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Nevada Authorities Looking Into Allegations

Thursday, July 22, 2010



WON Bass authorities are working with their legal team to determine their next course of action against Mike Hart.


Cheating scandals most often occur at local- and regional-level events, which is perhaps why yesterday's events at the WON Bass U.S. Open continue to shock and amaze anglers across the country.

At the Open, WON Bass accused Winnetka, Calif. pro Mike Hart of cheating and banned him for life from all WON Bass competition. If true, the scandal marks the first time in several years that an angler at such a high level of competition was accused of cheating.

Paul Tormanen was arrested in 2005 at the Red River Bassmaster Central Open and charged with felony contest fraud. He later pleaded guilty to the charges, admitted he tied fish to stumps, and was sentenced to 2 years probation and ordered to pay fines and court costs totaling $588.50. Tormanen was also ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to BASS and perform 120 hours of community service through an approved wildlife and fisheries organization.

In 2004, Tony Christian was DQd from consecutive FLW Tour events. FLW Outdoors failed to provide specifics about the consecutive DQs, other than to cite the rules under which Christian was DQd, but the lack of information from the league fueled rampant public speculation that cheating might have been involved.

The fact that a cheating scandal occurred at the U.S. Open is nonetheless shocking, given the high-profile nature of the event and the close-knit relationships shared by western pros. The effects continue to ripple through the sport....

I have been following this story too. What a crying shame.

I say he has done it before, given the fact that he tied hooks to the weights as well.

The interesting thing to follow now will be the partner. They won what, 6 out of 7 team tourneys recently.

I did a MWC Devils Lake walleye tourney years ago. Great run tourneys.

It was there first time on Devils Lake.

A local team had won something like SEVEN tourneys in a row on the lake.

Instead of getting in a pissing match with the anglers when then entered the MWC, the MWC informed them the morning of the tournament they were going to have a camera guy and a follow boat with a camera because they were obviously the hottest team around and it would make for good TV.

They were hottttttttt. Threatened to sue, etc. MWC just said, you signed the entry form that says we can do this. Period.

I knew the insides of it and the fact the MWC had suspicions.

I can't remember their names but even I beat them with a blown motor on day 2:) I heard they pretty much went away after that. Everyone, right or wrong, thought they had done wrong.

I had some problems with a partner once who wanted to do some things. Later, not fishing w/me, he was busted by CO's during a tourney. He then claimed the charges were dropped but a friend was a Probation Officer, he produced the copies of the fine levied, etc and I sent that to the association board. He's fished a little bit since then, but not much.

There was a couple guys that got popped up here back in 2001. Not a good way to win any friends, thats for sure!

http://www.rayscott.net/news/bob/cheater.html

Some more good uns
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/news/story?id=2870012
http://www.fishingbuddy.com/cheater_caught_in_bass_tourny
http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?ID=1534

Just sad.

The one I remember but couldn't find was a guy that had fish tied to stumps and then used Ratltraps to snag them. That was the slickest cheater I'd ever heard of.