Randy, my dad is Gary Brown. He is the guy that was in 1st in the 2003 all-American until Tony Christian cheated him into 2nd. Not only was it $100,000, but a year on the circuit stolen from my dad. A chance to make his dream come true. My dad bass fished his whole life growing up in south MS, working his way to the top. Fishing every weekend taking time from our family to travel to tournaments. You know how much sacrifice and time it takes to get to that tournament, and for someone to just steal it away from him and him never seeing any kind of recognition was devastating. Gary Brown from Gautier, MS is the 2003 all-American Champion.
Your dad's 5 fish was 6 pounds, and the 3rd place finisher had 3 fish for 3 pounds. I don't think the fish Tony turned in were even from that river. Sorry to hear that about your dad, can't imagine how y'all feel, breaks my heart, and I don't even know y'all.
Without a doubt the fish came from somewhere else. He was using the same strategy with the boxes that Randy describes in this video. The story we were always told was the fish were from stocked ponds.
@@haganbrown8486 I've also heard he had a diver putting the fish on the hook...which makes sense, cause I have a hard time believing he was hitting a hole in a basket with his casting skills.
Randy, I would like to bring light of positivity and celebrate Louis Monetti winning the Bassmasters Elite College Championship in an Old beat up Ranger, a 115 hp mercury probably from the 90s, and no electronics on the front of his boat.. no power poles, no I pilot, just fishing.
We caught a guy cheating in local club level tournaments. He was pre fishing and putting fish in cages deep in creek channels and coves. If you fish local club level events you know you’re not winning much money and definitely no need to cheat your “buddies” out of their hard earned money.
Definitely Tony Christian. Had a camerman in boat, caught nothing, camerman leaves starts "crushing it". Not sure why people don't want to say his name. He's a cheater!
@@BobbyBalsaRNM I remember the guy was a ex navy seal using a rebreather and the property owner saw him exiting the water and reported it to the tournament director.
Tony Christian should have been sued in civil court and ordered to pay the second place guys earnings plus the trophy. I don’t understand why no one hired a good attorney.. his scumbag a$$ would have been drug into court if I finished second behind him !!!!!!!!
Listen, I’m a 34 y.o. woman who’s worked in the healthcare industry for the past 17 years (hospital, retail, and correctional institution pharmacies, more specifically) & who’s fished no more than 10 times in my life. So… Despite my complete lack of knowledge, participation, and perhaps even interest in the fishing industry, I found myself listening to your video & thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it 😂 I agree with Bubba Ward Music’s comment. Tell more stories. Your voice is soothing & you have a way with storytelling that captures me hook, line, and sinker 😙😅
Thanks for pointing that out. It was in the back of my mind that this was so different than any other I 've seen RB do & this story could not have been told better. The dude got skills!
Yes I remember him well. I finished 2nd to him twice in the BFLs! He always caught em and won off of one dock. He won big bass in 9 straight BFLs and won several also won regional and all American. Bad thing is all his stats are still on the website with wins to his credit. I felt like all those wins should be taken away and should of been prosecuted.
What baffles me is why in this day and age why tournaments that have large amounts of money they dont contract a company to xray or ultrasound the fish as soon as the tournaments are finished the top three should immediately be tested?
If cheating is and has become a problem let’s hope they implement more monitoring over the loopholes otherwise it’s a rigged thing may be this is why I never got into fishing competitions it just never felt genuine all the way… My heart goes out for the real fisher en that were honest thru their career ..
During this guy's peak years prior to the cheating shaking out, I fished a BFL regional tournament at Lake Gaston that also included his division. He had been dominant in his region, winning 4 or 5 BFLs, and at the pre-tournament meeting, he was literally treated like a celebrity. First prize was a new boat/truck package, and many other competitors were ready to hand him the keys before the even even started. They lined up to talk to this guy. He won that event as well. I heard a fairly detailed description of the contraption shortly after it was first discovered by someone close to FLW, but have also heard some other interesting stories about how some of it was possibly pulled off - everything from accomplices in scuba gear to guys sitting in boat slips behind garage doors helping him. May or may not be true, but he clearly went to crazy elaborate lengths so he could be perceived as "the man".
Now you know what many americans feel when they see corrupt democrats stealing right under everybody's noses without consequence. They along with that low life scumbag cheater should be thrown in prison for life.
Your account of the events is very similar to what I was told by an FLW pro who was there at the time. He mentioned that it was a couple of guys who saw TC catch his fish back-to-back and went over to check what was special about the spot. They found the basket and notified the TX Director who then got DNR involved. They clipped the fins of the remaining fish and TC brought them to the scales the next day. After the DQ, TC just went to his boat and left. Never to be seen again. I had wondered how he could pass a lie detector test, but I guess he figures he's catching 'em. Never occurred to him that pre-fishing and loading the basket for N days before the official TX starts is an "unfair advantage" and violates the "sportsmanship" clause in every rule book.
There is nothing hard about passing a polygraph test. Slow belly breaths.. it’s a heart rate test. There is a reason they hold absolutely zero strength in the court of law
I just cannot imagine standing in front of the crowd of spectators and anglers that worked so hard trying to win and taking the trophy and check for winning knowing you cheated. I ve watched videos of some of the fishermen that compete on the bass fishing tournaments and they struggle so hard and the same with their families to " make it" and be successful, only to get beat fishing a critical tournament by someone that cheated and won. It's the same as those who have a monster buck deer mounted on the wall knowing that deer was shot at night. How is this rewarding to those that do so. PT Barnum said you can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time , but you cant fool all of the people all of the time. I ask how often can you fool yourself. To me that s the most important thing. I can't help sometimes what others think of me , but I have total control over what I think of myself and you ll never successfully fool or lie to one's self.
Yea , that's true. I like to ask myself what's the " right " thing to do. See I have always felt the only person I have to impress is myself. My name hasn't appeared on any tournaments, TV, or fishing rods but I was started and taught to fish by my Grandfather. He passed shortly after leaving some of his savvy with me on fishing. I have hoped he has been able to witness what he started blossom into what it became. I ve been blessed to have fished from the Mts of NC to the Gulfstream with a few vacations from fishing NC to try Fla. Those memories and knowing all the others I took with me , I brought back , safe , happy , ready to go again and ... just a little fishy smell n is my trophy and payout.
