Lie Detectors

[Mike Walerak]

A friend and I were just talking about an outbreak of cheating that went on over the summer in a local walleye tournament. Apparently a team(s) had tied a bag of fish in some flooded trees hoping to pick them up on tournament day. Well, some non tournament boats found them (2 differnet bags in 2 different locations) and released them.

In most of the walleye tournaments I fish they have a disclaimer about a polygraph test. Anyone ever seen this done? I think it should be more common, maybe even cut some prize money to do so.

I do know of one team that actually got one quite a few years back because one team thought they were outside of the boundaries. They could not get their prize money until one team meber took the test. They passed and went on to win the tourney.

What do you guys think?

mw

[Northlander]

Lots of bigger tourneys are doing this. I have no problem with this. Only the cheaters would in my mind.

[efgh]

Its a Sad state of afairs when you have to cheat to win a contest. What ever happened to, fair play, sportsmanship and honisty in any thing we do?

[Mike Walerak]

It's too bad money brings out the worst in people. If I had to cheat to win I could not take the award with any pride or dignity. In my opinion morals are worth more than money.

mw

[Guido]

And we wonder why tournaments get a bad name....could it be that people are unethical? Nah, couldn't be.....

This type of problem will only get worse as time goes on and the sport of fishing grows.....

Prevent Fishing from becoming the "Rich Man's Sport" and maybe we can eliminate this dump.

[Northlander]

Yup when lots of money gets involved as well as big egos the cheaters come out. Actually people will cheat even when little money is involved due to egos.

I sure hope fishing never gets to be a rich mans sport. What the heck would I do? Oh man thats a real bad thought! I better get out tomorrow while I can.

[Rost]

So that's what happened to my bag of fish!!

[Mike Walerak]

Rost

I thought it might have been your bag since it was a decoy bag

At what point does it turn into a rich mans sport. By the time you figure in all the expenses and time off work I don't even want my wife to know how much it costs to do a tourny out of town. The local ones are pretty affordable, it is leaving town that can get spendy. Espeacially if you do not cash high in the money.

mw

[Rost]

It already has turned into a rich man's sport. They cost a lot of money! I have been feeding my family ramon noodles and deer sticks for the past 3 years just so I can fish tourneys And now I have to buy a new decoy bag

[CatManLee]

Hey! I live off roman noodles too!!! I agree, tournaments have gotten very spendy. It takes me a good weeks pay just to enter a $200.00 tournament. Not always easy, but I love the atmospher of tournament fishing. The funny thing is I feel the same excitement if it's a $10,000 dollar top prize or if it's just a $120.00 top prize. I just love the feeling of fishing tournaments. Now for the big money part of this discussion:

I can see, as sad as it is, how people would try to cheat in these big money tournaments. think of it this way, lets say I make $20,000 a year. I can enter a "bigger" tournament for $400.00/team. Top prize is $8,000. Thats almost half of what I make a year, If I cheat and succeed, I now have almost $8,000 extra bucks in the bank. And honestly, cheating in almost any tournament is NOT that hard to do, if you really tryed hard enough, you could pull it off a majority of the time. My point here is if someone is just out to get some money illegally. What is easier and less likely to get you busted. Robbing a store or cheating in a fishing tournament. Would you even have any charges pressed against you if you were caught cheating in a tournament? Yah, you would get banned from the tournament, but to someone who doesn't care about fishing tournaments much any ways, what would that matter. My point here, is this:

I think if cheating is suspected, put them on a lie detector! I think it would even make sense if the top 5 finishers had to do a lie detector everytime. I don't cheat, nor would I ever cheat, I think anyone who truely loves the sport and sportsmanship that goes along with it, would never cheat in a tournament, but I'm sure there are those "crooked" ones out there just looking to make some quick money and those are the ones we need to watch for.

I also believe you cannot go into a tournament expecting to WIN, because no matter how good you are, you're going to lose more tournaments than you're going to win! Yes, it's true. So everyone who fishes these tournaments should be prepared to loose thier money! And if they win great!

[Mike Walerak]

I agree totally.It is not that people are not opposed to the polygraphs it is that they just do not happen on a regular basis. I think it would put more credibility to circuts and tourneys. Does anybody know how much they cost to conduct?

[Rost]

I feel that these smaller circuits could avoid problems by sending a patrol boat out. Many say they do,but I have yet to see one.

Let the participants know that they could be watched from a distance or have a guest jump in their boat at any time!

[Northlander]

Lie detectors cost in the ballpark of $300-$400 depending on what type is given. At least the ones we give at my work. Thats why most tourneys dont do it. It would cut down on the payouts if they did them on a regular basis.