Fair or Cheating?

[bisquit]

Sounds fair to me--look at the number of boats that "practice-fish" in the days before most tournaments.

On the day of the tournament, however, I don't think it passes the smell test. I also realize that it would be almost impossible to prevent. What's to keep anybody who may be out fishing, who's not in the tournament, from using the radio or sat phone to give a buddy, or favorite, a heads-up?

Not cheating, in my book.

[perfectscore]

how bout tying a 95lb white to a bouy and then catchin him, is this fair, he was still caught

[Russell A. Jost]

Assimilating info is part of the game. Pre fishing, sst, buddies around the docks, and keeping track of water movements is all part of the preperation for a tournament. In the MA500 with a 125 mile radius from the 40 line to the 1000 line, from the hudson to the norfolk is about 7,500 sq. miles of ocean. If the go fast boat was a big advantage, we all would be doing it.

[eppefour]

Charter boats are often fishing 3 or 4 times before a tournament. It would be unfair to stop them from making a living. Anyone who wants to could prefish or take a daylong canyon ride before the tournaments. Freshwater bass tournaments don't allow it, but part of their concern stems from incidents where fish were blocked into an area pre-tournament. This can't be done offshore, or at least not easily. I do realize there are some experiments going on with penning tuna to create a farm situation

[Mike15]

Whats the only way to really make a tournament fair???

Give everyone the same exact boat with the same exact gear....Then we will see whos who in all of these tournaments

[DropinBack]

More than fair...

People DO fish their lay days... and people DO have scout boats... and both are done already and fair...

And giving everyone the same boat, gear, money, etc... you would still have a lot of the same boats winning, espesially in release billfish situations...

[fat2na.com]

Hey Perfectscore, that is an assinine comment, give me an f,,,ing break, pre-fishing happens and has been happening since the dawn of tournament fishing. TO make a comment, that as far as I'm concerned, incinuating someone tied a fish off to win the Mid-Atlantic. Is that the case? If so, don't be a pussy and just point a finger.

Does cheating happen in touraments, do people tie off fish, yes. Can you compete against that, not really. It's the trials and tribulations of tournament fishing. Things are done to try to prevent cheating, in my opinion there could be more done in a million dollar tournament but that's not my call. Don't enter a tournament if you think shady shit is going on but don't don't make assumtions on something you have no proof of.

[marlin magnet]

I would hire a plane, not a boat. much more effective in seeing bait and water breaks. Ir's fair. Bill Belacheck would do it and take video of it as well.

[hubris 1]

Hey Perfectscore, that is an assinine comment, give me an f,,,ing break, pre-fishing happens and has been happening since the dawn of tournament fishing. TO make a comment, that as far as I'm concerned, incinuating someone tied a fish off to win the Mid-Atlantic. Is that the case? If so, don't be a pussy and just point a finger.

Does cheating happen in touraments, do people tie off fish, yes. Can you compete against that, not really. It's the trials and tribulations of tournament fishing. Things are done to try to prevent cheating, in my opinion there could be more done in a million dollar tournament but that's not my call. Don't enter a tournament if you think shady shit is going on but don't don't make assumtions on something you have no proof of.

[FAT CAT MX]

This is certainly fair. And I don't care how you cut it or twist the story the more boats, planes, resources (aka money) you have at your disposal the bigger advantage you have period. Some west coast teams like bad company have 3 boats entered in the same tournament all under the same name. Talk about increasing your odds!

The BAD COMPANY team does have three boats, but I don't think they are all entered in the same tournament. At least I've never heard of them doing that. Seems as though it would be a little difficult to do so with one boat in California, one in Cabo San Lucas and one in Hawaii.