Cheating takes place on virtually every level. We've seen it from ice-fishing derbies that pay out $200 for the 1st prize on down to the 4th place rainbow trout in a derby for a $50 prize. It may not be as blatant as what Randy mentioned, or the guys on Lake Erie, but it happens everywhere. I used to fish a multi-species, multi-day derby in which all the category winner places were put into a jar and a half-dozen were drawn out for random polygraph tests e.g. 2nd place lake trout or 4th place largemouth bass. Without fail EVERY SINGLE YEAR, at least one or two people would fail and get kicked off of the leaderboard. Everyone on a boat needed to be registered for the derby - and oftentimes that wasn't the case. The fish were usually caught legit, but the rules weren't followed. I get the feeling that a lot of people that do cheat don't think it's a big deal, but they wind up screwing someone else out of an earned prize. I think penalties for cheating should be harsh enough to deter people - e.g. a $1000 fine for cheating even in a $50 derby.
Randy that was an awesome story buddy you should do more videos like this telling stories I love them I was driving down the road and just listening!!!!👌🏽
Yea and u cant forget the guy who was using the old dog cages and had the top cut off and in the water to where it sat under the water enough to where the top of cage couldn't been seen but. High enough to where the fish may not jump out and just cast right into the cage and catch the bass almost very similar to the tub incident. It just makes me wonder how many Big name guys have gotten away with cheating due to them looking like a good guy on the outside but u never know there true intentions deep down.
Hiding fish in a basket was actually quite common in the eighties in North Texas tournaments. Seems like every month or so someone got caught cheating. Any time there's money and or recognition involved, people will cheat. Hat's off to all you guys who fished your fingers to the bone and finished your careers with your integrity in tact.
Tony Christian. I have no doubt that some dudes did the weight in the belly deal in a tournament that I fished in 2019. They didn’t weigh a big fish, didn’t pose for pics with the fish.
Randy I grew up in sc From time I was 8 to 11 years old. I fished with a man name Howard Cotton on santee cooper. He would take me on his practice days he was a guide and professional angler. He always said Cheating is something you never do, when it’s your time you will win. Grew up at blacks fish camp every summer
When I think of all the corruption and money making schemes out there cheating in a bass tournament is no different. But fishermen share of fellowship amongst one another and it just boggles my mind that you would cheat another fellow fisherman.
Ya know, a lot of guys do get greedy, then sloppy and eventually get caught. That’s evident by what transpired this weekend and by the story you just shared. And while maybe all of them eventually get their comeuppance in one way or another, I can’t help but feel there are slicker guys out there that no when to lay low, and have been burning tournaments for years. Randy, what is a plausible solution to curtail such ass-hattery? Here recently with the walleye incident I thought maybe it would be a good idea to have everyone put GoPros on the back of their boats. Now granted tournaments are already a lot of hard work and time is limited. But you wouldn’t have to review every competitors tournament footage, just the guys cashing checks. I feel it would keep people a bit more honest. But then again that wouldn’t stop someone like the person in this video. But I think it could be a start. Please let me know what you think of that
The same people that criticize you for making a video while driving is the same people watching this very video while driving. Driving and filming is safe for the most part. You look at the road and talk, it's no different than having a passenger in the vehicle.
Great story, I lived in Florida for a great part of my life I fished a lot of the amateur tournaments, me and my partner always took a second and third place on these two lakes and this one day would always win, but we knew he had houses on the lakes so we figured he just fished a lot he always won on those tournaments and always had the big bass well got fishy and some guy started to follow him from a distance come to find out he was keeping fish and fish baskets under his docks and filling his sack up and bringing them in, cheaters never win will always get caught sooner or later like you said being greedy
I grew up in Springfield MO and I remember an early 1980s tournament at Table Rock where some bozo tried to weigh in a bunch of fish and the tournament director could tell immediately that the fish had been frozen and then thawed out.
That's life man, you can be on the interstate spending your hard-earned money on gas just to get to work and somebody's going to break the speeding limit and go around you.. that's considered cheating and you pay the price for it as well! The people that do these kind of stupid things and cheat are very far few in between... It's not like there's somebody on every single circuit that is cheating or even on your standard Wednesday night local Derby.. they're still more likelihood of someone not cheating and then someone doing it, there's too many eyes on people these days! If you heard what he said this was 20 years ago. This is when cell phones barely had cameras, no one knew what to a GoPro was. They were not cameras rigged on people's boats, there had to be a cameraman holding 100 lb camera to catch you doing anything. It's not like that these days, I know that the club that I fish in they have people on the water that look like your average Joe just out there fishing sort of like a silent shopper at Walmart, and all they do is look for people cheating, and they are everywhere! They even have homeowners around the lake that are apart of this Lake watch club. But you really don't hear a lot about it unless you know about it because they don't want to announce it to all the anglers because they don't want the ones who are cheating to know about it. Don't get me wrong there's always going to be somebody who tries to get through life the easiest way, and there is always going to be people that cheat
Sad and horrendous. Makes me think MLF approach with catch and release is much much better. Weigh the thing, snap a photo and get it back in the water. Technology is so easy with cameras nowadays… let’s adapt the sport. Let’s verify it’s an official bingo before paying the winners.
They had cheaters there too in kayak tournaments. Cut the tail off and then add inches to the next bass... Placed the hand in an odd spot. They changed rules because of it in kayak tournaments
Love your channel Randy! Keep the stories coming. We love ‘em. Nothing substitutes for experience leaned so much from your channel. Used the red jig head trick for my paddeltails and I definitely caught more fish. Hope you and your family are doing well!
I took a polygraph for a big buck contest and they asked me every question six different ways. They leaned in hard on hunting on land without permission. I passed but it was insane how many people were eliminated by the polygraph.
@@edmelungeon2239 but then your disqualified for breaking the drug rules they have in place. Unless your prescribed it already it's not allowed to be in your system.
