What is everyone's take on this?

[MadYakker]

This picture has been under intense discussion on KBN FB page. What do you say- can a HawgTrough bend this much without breaking or does it have a hinge under the fish and is he holding the fish over the board in the air to get extra length?

[Ring King]

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[bilgerat]

Looks fishy to me. It definitely has quite the bend in it, enough that I'd say it potentially adds at least an inch or possibly more to the length.

My question is who took the picture ? Was it taken from far away ? Has this guy been under suspicion for cheating and that's why someone went through the trouble to take a picture of him taking a picture ?

New rule - only solid metal measuring devices are to be used. OR the tournament director issues random identical metal rulers etched with a unique mark or number which must be visible in every picture submitted. Measuring devices are distributed at random before launch and are subject to inspection before checks are issued. If the device is intact and the identifying marks are confirmed with the pictures, then and only then will checks be issued.

[Ring King]

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[bilgerat]

Just playing devil’s advocate. Just need to know the whole story, until then it’s all open for debate. I don’t have a dime in it.

[rds_nc]

Yeah something seems weird about all that.

[F150owner]

Hobie has just outlawed the plastic boards in their sponsored tournaments.

[MadYakker]

Looks fishy to me. It definitely has quite the bend in it, enough that I'd say it potentially adds at least an inch or possibly more to the length.

My question is who took the picture ? Was it taken from far away ? Has this guy been under suspicion for cheating and that's why someone went through the trouble to take a picture of him taking a picture ?

New rule - only solid metal measuring devices are to be used. OR the tournament director issues random identical metal rulers etched with a unique mark or number which must be visible in every picture submitted. Measuring devices are distributed at random before launch and are subject to inspection before checks are issued. If the device is intact and the identifying marks are confirmed with the pictures, then and only then will checks be issued.

He wasn't under suspicion before this. He was high in the standings so he had a camera close to him that came over when he caught a 23 incher. He put out a video proclaiming his innocence, but he had a bad case of dry-mouth and vocal tells that only worsened things, for those who know anything about body language and other "tells".

[BigDozer66]

An extra 1/2" every time he measured surely helped him out!

[fluke1987]

Personally, there were no rules in effect to prevent anyone from doing this. It is evident however that length can be altered by doing this to some degree. So was it within the rules...yes. Does it make it right...no. Does it make him a cheater...no because he wasn't breaking any rules. But to say that it wasn't intentional or that he didn't know how it effected length is not true...I have been running events and competing in events for 6 years and I have not seen anyone measure a fish that way.

Ketch boards are in place now with all Hobie BOS events and even Ron bought one for the BASS event right after Fork. Rules have been changed and fixed and everyone can go back to having fun competing

[Itismemc]

He recently addressed this on BTL in February.

[MadYakker]

Personally, there were no rules in effect to prevent anyone from doing this. It is evident however that length can be altered by doing this to some degree. So was it within the rules...yes. Does it make it right...no. Does it make him a cheater...no because he wasn't breaking any rules. But to say that it wasn't intentional or that he didn't know how it effected length is not true...I have been running events and competing in events for 6 years and I have not seen anyone measure a fish that way.

Ketch boards are in place now with all Hobie BOS events and even Ron bought one for the BASS event right after Fork. Rules have been changed and fixed and everyone can go back to having fun competing

If it was simply flexing the board within it's flexibility limits, you are correct. Many aren't totally convinced that the board could physically bend that much given a large part of the board was visibly flat on the deck, while the other end was significantly raised. If a bass is large/wide enough, anything shady going on underneath it is a mystery. There were some black rectangles under his trough when he was stowing it-don't have any idea what those were for. The Andrew Shepherd incident is going to be remembered by a lot of people (cut and removed a section of his Hawg Trough) though, and going to a Ketch board may help the "flex" issue, but not the "other" ways this same effect could be pulled off.