I remember reading this somewhere & i swear i read what Randy told somewhere too because i remember them saying they were in a container of some kind & he would put his jig through the hole & get bit & reel them in.Originally Posted by Jeff Hahn
I remember reading this somewhere & i swear i read what Randy told somewhere too because i remember them saying they were in a container of some kind & he would put his jig through the hole & get bit & reel them in.
I thought I remember him hooking a line with his bait and reeling into a tied up fish? Was that somebody else?
I've heard this story more than any other theory on TC for what its worth..
2007 Bass Cat Puma
2007 Mercury Pro XS 250
The version I heard at the time was that the brother and him would plant the basket at night next to a specific tree or dock pole. That way he could make a very specific short flip in 7-8 feet of water and let it drop by the pole, straight into the basket. The original story I heard years ago was that someone saw a light out by their dock at night and reported it. Not sure if any of that is accurate.
I believe this was in a tourney on the Red River. Fish were tied to a line, and he would switch to a crank bait when he got to the pole it was tied to. He’d hook the line, then let the lure follow the line and embed in the fish’s mouth. He wore a line clipper on a lanyard around his neck, then flop on his belly to lip the fish so the co angler couldn’t see - then clip the line with the clippers. Happens another angler actually hooked one too, reported it, then they tagged it and waited to see what happened. That’s how I remember it - it was a long time ago.
I agree.... there is no way you could build a container strong enough to hold fish yet flexible enough to allow a jig to fall through. I'm not saying he didn't cheat. I just don't think the way Randy described is possible.
What is bullshit? SOMEBODY had to catch the fish for them to be either put into the basket OR manually hooked by someone in SCUBA gear. That was the point. Why was there no investigation as to who helped him catch the fish the FIRST time?
I heard and this is back a long time ago that what was witnessed was a scuba diver that would actually take the jig from TC once he pitched it in and then he would hook it into the fishes mouth pull on the line TC would set the hook and then reel the fish up I think the box story is a bunch of bullshit because those fish in a box with a cover would likely be in pitch dark and be asleep…… I believe I also heard that the jig that TC was using was like a bright candy apple red and that’s how his brother would see the jig pitched under the dock down where the scuba diver brother was…….
Randy's story, did you watch the video? I couldn't stomach most of it so fast forward to that part. No diver mentioned in his story, well at least the parts I watched.
I remember reading about TC. I recall a box contraption being used.
Personally just trying to look at it as simply as I can I just don't see any way a diver was hooking fish to his line. It's hard enough to pull one out of a livewell. Can't imagine someone doing it fully submerged.
I am pretty sure that the Randy Blaukat/Troy Jens accounts of the container were pretty close to the truth and they were both very familiar with the FLW circuit at that time. With a little ingenuity, a container could be created. Fish are not that smart and many traps have been created where the fish swims in but cannot figure out how to swim back out.
Problem was the only tournament they could prove was the one he was DQ at. And at that tournament they never paid him any money so he never collected anything. Even though everyone knew what he did after they found his trap they still couldn't prove it. Just because you say someone is cheating you got to have the proof to do anything with it.
Just like the walleye guys they cant prove anything except for the one tournament that they got caught in and will never get any money from them.
Believe what you want but it is 100% true. The scuba driver stuff was made up from rumors. The tote was absolutely 100% real.
Someone needs to do some sort of myth busting experiment to see if it’s feasible……… just not in a tournament
2007 Ranger188vs, Mercury optimax 150
That one was a fellow by the name of Paul Tormanen
Paul Tormanen
Randy did describe it right….One could easily take the big plastic storage tub drill multiple holes in each side to let it fill up with water, put some extra weight in the bottom to make sure it stays secure wherever you place it.
There was an X shaped area cut out in the lid that two lines of the X were wide enough to drop a jig through when fish was hooked the plastic would flex enough to allow the fish to be pulled through it then return to it’s previous shape to prevent any fish escaping. The plastic on the lid wouldn’t necessarily cut your line as the girth of fish would move the plastic out of the way.
It was a simple efficient design that worked good enough to fool the co angler but evidently it drew too much attention from someone on shore and TC was busted. TC was referred to as Angler X after it was revealed how he had modified the tub to carry out his crooked.
I don’t buy the Rebreather Scuba Theory unless a diver originally submerged that container of fish there before the tournament.
This incident drew a lot of attention and reports were all over the Bass Blogs and a lot of individuals saw the container with the X cut in the top that container.
Last edited by Hoot; 10-04-2022 at 03:43 PM.
Seems like he could've gotten away with it if he put containers of fish on more than just one dock.
2007 Bass Cat Puma
2007 Mercury Pro XS 250
Makes sense for the box to be used for a scuba diver. Only question would be, how did his brother get to this location?
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