I so thought you were going to talk about Mike Long. I've never heard that story before. Evil genius is right. Imagine if he would have used that intelligence to really learn how to bass fish!
Me too! He’s worse. I was stationed in San Diego and I’m a Bass fisherman and so was my Uncle who lived in San Diego his whole life. He always used to talk about mike
Great story I've never heard about it before. Oh, so I'm curious was that bumpy interstate you was on was it in South Carolina? Because our roads are bad in alot of places
I was fishing Kissimmee tournaments and was told by my partner that people were pre-feeding fish 3 days before. I thought my partner was nuts so I fish it a lot and tried fishing it for 2 months. They won again the next tournament in same spot so I just quit fishing with that group. If you have to cheat to win then it's no fun for everyone.
Jeffries on BTL mentioned doing a show about it, but AFAIK he never did. When this occurred, there were no press releases or anything. The only thing known was that the Fishing Magician was no longer fishing the FLW.
Its why I quit fishing night tournaments. I watched one boat go in a small pocket and two came out. It was the last night tournament I ever fished. Im convinced they were giving each other fish. Pocket wasnt big enough for two boats to fish. No lights on until they left.
There’s a handful of guys down here that do that. A bunch of family members go, and well, you know the rest… But it happens in day tourneys as well…. And there’s was one couple who never trailered in, they always just rode up to the dock to sign up, and no one ever checked their live wells…..they won quite often….. Then there’s the guys that rolled in with 10 times the weight of everyone else, and they AND their boat was glittering like a stripper with shad scales……they had to make a run for it, lol.
People want only to win, so many desire fame and fortune to the extent that they have forfeited their morality to achieve success by any means necessary. It’s not only a shame but extremely commonplace. In my experience, the fishing world is relatively sane compared to the business world.
Sad but what good is success if you know you done nothing to earn it and cannot stand to look yourself in the mirror. They done nothing but bring shame to their own family . i would hope someone would get their pictures and share them all over social media for a long time . i wonder if their employer will fire them because they cannot be trusted .
persons were caught cheating in our bass club years back. buddys were club officers and did nothing. at that time i was sec/treas and resigned as no action was taken. eventually the main cheater and his buddys left the club to be on their own. funny thing is at times they were cheating each other.
Great video buddy never thought about them ideas your right evil geniuses he probably could of put a fence under water or chicken wire keep them all in a spot
Mike Long he fished a lot of local tournaments around San Diego and took a lot of peoples money. But no where near 3 million. The most egregious thing was that he had the wool pulled over the eyes of the biggest legends in bass fishing bill dance, Aaron Martens, etc all the legends. It was infuriating to see that asshole talking to all these heavy hitters, and knowing how big of a cheat he was. This was way before it became public knowledge. A lot of people in San Diego knew that he was a cheater and guys had fish tournaments with him where he had pulled some shady stuff. Besides being a cheat and stealing peoples money, he ruined the local tournaments in Southern California for a long time.
Tony Christian from Hull, GA. He was in my division in the Bfls, Everstarts and I also fished the All American in the Mobile bay in flood waters when he won. I lost a lot of money to his cheating but I did manage to beat him even while he was cheating. The fish box was well thought out and behind his house was a huge pond full of big bass. He called himself TC. He won our regional to qualify for the All American, I paid additional entry fees into another division so I could fish my Regional and the Wild Card Regional which I won (because he wasn't there) to qualify for the All American. I could tell you some stories about ole TC!
That’s a great story about the bath tube and the straw opening . Those guys have some great idea out there across the big pond . And the roads are straighter too . Good show bye the way .
Love your stories Randy. When I was much younger I fished fruit jar tournaments with a friend . The lake was over populated with small bass. We found a place that held large bass and won two tournaments in a row. Fisherman were saying to themselves that we must be cheating and that hurt. I was very proud to have won against these fishermen. After my friend started winning regional tournaments did they find out we weren’t cheating. Still bothers me to this day.
when we went to 5 live fish at our local tournaments the same two teams that won every big annual tournament never fished in them again! Years later on of their offspring and another guy took their place. Bird cages and tied up fish were their method. As soon as the wardens put pressure on them they never won again. we also had a group that were pooling their fish together. I am 41 now. I fished tournaments with my Dad since I was 10. we gave up on local events years ago because of the dishonesty. We called it beating the cage if we did well. We did win a few but boy, it took banner days to do so.
I started fishing late in life. But have become almost obsessed with it and as an athlete who has from birth been ultra competitive. I don’t understand how someone can cheat. It sickens me to hear that. I enjoy your videos and would like to fish with you one day
Don’t forget about the guy that had the hidden door inside his live well. He had fish staged in his live well and would cull them with co anglers in the boat
Great story but sad there are people in this world like him. There is no doubt for every dollar you make, there are 20 people out there trying to beat you out of it. Be cautious but keep fishin'.
I'm not a huge fisherman but I'm fascinated by the criminal element of these stories. I get that fishing is mostly skill but isn't the size of the fish you catch mostly luck? So shouldn't anyone winning like their the Michael Jordan of fishing be investigated?
Catching big fish, bass included, is skill based. Of course all elements of fishing involve luck. But big bass behave differently in many aspects, what they hit, and were they live and feed in the body of water. This also varies depending on the area of the country and the type of body of water you fish as well as obviously the season. Serious fishing is all about analyzing a huge amount of constantly changing variables, honing in on the most important ones(since you can't focus on them all), and executing a strategy that uses that information. As you get more experience and learn more, you can refine your strategy further and further and faster to be more adaptable. For instance, on my home lake(inland naturally formed, small, northern, clear water no flooded trees/stumps, heavy shore vegetation, and 40ftmax at the middle), if I just wanna catch a bunch of fish I'll toss a weightless senko anywere that looks fishy while moving around and I usually get 3 to 10 1-3lb bass with an occasional 4+ pounder every few trips. If I want to catch something big I use two methods: 1.) work a frog over areas with heavy vegetation but a bottom that is still somewhat sandy and 2.) live-line a freshly caught bluegill into the deepest part of a dropoff . I have never caught a fish under 4lbs using my big fish method, but it requires more planning and focus and took me years to hone in on. This is probably also not even the most optimal strategy for this lake, and definitely not for other lakes around the country, thats were the skill comes in.
