Another ‘weights in fish’ scandal reported, this time from Texas bass tourney

Willow Park, Texas — A fishing tournament scam that has become familiar in recent years has popped up yet again.

A fishing tournament in Texas had an angler check in a fish that was found to have been loaded with weights.

On March 8, Texas Fish and Wildlife officers in Wood County were contacted by organizers of the Lake Fork Lure Company Tournament to investigate a bass “that raised concerns of possible tampering.” A metal detecting wand alerted tournament organizers to a potential “foreign object.”

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Officers conducted a necropsy on the fish and discovered three weights in its stomach. Wardens also located weights of the same style and size in the angler’s boat.

Curtis Lee Daniels, of Willow Park, Texas, was arrested and charged with violating fishing tournament law.

Because the tournament’s total prize value exceeded $10,000, the charge is a third-degree felony.

The same thing happened in Ohio in 2022, where two fishermen were charged with felonies.

The Ohio anglers, eventually sentenced to “10 days local incarceration,” had their fishing license suspended and were forced to give up the boat used in the tournament.