State game wardens checking on alleged tournament cheating incidents
Charges are still pending in a series of alleged cheating incidents that occurred during organized big bass tournaments held on two Texas reservoirs in recent months.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens, a pair of cases under investigation involve anglers who allegedly trimmed the tails on largemouth bass in order to make the fish fall within the legal slot-length limit at Lake Fork in northeast Texas.
The first incident occurred during the Legend's Big Bass Tournament last May, the second during the McDonald's Big Bass Splash in September.
A third case under investigation happened in October at the Bud Light Big Bass event at Lake Ray Hubbard near Dallas.
Bud Light tournament officials issued a statement following the event explaining that an angler was disqualified from the tournament after a lead weight was discovered inside a bass he brought to weigh-in. The tournament awarded cash prizes up to $500 for the heaviest bass of each hour, plus a fully rigged Legend bass boat valued at $55,000 for the biggest fish overall.
Tom Carbone, the Dallas County game warden investigating the Ray Hubbard case, confirmed that the lead weight found inside the bass weighed 16 ounces. Carbone said he is still following up on several leads in the case and could not provide a timeline as to when charges might be filed.
"There are still some things I am looking into and following up on," Carbone said. "We want to build as solid case as we can before we move forward on this. There are a lot of people watching this one."
Wood County game warden Kurt Kelley is heading up the investigation into the cheating incidents that allegedly took place during the McDonald's and Legend's events at Lake Fork. Both are annual tournaments that offer lucrative cash rewards for the big bass of each hour, as well as boats and other merchandise to the overall winners. The McDonald's tournament has the best following of the two. The event routinely draws 2,500 entries each year and pays out in excess of $400,000 in cash and prizes.
Kelley said the two cases are similar in that the tails on the fish had been cut, apparently in an effort to make the fish measure 16 inches or less and fall within the "keeper" window set forth by the lake's restrictive slot limit.
The slot limit on Fork is 16 to 24 inches. Anglers are allowed to retain a limit of fish under 16 inches and one fish longer than 24 inches, daily. All slot fish must be released immediately. It is not legal to bring a slot fish to a tournament weigh-in.
Kelley said both cases of cheating will likely carry Class A misdemeanor charges.
"This isn't the first time we've seen this," Kelley said. "We've worked some similar cases in small jackpot tournaments. We know it has been going on, but these are usually pretty hard cases to prove. It's one of those deals where all the stars have to line up just right to get it done."
In a separate incident, Kelley said third-degree felony charges have been filed and an arrest warrant has been issued for an angler suspected of cheating in the 2009 Skeeter Owner's Tournament held at Lake Fork last June.
Neither Kelley, his supervisor Capt. Larry Hand of Tyler nor Wood County District Attorney Jim Wheeler of Quitman would release any facts regarding the case or the name of the angler involved.
"About all I can say is this is going to get a lot of media attention once it goes," Kelley said. "The department is very interested in this one, mainly because of the way he went about it. I've been doing this for 10 years, and I have never seen something like this."
While these incidents happen occasionally, Kelley said he thinks the recent flurry in cheating activity in tournaments may be linked to the ailing economy.
"We've had five major tournaments on Lake Fork this year, and we've caught people cheating in three of them," Kelley said. 'It is certainly no excuse, but I think the economy has something to do with it. People are hurting financially, and they may be willing to take some risks they normally wouldn't take."
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