Last weeks Ocean City Rockfish Tournament Hanky Panky?

[Striperjim]

By: TOM TATUM Outdoors Columnist
The 12th annual Halloween Rockfish Tournament.

The event was initially scheduled for Oct. 28 but the wind and rain
resulted in a weeklong postponement.
The 50 or so boats entered in the tournament the basic tactics were to drift the outgoing tide from the bay, through the inlet, and out into the Atlantic for a quarter-mile or so before pointing the boat back and starting the whole process over again.
The marine police reported that they had seen only five legal rockfish boated all morning. The tourney ran from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The tides were uncooperative and the seas were rough.
At the awards party later that evening, the Ocean City year-round residents who know the rockfish ropes, had faired well in the tournament, catching a few legal rockfish (over 28 inches in Maryland coastal waters) and even scoring some awards in the shark and bluefish categories. At the same time, they expressed skepticism toward one winning angler, a young man who had apparently beaten incredible odds and caught not only the second-place rockfish but also the first-place flounder.
"We saw those fish at the weigh-in," they said. "The rockfish had cloudy eyes and the flounder still had frost on it."
They were convinced that these fish had been caught sometime prior to the tournament and put in cold storage. Maybe the angler had cheated, or maybe it was just sour grapes. When told that the winning rockfish had been caught beneath the Route 90 Bridge, they were equally suspicious of the legitimacy of that claim -- speculating that the fish may have been caught offshore, well beyond the 3-mile limit imposed by the tourney.
Whether hanky-panky played a role in the results was a moot point.
"All fishermen are liars."

[mikesxpress]

Where was the lie detector guy? We have them at all our bass events. Had them for years now.

[Capt.Skid]

Sounds like more than Hanky-Panky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those fish would have never
been certified at any tourny in Va. An the angler may have been arrested
for Fraud!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Capt.Skid

[zam]

Thats why I rarely fish tourneys. there are cheaters out there. I have personally witnessed people cheating at tourneys. even if everyone was honest, the odds are against you no matter how good you are. if there are 1000 people in the tourney, you are basically bettting that you will do better then a thousand people.