@@DxWhoopingCranethis has been my experience as well, I am just your standard bass guy so I know about MOST methods of fishing and where they need to be applied to be successful but at the lake I fish I know these 2 big bass guys and when we compare tackle it’s actually hilarious 😂 I have multiple different rod weights and heights plus 6 boxes of different style baits and weights these dudes have DUFFLE BAGS full of swimbaits all 12”+ and 10 rods all heavy weight all long 6’6”+ 😂 I can catch about 10-15 fish in about 5 hours they will catch 2-3 but I don’t have my picture up at the bait shop whereas they have about 20 pictures holding 15lb+ bass, it’s totally an acquired skill me and my dad call them the monster hunters 😂
Man Gonna have to Run some Expensive sonar before and during the tournaments! I also have metal detectors that could detect lead any type of foreign object or x-ray to x-ray the fish oh gosh
I love fishing tournaments because of the competition. That said, I want to win because I'm the best that day. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I cheated. I suppose some people have no morals.
I forgot to mention re: the below comment. The person in question I referred to never admitted any wrong doing. He fought to clear his name, nothing about "show me the rule" Ty
That was an interesting story. The dude never had to face the competitors he cheated which is a shame. He should have been publicly shamed. Thanks for sharing.
I used to fish local tournaments during 80s,horribly,but always thought how easy it would be to rig one of these things,especially when money got so insane.
I was fishing in a tournament at the Red River back in the day and some guy had tied fish to stumps and got caught weighing them in. Not sure of his name though.
Since the “FLW Tour” is now gone. I would think some industry folks that are not affiliated would reveal other details of the situation with no repercussions.
There is a video on UA-cam about Mike. He did a lot more wrong than snag bass on beds. He was after the world record bass and he did some really illegal stuff to try to catch them.
Mike long also cheated in txs. He had hidden compartments in his boat he would hide fish in. He tied fish to brush, he even left one lake & went to another & picked up his fish & came back. Someone also said he had a large fish tank in his garage with big bass in it. He did it all.
I totally can not believe what I'm seeing or hearing ❗🤯🤯 Who would've ever done or think of such a thing⁉️🤯🤯 This is unbelievable ‼️ The funnest.❗ The funnest sport in the world.‼️
Randy, my dad is Gary Brown. He is the guy that was in 1st in the 2003 all-American until Tony Christian cheated him into 2nd. Not only was it $100,000, but a year on the circuit stolen from my dad. A chance to make his dream come true. My dad bass fished his whole life growing up in south MS, working his way to the top. Fishing every weekend taking time from our family to travel to tournaments. You know how much sacrifice and time it takes to get to that tournament, and for someone to just steal it away from him and him never seeing any kind of recognition was devastating. Gary Brown from Gautier, MS is the 2003 all-American Champion.
Do you think he caught the two 6 pounders somewhere else?
Your dad's 5 fish was 6 pounds, and the 3rd place finisher had 3 fish for 3 pounds. I don't think the fish Tony turned in were even from that river. Sorry to hear that about your dad, can't imagine how y'all feel, breaks my heart, and I don't even know y'all.
Man that's terrible, yes and you're dad is the 2003 champion
Without a doubt the fish came from somewhere else. He was using the same strategy with the boxes that Randy describes in this video. The story we were always told was the fish were from stocked ponds.
@@haganbrown8486 I've also heard he had a diver putting the fish on the hook...which makes sense, cause I have a hard time believing he was hitting a hole in a basket with his casting skills.
It's Tony Christian. I've heard these stories for a while. Mark Jeffries (BTL) has been trying to track him down for an interview for years.
Yup
Randy, I would like to bring light of positivity and celebrate Louis Monetti winning the Bassmasters Elite College Championship in an Old beat up Ranger, a 115 hp mercury probably from the 90s, and no electronics on the front of his boat.. no power poles, no I pilot, just fishing.
Crazy how we don't see videos on stuff like that. That's a great call out!!
We caught a guy cheating in local club level tournaments. He was pre fishing and putting fish in cages deep in creek channels and coves. If you fish local club level events you know you’re not winning much money and definitely no need to cheat your “buddies” out of their hard earned money.
Definitely Tony Christian. Had a camerman in boat, caught nothing, camerman leaves starts "crushing it". Not sure why people don't want to say his name. He's a cheater!
@Nick Crecelius That's the name I remember. I had heard that he had a friend, brother, partner under the dock hooking the fish on his jig.
@@douglasspickler4925 that's what I remember hearing too. Crazy!
@@BobbyBalsaRNM I remember the guy was a ex navy seal using a rebreather and the property owner saw him exiting the water and reported it to the tournament director.
Here’s the mobile delta footage! He catches one on camera but it’s very weird to say the least.
ua-cam.com/video/H_7L04p6CrY/v-deo.html
Tony Christian should have been sued in civil court and ordered to pay the second place guys earnings plus the trophy. I don’t understand why no one hired a good attorney.. his scumbag a$$ would have been drug into court if I finished second behind him !!!!!!!!
Listen, I’m a 34 y.o. woman who’s worked in the healthcare industry for the past 17 years (hospital, retail, and correctional institution pharmacies, more specifically) & who’s fished no more than 10 times in my life. So… Despite my complete lack of knowledge, participation, and perhaps even interest in the fishing industry, I found myself listening to your video & thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it 😂
I agree with Bubba Ward Music’s comment. Tell more stories. Your voice is soothing & you have a way with storytelling that captures me hook, line, and sinker 😙😅
Get a room :)
Thanks for pointing that out. It was in the back of my mind that this was so different than any other I 've seen RB do & this story could not have been told better. The dude got skills!
Yes I remember him well. I finished 2nd to him twice in the BFLs! He always caught em and won off of one dock. He won big bass in 9 straight BFLs and won several also won regional and all American. Bad thing is all his stats are still on the website with wins to his credit. I felt like all those wins should be taken away and should of been prosecuted.
Who is it?
