cheaters

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I also read the story about the cheater Mike long. In the story they mention "Lunker, Bill Murry", and have to relate about the time my friend and I went to Lake San Vincente, in San Diego. It was opening day in 1973, I think. We weren't very good freshwater bass guys so we didn't catch any big largemouth, so we changed to catching crappie. We went to the boat dock to return the rental and at the same time Bill Murry came in. He new the dock guys who seemed excited to see what he'd caught. He had 5 of the biggest largemouth I had ever seen, all alive and wanted to way his limit. This was opening day and no tournament, so they weighed them, while we watched. The 5 fish limit weighed 61.4 lbs. ! He was a very personable guy and when ask how he had such a big limit went on to tell us all, that he'd caught over 20 bass and culled them to keep the 5 biggest. He even told us how he had caught them on waterdogs, (which were legal then), in 40-60 foot of water along the bouyline in front of the dam. I'll never see as impressive 5 fish limit again! After weighing them they were all let go.
 
It is sad that money, egos and competition lead some bad individuals to do these things. Long ago when I used to supply some gear to some tournament anglers. I witnessed long time friendships ruined and other relationships severely strained from these competitions. I saw so much friction and secrecy develop amongst some of the people and these were just low dollar, mainly bragging rights or trophy tournaments. It helped me make up my mind it was something I would not choose to do. I decided then and there that I love fishing just for the enjoyment of all things related to doing it and helping others participate in it. The friendships I have been fortunate enough to form through connections to this great thing called Fishing or Angling, and the enjoyment over all these years to me is worth far more than any trophy or prize. I agree with Dungee about how many of these fish are displaced from the location they have thrived in to end up residing in the bays near the weigh in. It is too bad there isn't an easier way to catch measure weigh and release where caught. Sadly keeping competitors honest is a big challenge, so there needs to be an independent witness involved.
in the long run I would think that would be better for the fishery as well. Some of these fish are displaced just before spawning and that could affect the site they were taken away from for a long time. I know some tournament fishers concentrate on those areas of released fish from previous tournaments, that seems a bit off to me.
 
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I also read the story about the cheater Mike long. In the story they mention "Lunker, Bill Murry", and have to relate about the time my friend and I went to Lake San Vincente, in San Diego. It was opening day in 1973, I think. We weren't very good freshwater bass guys so we didn't catch any big largemouth, so we changed to catching crappie. We went to the boat dock to return the rental and at the same time Bill Murry came in. He new the dock guys who seemed excited to see what he'd caught. He had 5 of the biggest largemouth I had ever seen, all alive and wanted to way his limit. This was opening day and no tournament, so they weighed them, while we watched. The 5 fish limit weighed 61.4 lbs. ! He was a very personable guy and when ask how he had such a big limit went on to tell us all, that he'd caught over 20 bass and culled them to keep the 5 biggest. He even told us how he had caught them on waterdogs, (which were legal then), in 40-60 foot of water along the bouyline in front of the dam. I'll never see as impressive 5 fish limit again! After weighing them they were all let go.
My Dad knew him and loved that kind of fishing. Leave the house early enough to be first in line when they open the gates to the lake. Get to your number one spot, a rock pile that he felt was in the right depth for the time of year. Use two anchors to place the boat where it won’t move at all about 2/3 of a cast back from the rocks. After that it was casting crawdads weightless and “stitching” them slowly. We’d sit on the one spot until they kicked us off the lake at sunset. Long hours of boredom until your crawdad started kicking frantically... dates on the photos are when I got them on my phone. Pictures were in the 80’s.
 

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It is sad that money, egos and competition lead some bad individuals to do these things. Long ago when I used to supply some gear to some tournament anglers. I witnessed long time friendships ruined and other relationships severely strained from these competitions. I saw so much friction and secrecy develop amongst some of the people and these were just low dollar, mainly bragging rights or trophy tournaments. It helped me make uo my mind it was something I would not choose to do. I decided then and there that I love fishing just for the enjoyment of all things related to doing it and helping others participate in it. The friendships I have been fortunate enough to form through connections to this great thing called Fishing or Angling, and the enjoyment over all these years to me is worth far more than any trophy or prize. I agree with Dungee about how many of these fish are displaced from the location they have thrived in to end up residing in the bays near the weigh in. It is too bad there isn't an easier way to catch measure weigh and release where caught. Sadly keeping competitors honest is a big challenge, so there needs to be an independent witness involved.
in the long run I would think that would be better for the fishery as well. Some of these fish are displaced just before spawning and that could affect the site they were taken away from for a long time. I know some tournament fishers concentrate on those areas of released fish from previous tournaments, that seems a bit off to me.
Side note, flyfishing competitions have a judge for each competitor that records/measures/releases every catch,,
Also is that a crappie in your avatar?? freaking donkey if it is!!
 
Side note, flyfishing competitions have a judge for each competitor that records/measures/releases every catch,,
Also is that a crappie in your avatar?? freaking donkey if it is!!
On a funny note fly fishers wouldn't ever cheat or tell stories do they LOL
Yes, it is a dandy Crappie from Powell about 4 years ago. Not even the biggest of that trip! Biggest Crappies I ever caught anywhere were back in the early 80's up the San Juan. No doubt some would have been Lake records. We were primitive camping and had limited ice and space so we filleted what made sense and let the rest go for next time. Only pics I have are old paper photos wrinkled and faded now. As I recall measured over 19 inches and on an old scale a fair amount over 3.5 Lbs. Those were the days, Great Memories.
 
Here in Washington County they are saying the fish these guys had looked much different than the fish everyone else was turning in. They then had the fish tested and found them to be from Quail Creek. They also had a lot of red in the fins and tail an indication of stress.
 
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