WOULD YOU TURN YOURSELF IN?
A kayaker turning himself in for a bass fishing tournament infraction has made a lot of Bassmaster fans ponder their own integrity.
Guillermo Gonzalez of Fort Worth, Texas, caught the winning fish to claim the title in the Kay4it Tournament of Champions early this month. But in the excitement of catching a 9.5-pounder, Gonzalez answered his phone in violation of tournament rules. He turned himself in to officials and lost a five-figure purse.
After telling his story, B.A.S.S. asked readers on Facebook, “Would you turn yourself in if you realized you broke a rule during a tournament?” Most all the respondents said, yes sir, indeedy, they would.
It started some good discussion and introspection from guys like Jeff Segers, who reported he has turned himself in at an event.
“I unknowingly caught a fish in a restricted area, and after double checking with the tournament officials, disqualified myself. No one would have ever known, but I would, I wasn’t raised to cheat unknowingly or otherwise. Thanks Mom and Dad.”
“Yes, I have to be honest with everything I do!” wrote Rooster Hood. “I also have to know that even if I could hide what I did from man, God almighty would still know, and I would rather have a clear conscience on the day of Judgment!”
Amen, brother.
“Yes, I would definitely explain what occurred and let the chips fall as they may,” wrote William Welch.
Gonzalez, a regular on the circuit who offers rules suggestions to the owner, said he felt even more compelled to be forthright because a cheating scandal recently rocked the kayak world.
In most kayak events, competitors take photos of their fish on an official measuring board. They need to show the entire fish on the board, along with a daily sticker, a wristband and a tournament card. The cheater had cut and glued measuring boards.
At the TOC, images of the fish are shown on a big screen and competitors watching actually helped report missing identifiers that disqualified fish. More than 30 fish total were DQ’d, Gonzalez said, adding one of the other leaders’ long sleeves covered his wristband, disqualifying that catch.
While Gonzalez missed out on the big purse, he received boatloads of respect as many realized, “There is hope for our future.”
Yet there’s always one. We won’t name this commenter, but he, or she, said “It’s only cheating if you get caught!”
That’s having no scruples, or a conscience, which doesn’t fly with 99.9 percent of the bass fishing family. Anglers might be cutthroat sandbaggers, but they will bend over backwards to do right by their fellow man. When actually cheated on, they turn their backs on offenders.
There are many anglers who have inadvertently broken a tournament rule and turned themselves in, like Gonzales. Everyone who knows him, or even hears the scenario, knows he wasn’t intentionally trying to cheat.
Michael Stearns offered the potential of a different outcome in Gonzales’ case, and a great many more might agree.
“If I came in second that day I would ask that they not disqualify his catch. I think he did the right thing, but if I was one of the other anglers I definitely would want his catch to count. In this instance a 20 second phone call wasn’t cheating, it was just an honest mistake,” Stearns said.
It’s rough to watch an upstanding young man lose in such manner – especially after he blew away the field – but there’s little chance a tournament could ever become totally democratic, like presenting info to anglers and giving them a vote. Honest mistakes in tournament fishing have occurred for some time, and they’ll be more.
With the high stakes nowadays, it seems that every nuance of every rule needs to be in writing, then followed to a T. If down in black and white, most rules can’t be argued, and falling on the wrong side simply becomes a self-inflicted wound, because everyone knows the rules are the rules.
BETTER MAKE NICE LIST FOR ULTREX
If you haven’t sent your Christmas list to the North Pole yet, Bassmaster gives you a pretty good start with this bag of goodies. If you’ve been extra good, you might even ask Santa for a Minn Kota Ultrex.
At ICAST, the smart trolling motor impressed the likes of Elite pro Davy Hite (above) as well as voters, who awarded it Best of Show Boating Accessory and Overall Best of Show.
It’s no wonder, as the Ultrex can hold you on your spot, follow a contour line or retrace your path. That would brighten anyone’s New Year of fishing.
AH, PARIS IN LATE FALL IS CLASSIC
Paris in the fall is wonderful – that’s Paris, Tenn., on Kentucky Lake, venue for the Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship. On the line is the final berth to the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro.
On Nov. 30, about 200 teams of amateur anglers from all over the U.S. will begin two days of competition. The top three teams advance then will fish as individuals for two days in the Bassmaster Team Championship Classic Fish-Off, which is scheduled to award the 52nd Classic berth on Dec. 3. Check out the Team Championship story.
WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST WEAKNESS?
That question, often dreaded during job interviews, was asked of the Elite Series pros, and their responses are enlightening – some are well-known or stand to reason. In the case of several others, including Aaron Martens, who wrote down sleep, they are funny.
Go through the photo gallery to see some of their inadequacies, along with who wrote that their main weakness was “sponsorships.”
ANGLERS HELPING YOUTH WITH CANCER
It’s pretty touching what some pro anglers will do. Brandon Card, Chad Pipkens and Nathan Light each donated their jerseys to help a youth with cancer.
They will be auctioned to raise money for the medical expenses of Hunter Northcutt, a 14-year-old member of the Grundy County High School Bass Team who was recently diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma. He has already begun treatment but his family needs support to take off time from work. The auction is Dec. 3 at Pelham Elementary School, but you can donate to Hunter’s GoFundMe account.
I SAW ZONA SLEEPING WITH SANTA
Too much turkey, yes sir. That tryptophan will get you every time. Either that, or there was a long ride on the pontoon boat.
No, I saw Zona sleeping with Santa is not a new carol, but the photo shoot serves as a promo for Santa’s Wonderland at a Bass Pro Shops near you.
Zona relates that he and Santa had a fantastically filling Thanksgiving, and nap. Santa and his helpers now are giving away free photos until Dec. 24. Bass Pro Shops does it up right for Christmas, and there’s too much to mention, so click here for more info.