And he still fishes Jon boat tournaments in northeast Georgia. Can’t believe people still let him in tournaments
What baffles me is why in this day and age why tournaments that have large amounts of money they dont contract a company to xray or ultrasound the fish as soon as the tournaments are finished the top three should immediately be tested?
Handout GoPros to everybody connected to the front of the boat looking back at the boat watching them the whole time
If cheating is and has become a problem let’s hope they implement more monitoring over the loopholes otherwise it’s a rigged thing may be this is why I never got into fishing competitions it just never felt genuine all the way… My heart goes out for the real fisher en that were honest thru their career ..
During this guy's peak years prior to the cheating shaking out, I fished a BFL regional tournament at Lake Gaston that also included his division. He had been dominant in his region, winning 4 or 5 BFLs, and at the pre-tournament meeting, he was literally treated like a celebrity. First prize was a new boat/truck package, and many other competitors were ready to hand him the keys before the even even started. They lined up to talk to this guy. He won that event as well. I heard a fairly detailed description of the contraption shortly after it was first discovered by someone close to FLW, but have also heard some other interesting stories about how some of it was possibly pulled off - everything from accomplices in scuba gear to guys sitting in boat slips behind garage doors helping him. May or may not be true, but he clearly went to crazy elaborate lengths so he could be perceived as "the man".
Now you know what many americans feel when they see corrupt democrats stealing right under everybody's noses without consequence. They along with that low life scumbag cheater should be thrown in prison for life.
"git gud" is the ass kisser's response to cheating accusations against their hero
The softest pillow is a clear conscience. - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
I like that! I’ve never heard that saying!
Your account of the events is very similar to what I was told by an FLW pro who was there at the time. He mentioned that it was a couple of guys who saw TC catch his fish back-to-back and went over to check what was special about the spot. They found the basket and notified the TX Director who then got DNR involved. They clipped the fins of the remaining fish and TC brought them to the scales the next day. After the DQ, TC just went to his boat and left. Never to be seen again. I had wondered how he could pass a lie detector test, but I guess he figures he's catching 'em. Never occurred to him that pre-fishing and loading the basket for N days before the official TX starts is an "unfair advantage" and violates the "sportsmanship" clause in every rule book.
There is nothing hard about passing a polygraph test. Slow belly breaths.. it’s a heart rate test. There is a reason they hold absolutely zero strength in the court of law
I just cannot imagine standing in front of the crowd of spectators and anglers that worked so hard trying to win and taking the trophy and check for winning knowing you cheated. I ve watched videos of some of the fishermen that compete on the bass fishing tournaments and they struggle so hard and the same with their families to " make it" and be successful, only to get beat fishing a critical tournament by someone that cheated and won. It's the same as those who have a monster buck deer mounted on the wall knowing that deer was shot at night.
How is this rewarding to those that do so. PT Barnum said you can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time , but you cant fool all of the people all of the time. I ask how often can you fool yourself. To me that s the most important thing. I can't help sometimes what others think of me , but I have total control over what I think of myself and you ll never successfully fool or lie to one's self.
If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.
@@penknight8532
I guess it comes down to what your trying to do.
Yea , that's true. I like to ask myself what's the " right " thing to do. See I have always felt the only person I have to impress is myself. My name hasn't appeared on any tournaments, TV, or fishing rods but I was started and taught to fish by my Grandfather. He passed shortly after leaving some of his savvy with me on fishing. I have hoped he has been able to witness what he started blossom into what it became. I ve been blessed to have fished from the Mts of NC to the Gulfstream with a few vacations from fishing NC to try Fla. Those memories and knowing all the others I took with me , I brought back , safe , happy , ready to go again and ... just a little fishy smell n is my trophy and payout.
Cheating takes place on virtually every level. We've seen it from ice-fishing derbies that pay out $200 for the 1st prize on down to the 4th place rainbow trout in a derby for a $50 prize. It may not be as blatant as what Randy mentioned, or the guys on Lake Erie, but it happens everywhere. I used to fish a multi-species, multi-day derby in which all the category winner places were put into a jar and a half-dozen were drawn out for random polygraph tests e.g. 2nd place lake trout or 4th place largemouth bass. Without fail EVERY SINGLE YEAR, at least one or two people would fail and get kicked off of the leaderboard. Everyone on a boat needed to be registered for the derby - and oftentimes that wasn't the case. The fish were usually caught legit, but the rules weren't followed.
I get the feeling that a lot of people that do cheat don't think it's a big deal, but they wind up screwing someone else out of an earned prize. I think penalties for cheating should be harsh enough to deter people - e.g. a $1000 fine for cheating even in a $50 derby.
Randy that was an awesome story buddy you should do more videos like this telling stories I love them I was driving down the road and just listening!!!!👌🏽
Yea and u cant forget the guy who was using the old dog cages and had the top cut off and in the water to where it sat under the water enough to where the top of cage couldn't been seen but. High enough to where the fish may not jump out and just cast right into the cage and catch the bass almost very similar to the tub incident. It just makes me wonder how many Big name guys have gotten away with cheating due to them looking like a good guy on the outside but u never know there true intentions deep down.
I’ve seen so many of those cages it’s not even funny. Blatant cheating is WHY I stopped competing.
Hiding fish in a basket was actually quite common in the eighties in North Texas tournaments. Seems like every month or so someone got caught cheating. Any time there's money and or recognition involved, people will cheat. Hat's off to all you guys who fished your fingers to the bone and finished your careers with your integrity in tact.
I came here expecting Scott Martin stories.
Tony Christian. I have no doubt that some dudes did the weight in the belly deal in a tournament that I fished in 2019. They didn’t weigh a big fish, didn’t pose for pics with the fish.
Hi Randy , I'm Mark , used to hear lots about you from my bud Terry Backsay , I started xzone lures, enjoy youre info and insights 👍🙏
Yo MJ K, love your products man! Your company rocks and make great stuff thank you!
Randy I grew up in sc From time I was 8 to 11 years old. I fished with a man name Howard Cotton on santee cooper. He would take me on his practice days he was a guide and professional angler. He always said Cheating is something you never do, when it’s your time you will win. Grew up at blacks fish camp every summer
I'M at Santee right now
Love the channel Randy. The stories have such gravitas. I greatly appreciate the insight and the experiences you share.
