Patoka Report

[ndjay]

No Bashing intended.....dont read into it the wrong way......if only 1 boat limited out of 160 the must be pretty good.....dont be so quick to jump on a compliment

[Topwater2004]

They might have cheated. They might have gotten lucky. You never know about those big tournaments, that is why B.A.S.S. is so quick to dq somebody.

There was an angler on the FLW a few years ago, who won a lot. Anyway he was banned for life by the FLW, why no one was ever told. The FLW won't say, and the angler won't say. I bet it was a safe guess they caught him cheating more than once.

If guys would cheat at that high a level, think what is going on during these weekend tourneys.

[steves]

Well I'm surprised it took this long for the subject to change to cheating, but it finally has. The Hoosier Open tournaments are very competitve and well run, and sometimes lie detector tests are given. Does cheating take place in these tournaments? I can't say for sure that it doesn't, but I would like to think that it does not. I can say for sure that the winners of the Patoka tournament did not cheat. My partner and I won that tournament fairly, honestly, and followed every tournament and Indiana DNR rule. Did we get lucky? Maybe a little. But the fact remains that the fishing was tough that day and we were the only team to catch a limit. On that day, on that lake, in that tournament we were the best fishermen and we won. Period. The next tournament may turn out differently, that's bass fishing.

[bassman409]

ndjay, I took that post the wrong way, I apologize...........

[HoosierDon]

Way to go Topwater, once again you've thrown a dark cloud over a very reasonable thread.........

[hardestyeric]

Way to go. The fact that you guys caught a limit and nobody else did tells me you were better than everybody else that day. These people that comment on cheating and assume all tourney anglers are low-life bullies are the same ones that either can't afford the entry fees or tried it a few years back and got whooped and their pride won't let them come back. Plus it is much easier to say that someone cheated than to possibly admit that they are simply better than you are.
Enough with my rant.
Great job.
Eric H.

[Viper201]

Congratulations steves on a great catch,i hope you spent my money wisely,,,,,hahaha

[Topwater2004]

Once again, HoosierDon you try to make things personal. If you could read, you would be a lot better off.

[HoosierDon]

Topwater, what you said was rather straightforward. Either they were lucky or they cheated. Nothing said about being talented anglers who were able to find and catch the fish......

Congratulations on the win guys. I'll be there for the Top Eight tournament in a few weeks. Hope I do as well as you did......

[Topwater2004]

In all sports there is cheating going on. When one stands out well above anyone else, there is an air of suspicion.

When you get to the professional level, there are great lengths taken to prevent cheating.

Is there anyone who didn't think steroids were being used by Bonds, McGuire, and Sosa at a time when others with just as much ability such as Ken Griffey Jr. were still hitting their average each year? Baseball looked away because the homers were selling tickets. Now they look like a co-conspirator to the cheating.

Competitive men will do anything to win. Baseball, track, golf, football, point shaving scandals, horse doping, it happens in fishing too.

Without a doubt, with 170 boats in that competition, somebody was doing something that was not allowed. Just by the shear number of competitors, somebody did something.

There is no way that bass fishing for money is going to be different than any other competitive event.

I have no idea who won that tournament, nor do I care. Unless I see them on ESPN I will never know an angler by name. So to think it was personal was a mistake.

topwater