Tournament Decoys And Other Dirty Tricks 2024

FlipnLimits reply :

Gents and Ladies

I fish a number of tournaments throughout the year and I have seen some silly things people do, myself included.

A few examples;

During a morning takeoff, I saw a boat leave and make a hard right, he ran approx. 200 yards away and stopped to fish in the middle of nowhere. As I left the takeoff area I entered into a no-wake and looked at that fist boat, he turned to the left and went off. Clearly he was just waiting for boats to leave so he could go in a direction not seen by other boats....a direction decoy. Almost can't blame a team for something like this if they have been doing well, some people follow boats around to steal fishing spots.

On another occasion, as I passed a tournament boat while fishing, I was being cordial and asked if the team's day was going well. The fisherman said he had 2 fish. A couple hours later, at weigh-in, he had a limit.....a bag decoy.

I will admit to dropping my bait low into the water as I pass other tournament boats, so they don't get a peek at my bait. My partner puts a shirt or towel over his rods to hide his baits. Or I may leave a couple rods with baits on the deck at weigh-in but they aren't what was used that day or tournament.....bait decoy. Sounds paranoid but I fish with some discontinued baits and a few baits that I'm sure nobody uses.

Have you done something like this? Have you seen other decoys? Please share.

J Francho reply :

Prefishing…but fishing someone else's usual pattern and spots, and taking their fish on a live well ride. Far, far away.

Sandbagging at the weigh in is classic. I've intentionally dragged my heels to weigh in last when I'm pretty sure I have a good bag.

"Tough day. Threw senkos for 8 hours."

I once put a 38" northern pike in the weigh in bag (they're black) as a little surprise for the weigh master.

In team comps, keep a few of your bigger culls, and release them when a competitor is close by.

Put all your rods away before check in, but leave a few on deck with ridiculous baits tied on. Once had a cat toy tied on my swim bait rod. Another time, I just left my little 7-6 3wt fly rod on the deck.

If you have just one big fish, yell out, "crap, I've got six in here," and toss the monster out.

FlipnLimits reply :

On 3/25/2014 at 11:52 AM, J Francho said:

Prefishing…but fishing someone else's usual pattern and spots, and taking their fish on a live well ride. Far, far away.

Sandbagging at the weigh in is classic. I've intentionally dragged my heels to weigh in last when I'm pretty sure I have a good bag.

"Tough day. Threw senkos for 8 hours."

I once put a 38" northern pike in the weigh in bag (they're black) as a little surprise for the weigh master.

In team comps, keep a few of your bigger culls, and release them when a competitor is close by.

Put all your rods away before check in, but leave a few on deck with reduce lots baits tied on. Once had a cat toy tied on my swim bait rod. Another time, I just left my little 7-6 3wt fly rod on the deck.

If you have just one big fish, yell out, "crap, I've got six in here," and toss the monster out.

Lol, the Northern Ouch for the Bump Master

Sandbaggers make me laugh. When I have a bag that I really think has a chance to win, I try to weigh first (or close to it). It makes the sandbaggers sick.

The "bigger culls release" is a new one for me. I love it, I may borrow it, thank you

J Francho reply :

One of the funniest was when my buddy Brutus was in the hunt for AOY in our club. He fell short last tournament of the season, but had an ace up his sleeve: a cement bass. Half the club nearly peed themselves. Weigh master was really confused for a few seconds.

J Francho reply :

I actually sand bag because I can't stand the suspense. The club I fished can be pretty tight, competitively speaking. First tournament last year, .22 lbs separated the top five bags. I was .09 lbs. off the lead. Came in third.

FlipnLimits reply :

Sounds like a good bunch you have there! I'm sure a cement bass would get the nod, even in more serious competitions A true bag decoy!

I brought my daughter's pillow, one of those silly 4' tall bass pillows from BPS to a tourney. It was great for a laugh when pulled out of a storage compartment next to the livewells.

FlipnLimits reply :

On 3/25/2014 at 12:10 PM, J Francho said:
I actually sand bag because I can't stand the suspense. The club I fished can be pretty tight, competitively speaking. First tournament last year, .22 lbs deprecated the top five bags. I was .09 lbs. off the lead. Came in third.

I missed AOY by 1 dead fish....less than .5 lb! I was devastated. This was as a co-anger many years ago. Got retribution with AOY a few years ago, on the pro side

I wish this year would start already! We still have 2 feet of ice to melt and I'm guessing NY does also. Brutal.

Tony L. reply :

I have never fished competitively, but I imagine that you can throw some people off by dropping one or two of your marker buoys in a random location. Others might fish them thinking that it is a productive spot. I read that pros sometimes do this to throw competitors off their trails, but I don't know if it holds true.

WIGuide reply :

Usually if someone asks and we've been just killin them I'll let them know that we haven't really been catching many.

On two day tournaments if I did alright on day one, everything will be put away before I come in. I like the idea to tie on totally random objects.

I'm never afraid to tell people where I caught them, even though that may or may not be where I did.

Last year was my first draw tournament for the state tourney of Bass Nation. Had I not been so intent on trying to advance to regionals I had the thought to tie up a drop shot rig on my flippin stick. I was going to use a big 7/0 or 9/0 hook and use a casting plug or something ridiculous as a weight and then as a bait use a little 1.5" Senko type bait and rig it up wacky style on there. The bite was shallow anyway so I was going to pull up close to a bank and chuck one way up on the bank start reeling it till it hits something and just jack on it like a giant hit it and put on an act like I really did get bit. No doubt for the first 5 minutes of the day that Co-angler would be wondering what the heck did he get himself into.