Wow!!! Super interesting story!! Thanks for sharing this sir!! I'll be talking about this for a long, long time!!
When I think of all the corruption and money making schemes out there cheating in a bass tournament is no different. But fishermen share of fellowship amongst one another and it just boggles my mind that you would cheat another fellow fisherman.
Bumpy roads indeed. You must be traveling through Louisiana lol. Great story. Thanks for sharing.
Ya know, a lot of guys do get greedy, then sloppy and eventually get caught. That’s evident by what transpired this weekend and by the story you just shared. And while maybe all of them eventually get their comeuppance in one way or another, I can’t help but feel there are slicker guys out there that no when to lay low, and have been burning tournaments for years.
Randy, what is a plausible solution to curtail such ass-hattery? Here recently with the walleye incident I thought maybe it would be a good idea to have everyone put GoPros on the back of their boats. Now granted tournaments are already a lot of hard work and time is limited. But you wouldn’t have to review every competitors tournament footage, just the guys cashing checks. I feel it would keep people a bit more honest. But then again that wouldn’t stop someone like the person in this video. But I think it could be a start. Please let me know what you think of that
I fished bfls and also Everstart s , I remember hearing about that back then . I had forgotten that story nice to hear it again .
The more money, the more cheating.
Right, So long as prizes reach 50-100,000 dollars. There will be scuba divers hooking, farm fish out there to gain the system.
The same people that criticize you for making a video while driving is the same people watching this very video while driving. Driving and filming is safe for the most part. You look at the road and talk, it's no different than having a passenger in the vehicle.
He should just film while on the toilet it’s much safer
And yet it’s still LEGAL.
@@PunchFishing so when you have someone in the truck with you, you don’t talk with them while your driving? LMAO and yes sir it’s exactly the same!😂
Yup, I’m watching and driving.
"Keep your eyes on the road, your hands on the wheel"
A lot can and does happen in a split second. I hope he drives his boat more safe.
Great story, I lived in Florida for a great part of my life I fished a lot of the amateur tournaments, me and my partner always took a second and third place on these two lakes and this one day would always win, but we knew he had houses on the lakes so we figured he just fished a lot he always won on those tournaments and always had the big bass well got fishy and some guy started to follow him from a distance come to find out he was keeping fish and fish baskets under his docks and filling his sack up and bringing them in, cheaters never win will always get caught sooner or later like you said being greedy
Lake Tarpon??
I grew up in Springfield MO and I remember an early 1980s tournament at Table Rock where some bozo tried to weigh in a bunch of fish and the tournament director could tell immediately that the fish had been frozen and then thawed out.
I wonder how he was catching em to begin with, I don't even catch em consistent enough to cheat lol.
This is one of the reasons , I will not take my hard earned money to put up to fish a local tournament , some fisherman will cheat
That's life man, you can be on the interstate spending your hard-earned money on gas just to get to work and somebody's going to break the speeding limit and go around you.. that's considered cheating and you pay the price for it as well! The people that do these kind of stupid things and cheat are very far few in between... It's not like there's somebody on every single circuit that is cheating or even on your standard Wednesday night local Derby.. they're still more likelihood of someone not cheating and then someone doing it, there's too many eyes on people these days! If you heard what he said this was 20 years ago. This is when cell phones barely had cameras, no one knew what to a GoPro was. They were not cameras rigged on people's boats, there had to be a cameraman holding 100 lb camera to catch you doing anything. It's not like that these days, I know that the club that I fish in they have people on the water that look like your average Joe just out there fishing sort of like a silent shopper at Walmart, and all they do is look for people cheating, and they are everywhere! They even have homeowners around the lake that are apart of this Lake watch club. But you really don't hear a lot about it unless you know about it because they don't want to announce it to all the anglers because they don't want the ones who are cheating to know about it. Don't get me wrong there's always going to be somebody who tries to get through life the easiest way, and there is always going to be people that cheat
I have a question? I saw an angler use a site seer device to find bass is that against the rules?
Sad and horrendous. Makes me think MLF approach with catch and release is much much better. Weigh the thing, snap a photo and get it back in the water. Technology is so easy with cameras nowadays… let’s adapt the sport. Let’s verify it’s an official bingo before paying the winners.
They had cheaters there too in kayak tournaments. Cut the tail off and then add inches to the next bass... Placed the hand in an odd spot. They changed rules because of it in kayak tournaments
I too, love hearing the stories and memories of Great and no so great things and times, of a sport that I love So much !
I guess my question is where was he getting these big fish? Was he buying them from other anglers?
Love your channel Randy! Keep the stories coming. We love ‘em. Nothing substitutes for experience leaned so much from your channel. Used the red jig head trick for my paddeltails and I definitely caught more fish. Hope you and your family are doing well!
Same thing happened at Lake O the Pines many years ago. Guy stuffed weights in a bass during the KYKX tournament. He got caught
I remember that incident. Cheaters get more aggressive when an entire house is the first prize.
great story thank you for sharing. good luck this week!
I think it’s more of a problem than we realize especially when polygraphs are not even a possibility.
Polygraphs are given in fishing tournaments all the time.
@@stonehorn4641 not everywhere . I fish quite a few and hardly see any . Maybe on larger ones
They give polygraphs in big money txs. But they are easy to fool. Just take a valium an hour before weigh in & you are calm as can be & pass the poly.
I took a polygraph for a big buck contest and they asked me every question six different ways. They leaned in hard on hunting on land without permission. I passed but it was insane how many people were eliminated by the polygraph.
@@edmelungeon2239 but then your disqualified for breaking the drug rules they have in place. Unless your prescribed it already it's not allowed to be in your system.
Roby Rose is probably the most prolific. Look him up. Passed multiple polys. Got caught stuffing weights in big bass tourney. He got jail time
He won like 10 boats from Basschamps, he got a slap on the wrist, I think he got 15 or 30 days in jail.
I so thought you were going to talk about Mike Long. I've never heard that story before. Evil genius is right. Imagine if he would have used that intelligence to really learn how to bass fish!
I had the same thought.
