Fish-Hawk.Net

I guess it goes to show that when money becomes involved some will stoop to anything. Not good press either now for the tourney guys. Folks will start to wonder how rare it is.
Shame on those guys, big time losers IMO.

So far this is from a facebook post. Nothing official yet
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 9580354844


Guys accused of cheating by caging fish for balsam lake top bass tournament!!! It has come to the attention of the tournament director of the Ontario bass fishing series Top Bass that one of it's competing teams that consists of two members Fabio Testa (Testa, Fabio) and his partner Guy Amoruso (Amoruso, Guy) had been spotted on Friday September 11, 2015 acting suspiciously in Mitchell creek (Balsam Lake). The eyewitnesses, that just so happened to be Top Bass competitors as well, apparently watched undetected while Testa, Amoruso and an unknown third party were laying down flat vegetation like they were trying to conseal something. The eyewitnesses then waited until the accused vacated the area and went to investigate. What they found was alarming!!! Two laundry baskets zip tied together containing approximately 18lbs of bass. The eyewitnesses then apparently confiscated the evidence and approached the tournament director during the tournament meeting that was taking place only minutes away. The tournament director apparently tried to then contact the accused but because apparently their truck containing their cell phones had been stolen in previous weeks. Insurance fraud? KARMA? The accused showed up to fish this morning and after a few remarks from other anglers were made they quickly left. Now in my opinion if someone accused me of something I didn't do, tooth and nail I would defend myself. I would never run with my tail between my legs like the two of these guys. The tournament commenced as usual except for the fact that an extra boat was sent back to the area where the caged fish were located only to find a SECOND CAGE WITH APPROXIMATELY 20LBS!!! Quite the scheme was planned to fraudulently win the Top Bass Classic which is worth $12000.00 to first place. To make the story even more interesting is the fact that they competed in 4 Top Bass events this season placing 1st in 3 events and 2nd in one event totalling around $20 000.00 in winnings for the year. Well I'm interested to see what Fabio Testa and Guy Amoruso have in response for these EYEWITNESSES ALLEGATIONS!

This story sucks, and no one likes to hear this.

But your comment about how this is bad press for tournament anglers in general? Your typical Smitty negative spin.

I'd like to see stiffer fraud charges enforced on guys like this.

With the amount of money involved fraud charges should be brought forward for sure...[quote="Oneeleven"] Your typical Smitty negative spin.

I can't see how this would be positive

Is there any criminal charges that could or would be laid if allegations are proven to be true Have charges ever been laid before

Haulin Bass wrote:Is there any criminal charges that could or would be laid if allegations are proven to be true Have charges ever been laid before

From stuff I've read here and there, fraud charges have been laid, but I think only in the States. (don't hold me to that!) But I've read this this particular instance that the OPP and MNR both cannot/won't be laying charges. But this is just FB info I've seen, so I'm not sure it holds water.

chappee77 wrote: I can't see how this would be positive

Obviously not a positive. (eyeroll emoticon right back at ya Chappee77 ) But why drag how this looks bad on all tourney guys, if anything, it angers all anglers on the tourney scene because 99% would never dream of doing such a thing.

It looks bad on the D-bags who did the deed.

I've read of a few guys getting charged with Fraud in the states.

If there is a way to win money (and a lot at that), there will be a select few that will tarnish the name of any sport.

I would not be happy if I was a paying member of this series to say the least.

Walter Palmer’s antipathetic press did plant the seed in me, which to this day, bloomed in a bouquet of uneasy, fearful and distressed generalizations in regards to the hunting community. Now talk about bad press for ALL hunters, sheesh!

Although this ain’t no breaking news, tournament swindlers are sparse in nature.
Guntersville comes to mind, you get charged with tampering, conspiracy and defraud, and maximum term of sentencing is up to 5 years. How much stiffer can it get? I’d ask the culprits, they probably did hit the showers once or twice….

Italo Labignan, one might say he didn’t “cheat”, but snagging fish in the body to re-hook them in the mouth for filming purposes could be interpreted as “cheating”.

Then there's EAP's...

Do all of the abovementioned facts and sarcastic remarks give tournament anglers, TV hosts and hunters a bad rep?

The answer is no.
Draw your own conclusions.

In everything in life there are cheaters!

Sports = Steroids, HGH, EPO etc
Relationships = infidelity, lies etc
Jobs = falsifying experience, plagiarsim, taking credit for others work etc
etc

Hopefully, these two will be dealt with accordingly.
But I won't lose sleep over it either.

Geez Smitty, you're getting a pretty harsh response here. I don't think this makes all tournament anglers look bad, but it certainly doesn't look good on tournament fishing. Or maybe I'm mistaken, like when Lance Armstrong's cheating didn't make cycling look bad, or steroid use in baseball didn't reflect negatively on the MLB

Supernova224 wrote:Geez Smitty, you're getting a pretty harsh response here. I don't think this makes all tournament anglers look bad, but it certainly doesn't look good on tournament fishing. Or maybe I'm mistaken, like when Lance Armstrong's cheating didn't make cycling look bad, or steroid use in baseball didn't reflect negatively on the MLB

Exactly what I was saying. How could it not cast some negative shadows on the sport. I wasn't implying anything like some people like to assume. I was just passing this on as I figured it would be a topic worthy of discussion.

quote="Oneeleven"]This story sucks, and no one likes to hear this. But your comment about how this is bad press for tournament anglers in general? Your typical Smitty negative spin.[/quote]

Really Tia?? Please tell me how this could be a positive. I don't have a prob with tourneys in general at all so I don't know where you got this from. Please elaborate.

smitty55 wrote: Really Tia?? Please tell me how this could be a positive. I don't have a prob with tourneys in general at all so I don't know where you got this from. Please elaborate.

You seem to come on here and poke the bear a lot. Seems to me someone who is pro-competitive fishing would have saved the 'looks bad on tourneys' comment. Your post struck me as abrasive this morning. But maybe it was just me...

And sure. I'll just repeat what I said to Chappee when he asked the same question:

Obviously not a positive. But why drag how this looks bad on all tourney guys, if anything, it angers all anglers on the tourney scene because 99% would never dream of doing such a thing.

It looks bad on the D-bags who did the deed.
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I think we should all STOP assuming people mean the worst in their postings....

unless of course it is 100% clear that they are stirring the pot.

I'd be curious to find out how well those baskets would hold in the St Lawrence current?

Jimmy_1 wrote:I think we should all STOP assuming people mean the worst in their postings....

unless of course it is 100% clear that they are stirring the pot.

Given Smitty's track record for being less than... nice on here? it's probably at his own hand that people tend not to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his comments not being barbed, and of the pot-stirring variety.

But I shall refrain making further comments at this and save my ill feelings for the D-canoes who plant fish in tourneys.