J Francho reply :

It's important to note that this is the type thing you do in a club. If you're in a bigger event, BFL, state league, or whatever…just catch your fish and worry about yourself. Clubs are like a brotherhood, messing with the guys is sort of the norm.

Another one I thought of, for noob non boaters: turn your console graph on demo mode. Play dumb.

Teal reply :

I don't go to great lengths, but I have been known to answer the question of what I've been doing, by saying " purple spinner bait in 40FOW".

gulfcaptain reply :

I like when someone asks where you caught them or where you were fishing, when you say in the water cause I didn't see any in the trees or on the shore gets a pretty good response. Or open your mouth and point to spots in your mouth and show them where you caught them.....yes, being a smartass is fun at times....and the cat toy trick is pretty good.

Koofy Smacker reply :

I had one buddy tournament where everybody was doing terrible. 6 fish limit and the winning weight was 4 fish for like 9 pounds. Half an hour from the weigh in I passed another boat of a guy I knew who also said he was doing awful, went just out of sight around the bend, splashed the water a ton and they started screaming GAME CHANGER! He came up to me at the weighin with no fish and asked to see what I had caught.. My bag had one tiny keeper I caught in the first 15 minutes . He did say it really killed their moral haha

Lund Explorer reply :

I've told this story before, but I'll repeat it.

I used to fish a Tuesday Night team tournament where most of the teams were hooked on GYBC Hula Grubs, and dock talk always was shortened to only using the color number. After one tournament where my partner and I almost lapped the field for fish/weight, the question was "What Color?" Without missed a beat, my partner Tony replied "409 - Really Cleaned Up On Them!"

The next week, one of the members came up to us laughing like crazy. He owned the local tackle store where most of the guys shopped. Seems almost everyone had come in looking for the color number that didn't exist!

VAHunter reply :

I've never been much about sandbagging. I tell people what I have and what I caught them on. In my experience, other guys don't believe me anyway (like using jerkbaits in 39 degree water or silver buddy in 50 degree water), so the truth works to the same benefit. I've also been known to bed-fish with 4 lb. line. The only guy at weigh in who believed me was the one who saw me catching fish on that little spinning outfit.

Brian Needham reply :

On 3/25/2014 at 11:52 AM, J Francho said:

.

"

If you have just one big fish, yell out, "crap, I've got six in here," and toss the monster out.

I actually LOL at that one.

slimshad reply :

We have guys that throw bananas in everyones boat in the morning. Sand baggers of coarse. We always put the net in the floor and say keep it down. I don't know why. Bass decoying? We have a guy that will throw an 18" bass up say he wants it checked on the 15" board. Another decoying of sorts is the infamous black weigh in bags.

jhoffman reply :

I have a black bag, next time I zero I am gonna fill it full of water. I prob wont be able to even carry it.

Wbeadlescomb reply :

On 4/9/2014 at 6:08 AM, jhoffman said:
I have a black bag, next time I zero I am gonna fill it full of water. I prob wont be able to even carry it.

I've done that before lol

ww2farmer reply :

There are a couple younger guys who help me run the tournaments on our home lake that I have "helped" .....mostly with legit tips, and stuff, and they are good, they have done well . BUT some of my tips were ...............lets just say, misleading. And I have seen them chasing those tips........I feel bad, but my luck is it will lead them on to something, and they will whip my butt with it.

DelfiBoyz_One_and_Only reply :

What happen to the old 15" swimbait hanging over the side of the boat? Or telling them I caught them c-rigging a pink hula popper?

I love acting like I have a monster on a 15" swimbait ( yelling running back and forth in the boat) and then when I got some attention acting like it got off. Works best when you are in known dead water. Act mad and leave I have seen people sit on the spot for hours after I have left. Good times.

buzzfrog reply :

lol good reads, hope you guys are not like the weekend warriors at my lake, the line up with the 30 rods on deck, I walk by shore fishing with 3 rods, ask hows the fishing or what colors yall throwing, I get no response, people in my overfished lake get to hardcore. you think theyd want to help this lonely bank beater.

Crookedneck reply :

Last year my partner and I won a tourney with a big bag. At the weigh in the local paper was there they interviewed us. We actually gave bogus coordinates & told them we were using purple x-raps in 14 feet of water. The story ran & purple x-raps were impossible to find and there were boats all over the location we had given.

On another day I pulled into a community hole with 30 minutes left and I so far had been skunked. I filled the live well in that last 30 minutes and took 3rd. All the guys were asking what I was using I told them leech colored tubes. That night I got a call from the winner all upset because he heard me tell everyone what I was using. It appears he really was using leech colored tubes....

MichBassMan reply :

I've been on both the giving and receiving end of many of the above mentioned shenanigans. More often before GPS became popular, but still now on some occasions to mark a spot on the spot,( an underwater stump, hump, or brush pile), prior to a tourney, I'll place a duck or seagull decoy as a marker buoy. Conventional markers attract attention, seagulls generally go unmolested.

J Francho reply :

I'll keep that in mind next time I try to run one over, lol.

MichBassMan reply :

Ha ha, notice I said " generally go unmolested " :smiley:

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