I did too, but I’m pretty sure he’s talking about a different POS, Tony Christian.
To really learn how to bass fish. Is to learn how to ice fish, because out of the ice is the only way they are edible.
@@maphyous228 Dude at least put in the minimal effort to stay at least in the general vicinity of the topic at hand.
Me too! He’s worse. I was stationed in San Diego and I’m a Bass fisherman and so was my Uncle who lived in San Diego his whole life. He always used to talk about mike
Great story I've never heard about it before. Oh, so I'm curious was that bumpy interstate you was on was it in South Carolina? Because our roads are bad in alot of places
Interstate 85 bout guarantee it
I was fishing Kissimmee tournaments and was told by my partner that people were pre-feeding fish 3 days before. I thought my partner was nuts so I fish it a lot and tried fishing it for 2 months. They won again the next tournament in same spot so I just quit fishing with that group. If you have to cheat to win then it's no fun for everyone.
I heard the same story… and if is true, the guy still fishes there
Jeffries on BTL mentioned doing a show about it, but AFAIK he never did. When this occurred, there were no press releases or anything. The only thing known was that the Fishing Magician was no longer fishing the FLW.
I agree 100% that Gary Brown won that All-American event. And he's a really great guy!
Its why I quit fishing night tournaments. I watched one boat go in a small pocket and two came out. It was the last night tournament I ever fished. Im convinced they were giving each other fish. Pocket wasnt big enough for two boats to fish. No lights on until they left.
There’s a handful of guys down here that do that. A bunch of family members go, and well, you know the rest…
But it happens in day tourneys as well….
And there’s was one couple who never trailered in, they always just rode up to the dock to sign up, and no one ever checked their live wells…..they won quite often…..
Then there’s the guys that rolled in with 10 times the weight of everyone else, and they AND their boat was glittering like a stripper with shad scales……they had to make a run for it, lol.
Good luck to ya brother come Back with a great fish story 🤞🏻🙏🏼!!
People want only to win, so many desire fame and fortune to the extent that they have forfeited their morality to achieve success by any means necessary. It’s not only a shame but extremely commonplace. In my experience, the fishing world is relatively sane compared to the business world.
Sad but what good is success if you know you done nothing to earn it and cannot stand to look yourself in the mirror. They done nothing but bring shame to their own family . i would hope someone would get their pictures and share them all over social media for a long time . i wonder if their employer will fire them because they cannot be trusted .
Guys pooling fish to win is a problem as well
I have heard many stories of this happening where I fish
What is that?
persons were caught cheating in our bass club years back. buddys were club officers and did nothing. at that time i was sec/treas and resigned as no action was taken. eventually the main cheater and his buddys left the club to be on their own. funny thing is at times they were cheating each other.
You’d be surprised how many ppl that put on these tourneys that are actually in on the cheating.
That last statement is hilarious! 😂
@@Unspoke
So you mean mine? If so, elaborate…..
@@choccolocco no. I meant the comment about the friends cheating on each other. That was so unexpected lol
@@Unspoke👍
Great video buddy never thought about them ideas your right evil geniuses he probably could of put a fence under water or chicken wire keep them all in a spot
Great story. Reminds me of political race and how people will try to change the rules to get the advantage. Good luck in the tournament Randy
Hey Tom W. Maybe don’t always bring up your political views. 😮
Some of the weights are so close that a 1/2 oz tungsten might move you up. Hope that is rare. Good luck this week.
How about Mike Long? Catfish poacher turned Big Bass King
Yeah Mike Long has to be #1 by far …
Yes Mike long is the biggest cheat to me bud
Biggest fraud/crook in bass fishing history 🐟🐟🐟
Mike didn’t fish the pro tournaments
Mike Long he fished a lot of local tournaments around San Diego and took a lot of peoples money. But no where near 3 million. The most egregious thing was that he had the wool pulled over the eyes of the biggest legends in bass fishing bill dance, Aaron Martens, etc all the legends. It was infuriating to see that asshole talking to all these heavy hitters, and knowing how big of a cheat he was. This was way before it became public knowledge. A lot of people in San Diego knew that he was a cheater and guys had fish tournaments with him where he had pulled some shady stuff. Besides being a cheat and stealing peoples money, he ruined the local tournaments in Southern California for a long time.
Tony Christian from Hull, GA. He was in my division in the Bfls, Everstarts and I also fished the All American in the Mobile bay in flood waters when he won. I lost a lot of money to his cheating but I did manage to beat him even while he was cheating.
The fish box was well thought out and behind his house was a huge pond full of big bass. He called himself TC. He won our regional to qualify for the All American, I paid additional entry fees into another division so I could fish my Regional and the Wild Card Regional which I won (because he wasn't there) to qualify for the All American.
I could tell you some stories about ole TC!
Well I want to know how he has so many huge bass in a pond so I can grow them like that in my fishing pond!!!!!!!! That's impressive in itself
That’s a great story about the bath tube and the straw opening . Those guys have some great idea out there across the big pond . And the roads are straighter too . Good show bye the way .
Thanks for sharing your videos and keep them coming please.
Love your stories Randy. When I was much younger I fished fruit jar tournaments with a friend . The lake was over populated with small bass. We found a place that held large bass and won two tournaments in a row. Fisherman were saying to themselves that we must be cheating and that hurt. I was very proud to have won against these fishermen. After my friend started winning regional tournaments did they find out we weren’t cheating. Still bothers me to this day.
Where did he get the fish to put out?
when we went to 5 live fish at our local tournaments the same two teams that won every big annual tournament never fished in them again! Years later on of their offspring and another guy took their place. Bird cages and tied up fish were their method. As soon as the wardens put pressure on them they never won again. we also had a group that were pooling their fish together.
I am 41 now. I fished tournaments with my Dad since I was 10. we gave up on local events years ago because of the dishonesty. We called it beating the cage if we did well. We did win a few but boy, it took banner days to do so.
Thank GOD for cell phone videos and GO pro's, in my day all we had was a big fish story. Now we can record the story's and not miss a detail.
