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Location: Athens, Ohio |
Walleye Angler Banned for Stuffing Walleyes in New York
By Wired2Fish Editors · Aug 02, 2023
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Walleye Angler Banned for Stuffing Walleyes in New York
Another alleged cheating angler was banned from tournament competition for stuffing walleyes with other fish in an attempt to win prize money in a fishing event on Lake Erie in New York. In this incident, which occurred during the Bart’s Cove Duel in Dunkirk tournament on July 29-30, 2023, Peter J. Smith was allegedly observed stuffing fish into walleyes in an attempt to increase his weight to win the prize money in the event. The New York State Department of Conservation officers were called in, and they examined the fish Smith presented for weigh-in to find that there were undigested, cut up fish stuffed into the fishes’ mouths and bellies. They confiscated the fish and their investigation is still ongoing.
The tournament director, Mark Mohr, having seen the evidence and after consulting with the DEC, banned Smith from the event or ever fishing another of the events for life. Smith is not only in hot water over this debacle, but he’s already been charged in connection with two other recent incidents in July which caused the New York State Police to issue an extreme risk protection order against Smith in state Supreme Court of Chautauqua County, and he was charged in those incidents with second-degree menacing, criminal mischief and stalking, which are all misdemeanors.
DEC officers confiscated fish
Unfortunately, Smith is also the current operator of the Dunkirk Marina.
Will they ever learn? m |
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Posts: 1196
| Sometimes we go out and catch some fish and it's a blast. And while we are at it we get to see the great North Woods, eat at restaurant, drink some Beer, be with friends and family and making new friends in the process. Don't forget why we do this!
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Posts: 2280
Location: Chisholm, MN | Yeah I don't know how anyone would want to fish a tournament after all this. Way too much cheating. |
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Posts: 20180
Location: oswego, il | It's like this with any competition. It doesn't even have to be a sport it could be employees of a company. Someone will find a way to bend or break the rules.
Edited by ToddM 8/4/2023 7:07 AM
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| Wonder if he will be charged with criminal fraud, like the guys from Lake Erie. |
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Posts: 94
| WE GOT WEIGHTS IN FISH!!!!!!!!! HOW LONG YA BEEN DOING THIS CHASE?!?!??!?!?! |
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Location: PA Angler | What’s up with walleye fishermen. Tournaments really need to be catch and release. |
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Posts: 155
Location: Cedarburg, WI. | Maybe not a popular opinion, but I could care less. You get a bunch of anglers together for a big dick contest out on the water especially for money those anglers will get whatever comes to them.
It's like golf to me. If you enjoy it why do you care what others score? It's you vs the course or back to fishing.. you vs the lake. If your ego demands you be recognized by other anglers you will encounter other like minded individual's and all bets are off. |
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Posts: 1261
Location: Stevens Point, Wi. | It's all about the $$$. Big money encourages cheating. |
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| Cheating has been around in fishing tournaments for a long time. Many years ago cheating allegations resulted in the bankruptcy of the Three Lakes Chambe of Commerce. They sponsored a tournament and someone was accused of cheating. When they filed suit and adequate proof was not provided, the Chamber was bankrupted. Don't remember any more than that, but I am sure it made sponsors super cautious about accusing folks.
Back in the 1970s, there was a guide on the Three Lakes chain who won tournaments (musky). The story was he would go out a few days before and if he caught a musky, take to an out of the way spot, tie it to a concrete block with baling wire through the jaw. Come back the day of the tournament, pretend to have one hooked and then net the fish on the block. Leaning over, cutting the wire, you would have had to be right there to see he was not unhooking. |
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Posts: 94
| Slopski - 8/4/2023 10:24 AM
Maybe not a popular opinion, but I could care less. You get a bunch of anglers together for a big dick contest out on the water especially for money those anglers will get whatever comes to them.
It's like golf to me. If you enjoy it why do you care what others score? It's you vs the course or back to fishing.. you vs the lake. If your ego demands you be recognized by other anglers you will encounter other like minded individual's and all bets are off.
Because some people care about the money. That's not crazy at all to me. Just shrugging off cheating is kinda weird. Integrity should still count for something. |
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Posts: 155
Location: Cedarburg, WI. | bloatlord - 8/6/2023 8:54 PM
Because some people care about the money. That's not crazy at all to me. Just shrugging off cheating is kinda weird. Integrity should still count for something.
I am not shrugging it off, integrity matters. Maybe i didn't explain myself well.
Once you label fishing as a sport and invite competition you will have all the same problems as any other sport. I don't feel bad for the competitors, company's involved or the promoters. They bring this on themselves by turning fishing into something it's not.
I don't get the outrage over such a predictable outcome. |
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Posts: 94
| Slopski - 8/7/2023 7:30 AM
bloatlord - 8/6/2023 8:54 PM
Because some people care about the money. That's not crazy at all to me. Just shrugging off cheating is kinda weird. Integrity should still count for something.
I am not shrugging it off, integrity matters. Maybe i didn't explain myself well.
