] going around about a year ago of some guys who cheated in a fishing tournament by stuffing weights inside their fish. Wild what people are willing to do! 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga3Rj9oaMWA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga3Rj9oaMWA
- acangiano 3y ago
  In a recent scandal, salmon fillets wrapped around lead weights shoven down the fish's troats was also used to cheat.
  - Severian 3y ago
    Unless it was something brand new, it was the Walleye species: https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2022/10/12/walleye-cheaters-charge-related-lake-erie-walleye-fishing-tournament-cheating/69558734007/ https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2022/10/12/walleye-... https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/crime/2023/05/11/lake-erie-walleye-fishing-tournament-scandal-two-men-sentenced-jail/70208820007/ https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/crime/2023/05/11/la...
- lupire 3y ago
  So basically the same as how people do hackathons. :-)
  - qup 3y ago
    Zing! I've never attended one, but I can imagine it. > import antigravity
umvi 3y ago
Pre-caught fish that the fisher pretends to catch somehow (fish tethered to some underwater anchor, etc). Article doesn't mention it, but seems like you could easily brute force it - if the prize money is big enough you simply have your friend scuba dive in the lake with a closed system and in possession of a huge pre-caught bass. Then you meet at a predetermined spot in the lake where your friend attaches the fish to your hook and you reel it in. Then you split the prize later. This would only work on big lakes though or there would be witnesses of a scuba diver exiting the lake at some point.
- ClassyJacket 3y ago
  Wouldn't people notice you catching a dead fish? Or are you saying to do this with a live one?
  - wddkcs 3y ago
    They'd need to invest in cryogenics and thaw the fish in the boat.
  - mindcrime 3y ago
    I'm a bass fisherman, but not a tournament competitor, so I only loosely follow the tournament stuff. But my understanding is that for most bass tournaments (the big professional ones at least) fish have to be alive at weigh-in to count. So even if you catch a legit live fish and it dies in the live well on the way to weigh-in, you don't get credit for it. Presumably that rule is both to help protect the fish and to discourage certain forms of cheating.
- rainbowzootsuit 3y ago
  Probably going need to recommend a rebreather setup and pressurized submersible to retreat to until after the tournament. SCUBA is going to have too many bubbles that reveal your position.
0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
On King of the Hill, Dale used a frozen fish he brought with him: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz4SgWPAJQE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz4SgWPAJQE

qup 3y ago

> Whenever I told friends of mine I was working on a story about cheating at bass fishing, they always asked the same thing: How in the world do you cheat at bass fishing? Let me count the ways, I’d tell them. > By far, the most common way people cheat is to store a fish basket or pet taxi under a dock, filled with lunkers they’d caught before the event, and then retrieve the fish while they were supposed to be out fishing. A variation on this would be to attach a string to a stump in the water and hook various fish to the string. This way allows fishermen to retrieve the fish while faking that they actually caught them, just in case they were paired up in the boat with a competitor. There was the story that Ray Scott told me about a man who showed up for a tournament wearing a full-length raincoat even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky — his partner later discovered the man had a string of bass draped around his neck. There was the guy in the U.K. who last year won a bass fishing tournament with a 13-pounder, only to have the second-place finisher recognize the giant bass from a recent trip he had taken to the local aquarium with his daughter. They called the aquarium and, sure enough, it was missing a big bass. People have been caught buying fish off of noncompetitors on the lake during an event, or sharing fish between colluding teams.

kristjansson 3y ago
> his partner later discovered the man had a string of bass draped around his neck Incredible. I guess you have to hope the other person catches early so they don’t notice the smell!
ryandrake 3y ago
There was a video[1] going around about a year ago of some guys who cheated in a fishing tournament by stuffing weights inside their fish. Wild what people are willing to do! 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga3Rj9oaMWA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga3Rj9oaMWA
acangiano 3y ago
In a recent scandal, salmon fillets wrapped around lead weights shoven down the fish's troats was also used to cheat.
- Severian 3y ago
  Unless it was something brand new, it was the Walleye species: https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2022/10/12/walleye-cheaters-charge-related-lake-erie-walleye-fishing-tournament-cheating/69558734007/ https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2022/10/12/walleye-... https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/crime/2023/05/11/lake-erie-walleye-fishing-tournament-scandal-two-men-sentenced-jail/70208820007/ https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/crime/2023/05/11/la...
lupire 3y ago
So basically the same as how people do hackathons. :-)
- qup 3y ago
  Zing! I've never attended one, but I can imagine it. > import antigravity

umvi 3y ago

Pre-caught fish that the fisher pretends to catch somehow (fish tethered to some underwater anchor, etc). Article doesn't mention it, but seems like you could easily brute force it - if the prize money is big enough you simply have your friend scuba dive in the lake with a closed system and in possession of a huge pre-caught bass. Then you meet at a predetermined spot in the lake where your friend attaches the fish to your hook and you reel it in. Then you split the prize later. This would only work on big lakes though or there would be witnesses of a scuba diver exiting the lake at some point.

ClassyJacket 3y ago
Wouldn't people notice you catching a dead fish? Or are you saying to do this with a live one?
- wddkcs 3y ago
  They'd need to invest in cryogenics and thaw the fish in the boat.
- mindcrime 3y ago
  I'm a bass fisherman, but not a tournament competitor, so I only loosely follow the tournament stuff. But my understanding is that for most bass tournaments (the big professional ones at least) fish have to be alive at weigh-in to count. So even if you catch a legit live fish and it dies in the live well on the way to weigh-in, you don't get credit for it. Presumably that rule is both to help protect the fish and to discourage certain forms of cheating.
rainbowzootsuit 3y ago
Probably going need to recommend a rebreather setup and pressurized submersible to retreat to until after the tournament. SCUBA is going to have too many bubbles that reveal your position.

0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago

On King of the Hill, Dale used a frozen fish he brought with him: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz4SgWPAJQE https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz4SgWPAJQE