I started fishing late in life. But have become almost obsessed with it and as an athlete who has from birth been ultra competitive. I don’t understand how someone can cheat. It sickens me to hear that. I enjoy your videos and would like to fish with you one day
Incredible story.
Don’t forget about the guy that had the hidden door inside his live well. He had fish staged in his live well and would cull them with co anglers in the boat
Great story but sad there are people in this world like him. There is no doubt for every dollar you make, there are 20 people out there trying to beat you out of it. Be cautious but keep fishin'.
Randy you said you were headed to Hartwell, and after observing that road you're driving on, I believe it , it HAS TO BE in South Carolina.
I'm not a huge fisherman but I'm fascinated by the criminal element of these stories. I get that fishing is mostly skill but isn't the size of the fish you catch mostly luck? So shouldn't anyone winning like their the Michael Jordan of fishing be investigated?
Catching big fish, bass included, is skill based. Of course all elements of fishing involve luck. But big bass behave differently in many aspects, what they hit, and were they live and feed in the body of water. This also varies depending on the area of the country and the type of body of water you fish as well as obviously the season. Serious fishing is all about analyzing a huge amount of constantly changing variables, honing in on the most important ones(since you can't focus on them all), and executing a strategy that uses that information. As you get more experience and learn more, you can refine your strategy further and further and faster to be more adaptable.
For instance, on my home lake(inland naturally formed, small, northern, clear water no flooded trees/stumps, heavy shore vegetation, and 40ftmax at the middle), if I just wanna catch a bunch of fish I'll toss a weightless senko anywere that looks fishy while moving around and I usually get 3 to 10 1-3lb bass with an occasional 4+ pounder every few trips. If I want to catch something big I use two methods: 1.) work a frog over areas with heavy vegetation but a bottom that is still somewhat sandy and 2.) live-line a freshly caught bluegill into the deepest part of a dropoff . I have never caught a fish under 4lbs using my big fish method, but it requires more planning and focus and took me years to hone in on. This is probably also not even the most optimal strategy for this lake, and definitely not for other lakes around the country, thats were the skill comes in.
@@DxWhoopingCranethis has been my experience as well, I am just your standard bass guy so I know about MOST methods of fishing and where they need to be applied to be successful but at the lake I fish I know these 2 big bass guys and when we compare tackle it’s actually hilarious 😂 I have multiple different rod weights and heights plus 6 boxes of different style baits and weights these dudes have DUFFLE BAGS full of swimbaits all 12”+ and 10 rods all heavy weight all long 6’6”+ 😂 I can catch about 10-15 fish in about 5 hours they will catch 2-3 but I don’t have my picture up at the bait shop whereas they have about 20 pictures holding 15lb+ bass, it’s totally an acquired skill me and my dad call them the monster hunters 😂
Ha ! That's hilarious!!!
Thanks for sharing!
His stats are still on mlf website too! I can’t believe they left his career stats up.
Most if not all of Mike Long’s records are still posted.
Man Gonna have to Run some Expensive sonar before and during the tournaments! I also have metal detectors that could detect lead any type of foreign object or x-ray to x-ray the fish oh gosh
I love fishing tournaments because of the competition. That said, I want to win because I'm the best that day. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I cheated. I suppose some people have no morals.
If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.
Where the heck are u driving . I've lived near Stockton lake my entire life and I don't know anywhere with that many pot holes lol.
I fished against Gary Brown what a Hammer and made a great Buzz bait I hope he still with us.
I forgot to mention re: the below comment. The person in question I referred to never admitted any wrong doing. He fought to clear his name, nothing about "show me the rule"
Ty
That was an interesting story. The dude never had to face the competitors he cheated which is a shame. He should have been publicly shamed. Thanks for sharing.
Wasn’t mike long but I remember that going down. I think the guys first name was Tony
Tony Christan
I love hearing your hear new cheater stories it’s almost like hearing a bank robber story
Who put the bass in the container for him? I've looked through comments and didn't find anything.
Where did these big fish come from that were in the container?
Local farm ponds him and cronies would go hit before the tournament.
Dang bro u must be driving through Ashville NC ruff as that road is
Great video one of your better ones imo
I used to fish local tournaments during 80s,horribly,but always thought how easy it would be to rig one of these things,especially when money got so insane.
I was fishing in a tournament at the Red River back in the day and some guy had tied fish to stumps and got caught weighing them in. Not sure of his name though.
Since the “FLW Tour” is now gone. I would think some industry folks that are not affiliated would reveal other details of the situation with no repercussions.
Where did the fish come from?
My favorite saying has always been,... God will get you for that! Others might say,... Karma's a bite.
I heard a guy got caught he filled the back of his boat with water and put them in transom of the boat.
Mike Long was the big bass guy who was caught snagging fish off beds. Love to know who Randy is referring to though
Yeah, I think fishing beds should be illegal.
There is a video on UA-cam about Mike. He did a lot more wrong than snag bass on beds. He was after the world record bass and he did some really illegal stuff to try to catch them.
@@RonBand01 oh he is a piece of dogshit no doubt. Just hoping someone knew the name of whom Randy is referring to in this video
Tony christian
Mike long also cheated in txs. He had hidden compartments in his boat he would hide fish in. He tied fish to brush, he even left one lake & went to another & picked up his fish & came back. Someone also said he had a large fish tank in his garage with big bass in it. He did it all.
Good luck 🍀 Randy 🎣
Hey, what shades are those?
If I'm not mistaken, B.A.S.S. immediately followed FLW and banned TC from all events for life.
Well it wasn't Monsoor out of La Crosse WI . He just picked his out of a cage with no pole !
So where was the guy getting the fish that he was putting in the baskets?
The bottom line is you can’t have so called buddy tournaments as the temptation is always there very sad 😞
We got em in the saltwater tourneys too... but im not naming names yet.
This road is bumpy! 😂 welcome to SC!
You're dead on, Evil Geniuses is a great explanation for these crazy SOB's. Best of luck in the tourney!
I totally can not believe what I'm seeing or hearing ❗🤯🤯 Who would've ever done or think of such a thing⁉️🤯🤯 This is unbelievable ‼️ The funnest.❗ The funnest sport in the world.‼️
Thanks for the explanation!