An angler in hot water faces felony charges after allegations surfaced of cheating at a Texas fishing competition, where the stakes were high with a $10,000 prize on the line.
Curtis Lee Daniels, hailing from Willow Park, Texas, found himself in legal trouble after a metal detector revealed that a bass he submitted at the Lake Fork Lure Company Tournament may have been tampered with, according to a report from Fox 4.
Authorities discovered three weights inside the fish Daniels entered in the contest, with additional weights found on his boat, officials disclosed.
Despite having already pocketed $2,500 from two separate hourly prizes, Daniels was apprehended and charged with breaking the fishing tournament law, as confirmed by the Texas Game Wardens.
The offense qualifies as a third-degree felony due to the tournament’s prize pool exceeding the $10,000 threshold.
The charge is a third-degree felony because the tournament’s prize amount exceeded $10,000.
“Maintaining fairness and integrity in competitive fishing is incredibly important to us, and we greatly appreciate the diligence and attention you gave to this matter,” tournament organizers Big Bass Splash said in a statement thanking Texas Game Wardens for their help.
“Your efforts help protect the reputation of the sport and ensure that honest anglers can compete on a level playing field,” the statement posted on Facebook continued.
The tournament’s grand prize went to the real winner, William McDaniel of Festus, Missouri, for his bass weighing a whopping 10.22 pounds.
Lake Fork Reservoir, where the tournament took place, is known to be one of the premier bass fishing lakes in the world.
Fifteen of the top 20 Texas State Record largemouth bass ever caught were found in the reservoir, which lies some 70 miles east of Dallas-Fort Worth.
Cheating in fishing tournaments is serious business, and in recent years, multiple culprits have faced jail for tipping the scales in their favor.
In May 2023, two fishermen were jailed for 10 days and handed probation after they were caught cheating at a tournament in Ohio.
Jacob Runyan of Ashtabula, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, admitted to stuffing fish with lead weights and fish fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in prize money at the 2022 Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament.
