Angler caught cheating in Upstate NY walleye tournament, stuffed fish to increase weight - newyorkupstate.com

An angler was disqualified last weekend from the Bart's Cove Duel walleye tournament in Dunkirk for allegedly stuffing his catch to tip the scales in his favor.

When tournament director Mark Mohr sliced open Lake Erie walleye caught by Peter Smith, 57, of Forestville, at the weigh-in on Saturday, he discovered they'd been stuffed to the gills with smaller fish, including a 12-inch walleye missing its tail and a whole white perch, according to Outdoor Life.

"They both had holes in their lips, and they were both stuffed inside bigger walleyes," Mohr told Outdoor Life. "The 12-inch walleye, it looked to me like they tried to stuff it and it wouldn't go down, so they cut the last three inches off. It was suspicious because the fish was still really bright, and then I picked it up and could see a hook mark in its lip."

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation police confiscated the fish and DEC's Division of Law Enforcement is actively investigating a complaint from tournament organizers.

Angler caught cheating in Upstate NY walleye tournament, stuffed fish to increase weight

DEC's Division of Law Enforcement is actively investigating a complaint from tournament organizers.via Facebook

More than 30 teams competed in the tournament. Entrants paid $500 each for a chance to win cash prizes, a fishing trip to Panama valued at $14,500, and a deer hunting trip to Kansas.

The tournament is 100% payout, and all prize-winning fish are cut open and examined to discourage exactly the kind of cheating Smith is accused of.

Last October, two anglers were caught red-handed at an Ohio walleye tournament for stuffing lead weights in their fish, leading the tournament director to shout the now immortal phrase, "We got weights in fish!"

In Facebook posts Mohr said that he's "banned for life" seven people on more than one team for cheating during the tournament, not just Smith, but he didn't elaborate. Mohr also promised to privately share the names with fellow tournament directors.

Angler caught cheating in Upstate NY walleye tournament, stuffed fish to increase weight

An angler was disqualified last weekend from the Bart's Cove Duel walleye tournament in Dunkirk for allegedly stuffing his catch, shown here, to tip the scales in his favor.via Facebook

"I appreciate everyone's patience to let me get to the bottom of this mess," Mohr wrote. "People who cheat and get caught are permanently banned from fishing this event. People who cheat have no respect for me or there fellow fisherman."

Ironically, Smith didn't need to cheat to win the tournament.

"But the thing about it is that Pete didn't have to stuff them," Mohr told Outdoor Life. "He only gained maybe 10-12 ounces, less than a pound. But he had a 22-something-pound bag, and the next closest was 19 pounds."

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'Weights in fish!' Pro anglers narrowly avoid getting filleted for cheating in Lake Erie walleye tournament - newyorkupstate.com

Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post-Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.

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