Anyone hear what happened at Claytor Lake this past weekend in the Shelor Bass Tournament. I was told they caught 2 anglers cheating and had video of this as well. I was told the State Police and Game Commision was on hand to escort the cheater's off the property. I was told there will be charges pending. The gall of some people!!!

TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR SAID HE IS PROSECUTING TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW!!! AND HE WILL BE POSTING INFO AND HOPEFULLY NAMES ON THER WEBSITE SOON!! TEAMTOURNAMENTTRAIL.COM

The website is down or the link they have is incorrect but I'm waiting on the annoucement when they are able to release the info.

Yeah you got to watch alot of those tournaments because there is alot of crooked fishermen.People that are caught cheating in a tournament should be hung from a oak tree!

Talked to the TEAM TOURNAMENT TRAIL director and at this time these guys are to remain anonymous,until they are actually charged,which may be coming in a few days. This trail is run as close to a professional tournament as you can get, and still allow you to fish as a team. The guys do a great job,and make every attempt to prevent illegal activity. In this circumstance,the director personally sat in the woods,after recieving an anonymous tip about the possibility of an attempt to cheat.Kudo's to the tipster and the director for preventing a possible cheater from benefitting from fish taken before tournament hours. Great tournament trail, giving away a new Ranger each of the last 3 years. Fish it if you can.
Info at: teamtournamenttrail.com

2nd Place 20.05 lbs. Tony Keen Ricky Hartis
these are the guys that they caught cheating and this is the result of their last tournament

I guess my information was correct!! He has been taking money for 25 years !!!! I wonder where he learned to do that??

http://www.teamtournamenttrail.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

I believe these guys are from Martinsville. I heard they had placed high or won some tournaments on this trail plus they had won or placed high at a few tournaments here lately at Philpott and Smith Mountain in some other trail tournaments. This was definetly not there first time doing this. Hopefully word will get out and they will never be seen at another tournament again.

I think one of them has won several trucks and a couple of boats years ago!!!! They also won the Children's Miricle Tournament a couple of years ago on Smith Mountain Lake along with several high finishes recently!!!!!!!

I fished a couple tournaments at Mayo and at Hyco and you get a strange feeling about the big fish that get turned in when all of them have rubbed places on their noses like they are kept somewhere,its a shame that people have to cheat in just about everything!!

Man you hate to hear about this crap but when money is envolved nothing suprises me. If I get beat, that's ok so long as the rules are followed.

How common would you guys guess this is? Most of the tournaments I fish do not have anything in place to catch cheaters. I have heard polygraphs at these tournaments are random, but have never heard of one actually done in a tournament I have fished. They do not even check live wells before the tournament. Like someone else posted, I have no problem loosing fair and square, and know that I will not make the money most of the time because I am still a rookie at tournaments.

The draw tournaments have the least chance of cheating or stealing if you ask me. Fishing with a long time friend in a tournament is a lot of fun. Provided you are fishing with honest people. I done both and the majority of the time I like to fish with my son or dad. To law enforcement this is most likely a trivial issue. But ask the guys who came in second when they could have won a boat how trivial it is. The would want capital punishment! If you steal $20,000 from a bank its a felony...Whats the differance in that and a $20,000 boat ? Throw them in the pen and they can be bubbas ***** for a while. That would be a deterant.

I guess cheating goes on 1/2 of the time. People do not obey the rules of anything, why will they obey tournament rules.

I just wish there was a way to get back all the money lost to cheaters once convicted and give it to a good cause like handicapped fishermen or some kind of kids program for fishing.

In a way this is kinda funny.One of the main reasons i don't believe in tournaments.If only the truth could be known for catfishing and other tournaments.

Amazing,is it not. In a day and time like these,come on.It is really sad if you think about it though.All I can say is fish the tournaments if you want,And hope everybody else is as honest as you are!!!!!!!!I did it for 5 or 6 years and had a blast.

I'm with you flippn/fool I fish them from time to time hoping that people are doing the right thing.

Wonder why the tournament page hasn't been updated yet? It claims that results will be posted within one week of tournament.

Results have been posted! Use your brain instead of your mouth and you will find what you are looking for ie Standings. Wayne has a well run tournament trail.James@ Angler's Choice/Fisherman's Journal,Randy @ Bugg's Island Team Trail, Bucky @ Tarheel Teams all run good tournaments. The problem lies with integrity. Most have it some don't.

I would not think law enforcement wouldtake a fraud case or grand larceny case as trivial,a thief is a thief!

I would like to think it would be serious offense and the punishment appropriate. But I havn't seen anyone doing time for cheating in a fishing tournament.

This is a perfect fraud cases. I too am a Bass Tourn fisherman, and would love to work a case like this one. If it is on tape.... these boys are done. I bet they make a deal with the D.A. Oh, I'm a Federal Game Warden, and take this type of incident very serious! Catch & Do Time! take care.

reply on all these guys who say something about fish having sores...I know a lot about the situation that occured at claytor, and the way they tied these fish up would rarely create sores on their nose, side, fins or anything....dont always assume that someones not cheating because their fish are in good shape, and by the way, I have caught limits of schooling fish before in deep water that look like they have been fighting for the last piece of shad in the lake

I am not familiar with what went on at Claytor Lake but do agree that it is a pity and gives not just fishing but all outdoor sports a black eye! With that being said I would like to ask for some help and a chance for some one to make a difference. I am part of the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Henry County Long Beards chapter and we are hosting a JAKES evnt for kids on June 2nd in Axton Va. We have several out door events scheduled for the kids that day to try and teach them about the out doors from a safety and ethics point of view. We are expecting 100+ kids from 5 years to 17 years. One of the events that we have scheduled is a fishing station for the older (11-17) kids to try and teach them how to use different types of rod/reel combos and why and what type of lures to use at what times. With all of that said my fishing instructors have canceled out and I am trying to find a replacement for them... any takers? The event is free to all that want to come and has been a big sucess in the past. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I am sorry that this was a little on the wordy side but I wanted to share what we did here so you may understand why I was asking for the help.

Any breaking news about these proported cheaters?