Once you label fishing as a sport and invite competition you will have all the same problems as any other sport. I don't feel bad for the competitors, company's involved or the promoters. They bring this on themselves by turning fishing into something it's not.
I don't get the outrage over such a predictable outcome.
Because even if the outcome is predictable, it doesn't mean it's acceptable and those who play by the rules are being slighted. Further, these people are enriching themselves through, as we've seen, criminal behavior. |
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Posts: 8721
| There's a reason you have to open all your livewells and have judge boats/witnesses. It's not just walleye guys. As soon as money is involved, integrity goes out the window. It's a sad state of affairs, but most of these folks are like than in every aspect of their lives. I'd venture to say everyone has cheated or broken the law at some point. |
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Posts: 105
| Get rid of the weigh ins, for every species. Immediate catch and release using length or length to weight conversion will eliminate this issue. Plus it reduces mortality.
Edited by gimruis 8/7/2023 2:15 PM
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Location: Athens, Ohio | "If you can't beat 'em, cheat 'em" is a sad mentality on so many levels. m |
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Posts: 105
Location: Alberta Canada | gimruis - 8/7/2023 2:14 PM
Get rid of the weigh ins, for every species. Immediate catch and release using length or length to weight conversion will eliminate this issue. Plus it reduces mortality.
All the kayak fishing tournaments that I know of are C&R right away. Simple photo on an approved bump board and entered through an app. You get a card that is displayed in the photo and some change it each day. There is still refs going around too
Not saying it eliminates cheating but it does improve fish survival and stops the stuffing weights issue. I know our local one’s even have depth restrictions to help with survival
Sadly there is always those who will look for ways to cheat |
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| Don't know much about walleye tournaments, only one I ever followed was on Lake Winnebago in connection with Walleye Weekend, sponsored by Mercury, but I get the impression that weight is the be all, end all of walleye tournaments. Wouldn't it be a huge change to go to a tournament based on length? Seems like musky tournaments are the only ones where length is determining factor. Maybe if there enough of these scandals, the mind set will change.
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Posts: 32800
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | North of 8 - 8/9/2023 10:43 AM
Don't know much about walleye tournaments, only one I ever followed was on Lake Winnebago in connection with Walleye Weekend, sponsored by Mercury, but I get the impression that weight is the be all, end all of walleye tournaments. Wouldn't it be a huge change to go to a tournament based on length? Seems like musky tournaments are the only ones where length is determining factor. Maybe if there enough of these scandals, the mindset will change.
Already been done and is still in practice. We worked with the organization that took Paul Hartman's CPR lead from muskie to walleye and started Anglers Insight Marketing tournaments, or AIM. We assisted them in building the scoring system and built the associated website at the time with the scoring live leaderboard attached, OFM's Zach B actually invented that. Almost all tournaments run a leaderboard now. Denny Fox, a friend of mine from the Tuffy days, is the executive director at AIM now, they run weekend walleye tournaments across the upper Midwest. I am sort of out of touch with that world since we pulled our on-the-road tournament coverage team, the money dried up when tournaments started doing what OFM was doing for coverage. The Merc National is one of the best weigh tournaments, really REALLY well run. I shot images and video there this year and have been covering that for Mercury Marine for a couple of decades, our last hold out I guess. The NWT is the 'Pro' circuit in play, replacing the FLW which replaced the PWT. The Manufacturers Walleye Circuit (Tuffy was an original founder) now renamed Masters Walleye Circuit, is still doing very well. |
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| sworrall - 8/10/2023 10:47 AM
North of 8 - 8/9/2023 10:43 AM
Don't know much about walleye tournaments, only one I ever followed was on Lake Winnebago in connection with Walleye Weekend, sponsored by Mercury, but I get the impression that weight is the be all, end all of walleye tournaments. Wouldn't it be a huge change to go to a tournament based on length? Seems like musky tournaments are the only ones where length is determining factor. Maybe if there enough of these scandals, the mind set will change.
Already been done and is still in practice. We worked with the organization that took Paul Hartman's CPR lead from muskie to walleye and started Anglers Insight Marketing tournaments, or AIM. We assisted them in building the scoring system and built the associated website. Denny Fox, a friend of mine from the Tuffy days, is the executive director. I am sort of out of touch with that world since we pulled our on-the-road tournament coverage team, the money dried up when tournaments started doing what OFM was doing for coverage. The Merc National is one of the best weigh tournaments, really REALLY well run. I shot images and video there this year and have been covering that for Mercury Marine for a couple decades, our last hold out I guess.
Virtually every service club, non-profit in Fond du Lac County owes the Merc National for a big chunk of their annual fund raising through Walleye Weekend, that grew out of the fishing tournament. My Kiwanis Club made enough from our tent every year to donate roughly $10,000 annually to the local YMCA's learn to swim program, something that club has sponsored for almost 100 years. Folks today come for the music and food, but they also take an interest in the tournament. Another Kiwanis club in town sold over 2,000 pounds of cheese curds every year at that event. Their money also went to youth programs. |
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Posts: 32800
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | There's still a great crowd, and Lakeside Park rocks through the whole weekend with hundreds of booths, bands, and beer tents. |
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| sworrall - 8/10/2023 11:05 AM
There's still a great crowd, and Lakeside Park rocks through the whole weekend with hundreds of booths, bands, and beer tents.
