Cheating: Is This the State of the Art?

Take a look at the photo at left. Do those things scream, “Put bass in me!” to you? If you were a cheater they might.

(If you find the notion of using those things to cheat in a bass derby, then you’re reacting as a non-cheater – which is good!)

What prompted this? Check out this excerpt from a recent column by Mike Bolton at the Birmingham (AL) News:

I keep hearing stories about a fisherman at Lake Logan Martin who was fishing the other day and his lure caught a length of chain. Curious, he pulled the chain out of the water and found a pet carrier attached at one end. Inside were five bass.

I haven’t been able to verify the story but if true it is easy to figure out what was going on. Someone was cheating in a bass fishing tournament.

Holy crap! A pet carrier?!

Even if no one ever verifies the story, it’s still well inside the realm of possibility. Maybe even probability.

And that’s really the name of the ballgame, isn’t it: How is a cheater going to store his fish and recover them without anyone knowing he’s doing it?

I don’t know about you, but I’d be scared s**tless someone would see me.

Bolton does point out:

These are tough economic times. It takes a good deal of money just to fill the truck and boat up with gas just to get to get to the tournament and fish in the event. And there is the entry fee on top of that.

I’m sure there are a few out there who might say it is not necessarily imperative that they win but they at least need to get their money back. With that they can justify some form of cheating. That my friends, is still cheating.

Yeah, cheating is cheating. And thank goodness most bassers have no desire to cheat. But there are the folks who are screwed up, who feel that “once you get past your conscience, life is pretty easy.” That was Bolton quoting JR Ewing from the old TV show “Dallas.”

Those people will get theirs, sooner or later…using a pet carrier or whatever diabolical, nutty thing they think of next.