This is just one of the reason's I would not fish a money tournament. What you are seeing is more people getting caught. It's too easy to get away with and that's why you have not seen as many people getting caught.
This and people that hire lake guides on the lake they will be fishing the tournament with.
I saw one guy fishing a crappie tournament with a local KY lake guide. Then the same guy was fishing with the crappie guide from Patoka Lake in the next tournament. That's legal but it's why I would not fish in those tournaments. It's just not a fair playing field when you fish against someone that's fish the lake almost every day for the last 10 years or more. Your odd are not as good as if you were fishing a new lake that NO one in the tournament had ever fished before. That's how I would setup a tournament that would be a real challenge to everyone. But that's more theoretical than practical which is why I don't run tournaments LOL.
I would much rather just fish for fun and relaxation than to chase the money. Tournament fishing is for the younger guys who need the adrenaline rush. I had my adrenaline rushes when I was younger.
I can see where adrenaline rushes ( natural highs) are addicting. Bike Riders, runners, firemen and policemen all get the adrenaline rush on the job. They just learn to control it better than others. Ever heard of the runners block and then the runner's high? That's the body running out of energy and then the adrenaline kicks in to give them their second wind. Adrenaline is used to get the heart pumping faster and better. It make you fell ALIVE!
When I grew up fishing they didn't have bass fishing tournaments. They had the Tangle Tom tournament where someone put tags on fish and returned them to the lake. Whoever caught the fish with tags got a prize of some sort. I never won any of those either? LOL