Yep and because they know the booths are run for the benefit of the community, folks are generous. I used to work all 3 days and often after someone put a tip in our can, I would mention that our biggest project was the Learn to Swim Program, folks standing nearby would stuff a couple more bucks in the can. Often, they would say, my kids went to that, my grandchildren went to that or even, 'hey, I went to that!'. At our 100 year anniversary of the club, 90th anniversary of our partnership with the YMCA, the Y Exec. Director estimated between 40 and 50 thousand kids had learned the basics of water safety through the program. If I got tired or cranky after hours on my feet there, I just reminded myself about that program and it made it a lot easier. |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Minnesota. | North of 8 - 8/10/2023 11:16 AM
sworrall - 8/10/2023 11:05 AM
There's still a great crowd, and Lakeside Park rocks through the whole weekend with hundreds of booths, bands, and beer tents.
Yep and because they know the booths are run for the benefit of the community, folks are generous. I used to work all 3 days and often after someone put a tip in our can, I would mention that our biggest project was the Learn to Swim Program, folks standing nearby would stuff a couple more bucks in the can. Often, they would say, my kids went to that, my grandchildren went to that or even, 'hey, I went to that!'. At our 100 year anniversary of the club, 90th anniversary of our partnership with the YMCA, the Y Exec. Director estimated between 40 and 50 thousand kids had learned the basics of water safety through the program. If I got tired or cranky after hours on my feet there, I just reminded myself about that program and it made it a lot easier.
Thanks John, that was really big of you man!!! |
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| Well, the fund raisers were a lot of work and I also did things like build a cotton candy booth that came apart for storage but working registration at the Y when the kids came in made it all worthwhile. The little ones would literally be jumping up and down with excitement! That was a hoot.
I kind of took over the carpenty/electrical stuff from a guy who worked the grills until he was 90. He was happy to have someone who he could pass it on to. |
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Posts: 105
| Pikebait - 8/9/2023 8:26 AM
gimruis - 8/7/2023 2:14 PM
Get rid of the weigh ins, for every species. Immediate catch and release using length or length to weight conversion will eliminate this issue. Plus it reduces mortality.
All the kayak fishing tournaments that I know of are C&R right away. Simple photo on an approved bump board and entered through an app. You get a card that is displayed in the photo and some change it each day. There is still refs going around too
Not saying it eliminates cheating but it does improve fish survival and stops the stuffing weights issue. I know our local one’s even have depth restrictions to help with survival
Sadly there is always those who will look for ways to cheat
I'm with you, I'm sure there is still some of that happening. It just seems like the traditional weigh in formats are a archaic outdated way to conduct a tournament nowadays. Hauling fish around in the heat of summer and then weighing them on a scale can't be good for anyone anymore, including the fish. Most of the walleye tournaments here in MN have all switched to catch, measure, photo, and release now. The primary reason they do that was because they didn't want people gathering at one location in close proximity during the pandemic. They liked it so much that they just kept doing it after the covid wave. And obviously kayak tournaments have always done it too. |
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Posts: 3136
| Change of subject I know but do you think they also 'stuff' too at beauty pageants??
Edited by happy hooker 8/14/2023 5:50 PM
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Posts: 1670
| Beauty pageants feature "store boughts". No stuffing required. |
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Posts: 28
Location: Virginia | chuckski - 8/3/2023 2:14 PM
Sometimes we go out and catch some fish and it's a blast. And while we are at it we get to see the great North Woods, eat at restaurant, drink some Beer, be with friends and family and making new friends in the process. Don't forget why we do this!
Well said! This is exactly how I feel. I've got buddies that won't fish unless it's for a tournament. I just don't get its. Last thing I want to do is turn fishing into a rat race. |
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Posts: 8721
| Brian Hoffies - 8/14/2023 5:52 PM
Beauty pageants feature "store boughts". No stuffing required.
My grandmother warned me about that when I was about 10. She was one of those Bible types - taught Sunday school, didn't swear, didn't drink, never said anything off color... We were watching some pageant on TV and she says with disgust: "Look at that! They're all phony! I'm warning you now so you you aren't disappointed later on, those are all FAKE!" (I'm looking at the TV like "HUH?") Then she starts making this gesture with both hands and says "you know... TITS!! BOOBS!! KNOCKERS!!!" Those aren't real! Real ones point this way and that, they aren't the same size, they droop, they wobble..." Animating the whole droop wobble left/right thing with both hands the entire time. To this day I can't look at a nice rack on a woman and not hear my grandmother yelling "TITS!! BOOBS!! KNOCKERS!!" |
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