Cell Phone Use During Tournaments

[Wettail]

I just wanted to get some opinions on if tournament fishermen think that the use of cell phones or texting is becoming a problem during tournaments, especially in a team format. I have been told that it is becoming a regular practice among some networking teams and places the rest of the field at a competitive disadvantage.
The second opinon I would be interested in, is how tournament directors can enforce this policy or should they? I am seeing some open communication tournaments occasionally popping up. I know that most tournaments depend on fishermen integrity and sportsmanship as their foundation but it would be nice if we could level the playing field, especially when payouts are a factor.

When there is money and /or ego. Anything goes. To bad

I think cell phones are more of a distraction than anything and often times will hurt you more than help. My partner and I have fished several small tournaments and a walleye league that cell phones were allowed (or atleast they were never mentioned in the rules or rules meeting). We've found that using them only confused us. The only thing that a text or phone call did for us was make us second guess our own game plan. The times we picked up and followed the tip, we NEVER did well as it is hard to copy someone elses program.

Now, we shut the phones off and concentrate on our own program. We had a very sucessful year with this policy in place!

[Fastcat]

amen to that, a big distraction at times with people wondering how you are doing.

[RLS]

I think it is cheating. Most tournaments won't let you use Marine Radioes except in an emergency, so why would Cell Phones be legal? I say fish fair and find your own fish.

It is cheating, and is a big problem. Why are team tournament entries down? A big reason is cell phone usage; it is no secret that teams are using phones.

Cell phones are big competitive advantage in a trolling tournament like on Erie or Saginaw Bay. One team could be a mile away catching nothing or catching dinks. One phone call to their buddies and they find out just a mile away they are catching big fish or lots of fish. The team then makes the short drive, sets down on the fish, and cleans up on them. They then take home a nice check. CHEATING!!!!!! While the teams that do it by the book, grind it out, and get beat by the teams on the phone. It is absolutely sickening.

There is no way to police it, or enforce no cell phones either; so it is not going to stop. I will say karma is a bi$#h though; what goes around comes around. To the cell phone cheaters: keep on doing it! When your outboard blows up, or your tow vehicle takes a dump, or you forget to put the plug in and your boat sinks--- no whining or crying! You get what you deserve!

[Hokey Dokey]

Originally Posted by Piper

It is cheating, and is a big problem. Why are team tournament entries down? A big reason is cell phone usage; it is no secret that teams are using phones.

Cell phones are big competitive advantage in a trolling tournament like on Erie or Saginaw Bay. One team could be a mile away catching nothing or catching dinks. One phone call to their buddies and they find out just a mile away they are catching big fish or lots of fish. The team then makes the short drive, sets down on the fish, and cleans up on them. They then take home a nice check. CHEATING!!!!!! While the teams that do it by the book, grind it out, and get beat by the teams on the phone. It is absolutely sickening.

There is no way to police it, or enforce no cell phones either; so it is not going to stop. I will say karma is a bi$#h though; what goes around comes around. To the cell phone cheaters: keep on doing it! When your outboard blows up, or your tow vehicle takes a dump, or you forget to put the plug in and your boat sinks--- no whining or crying! You get what you deserve!

As you say "There is no way to police it, or enforce no cell phones either; so it is not going to stop. "

I say legalize the use of cell phones
Why not let everyone use them in the tournament. Then everyone will have the same advantages or disavantages
Mike M

[dutchboy]

Originally Posted by Piper

It is cheating, and is a big problem. Why are team tournament entries down? A big reason is cell phone usage; it is no secret that teams are using phones.

Cell phones are big competitive advantage in a trolling tournament like on Erie or Saginaw Bay. One team could be a mile away catching nothing or catching dinks. One phone call to their buddies and they find out just a mile away they are catching big fish or lots of fish. The team then makes the short drive, sets down on the fish, and cleans up on them. They then take home a nice check. CHEATING!!!!!! While the teams that do it by the book, grind it out, and get beat by the teams on the phone. It is absolutely sickening.

There is no way to police it, or enforce no cell phones either; so it is not going to stop. I will say karma is a bi$#h though; what goes around comes around. To the cell phone cheaters: keep on doing it! When your outboard blows up, or your tow vehicle takes a dump, or you forget to put the plug in and your boat sinks--- no whining or crying! You get what you deserve!

But......................how do you really feel?

It will be just like baseball and all the roid use. At some point it will end, for the good of the game.

If it's not illegal to use them, then it's legal. Until the organizations are willing to crack down and outlaw them nothing will happen. Remember, to make them illegal means there needs to be a penalty. Loss weight? DQ? Tournament suspensions? Then if it is a "team" member being caught do you nail each member of the team? Who "officially" belongs to what teams?
It's not as easy as saying "bad boy's, don't do that again!"

As they say, the horse is out of the barn already.

[Juls]

Originally Posted by Piper

There is no way to police it, or enforce no cell phones either; so it is not going to stop. I will say karma is a bi$#h though; what goes around comes around. To the cell phone cheaters: keep on doing it! When your outboard blows up, or your tow vehicle takes a dump, or you forget to put the plug in and your boat sinks--- no whining or crying! You get what you deserve!

The last Lake Erie Walleye Trail that went out of Lorain implemented the use of the local police to check the top teams cell phones during the weigh in. No one was found "guilty", and no one complained that they were checking.

There IS a way to "police" it.

Hope you are having a better day....you sound like you're having a really bad day in your post.

Juls

[Chad]

Major circuits ban on the water commuication in regards to sharing fishing knowledge on competition days. MWC, AIM and FLW all outlawed. It is enforced by the circuits examining a cell phone log if someone is accused of cheating. I do not think it is common at all on the pro circuits. I would expect anyone caught cheating would be disqualified and maybe even banned from the circuit. Cheating is cheating.

MWC:

G. All teams are subject to official inspection during the tournament and agree to an inspection at any time. No other boats may come in contact with particiants’ boats with the exception of a TV camera or official staff boat. No fishing information or schedule information may be given to participants during tournament fishing hours by anyone in any fashion. Cell phones are allowed for safety purposes only. Only friendly non-fishing conversation between competitors is allowed during tournament hours. No Internet access is allowed, nor is text messaging, paging, or walk-talkie to another person during tournament hours to gain fishing information. MWC may request cell phone records in the course of investigation and all participants agree to provide such records if requested of them. Please review and follow the “Trouble On The Water Procedures” as listed on the MWC website and handed out at each tournament.

FLW:

4. Off-limits, practice and competition

Once competition is under way, contestants may not obtain fishing patterns or locations from noncompetitors or follow a noncompetitor’s boat or participate in the practice of “hole sitting” or the placing of markers by anyone. Anglers eliminated after each round of competition are considered noncompetitors.
Co-anglers who share a pro partner’s fishing locations with another competitor will be disqualified along with the competitor utilizing the information.
**During competition hours from takeoff until check-in, all on-water communication by contestants (excluding partners) pertaining to method or type of presentations being used, lure selection or color and location of fish or type of water being fished is strictly prohibited.