Wow! That's all I can really say about this....

I understand that at this point it's time to move on, especially since it appears as though the FLW will not recognize any wrong doing on the Oregon Team's part. Having said that, I feel that we are still entitled to have our own opinions so here is mine:

I would think that the FLW rule is in place to keep an even playing field, and just because money never changed hands between the tournament participants and the guide it doesn't make it right. The Oregon team had a clear and distinct advantage by leveraging the knowledge of not one but TWO local guides.

Our kids relied on pure skill and talent alone and they still managed to pull in a respectable 2nd place. The FLW should revise the rule and remove the verbiage that reflects payment.

Big Props to Anthony for helping out here and to the boys for giving it their best. Don't let this outcome sway you on bit because in reality you two WON this tournament. Nice work guys!

Well said Marce,agree!

Colby Pearson here from the Oregon team maybe im welcome here maybe not but please hear me out.....

the no information rule includes the purchasing* or bartering*, no one was hired and no rules were broken.

I had no idea that fishing with Josh or Sean would spiral out of control like this, honestly if someone had warned me I would have looked into getting a FLW supplied boater.

I have been fishing in adult tournaments on my own since I was 11 years old, and fishing is something I do almost entirely on my own since I was just a little kid fishing is my favorite thing and it has kept me from following the wrong path in life, to be accused of cheating honest to god breaks me down and makes me feel sick I made absolutely positive that no rules were broken literally a dozen times with FLW. It's to bad I am such close friends to the Ca team and many of the people that helped then get there that no one spoke their feelings until after the tournament. Every one of our fish came off a spot that was absolutely dead in pre-fish we stopped there on a whim on tournament day because it was something different. I really truly am sorry it worked out this way and im dissapointed that people feel that way about me now over this without really knowing who I am and how things took place, its pretty sad and it really bums me out, anyways if i get flamed for this so be it i cant change the past, if anyone has any questions i am easy to get a hold of. Originally when this was posted David also posted it on the Oregon Fishing Forum and i tried to contact him and seek his point of view clear up any misconceptions and let him get to know me as a person, I tried getting him on the phone to hear him out but i never got that oppurtunity its unfortunate, if you dont like the rule please dont accuse me or my partner of cheating because we had no intention for it to happen this way, I felt that i needed to make myself a presence on this forum.
I wanted to congratulate the Ca team once again what i consider one of my best friends is on that team, they can speak their side if they want but thats entirely up to them, one thing i will add is we talk on a daily basis and we chatted over boater's numerous times before the event, this person knows who I really am and i pretty much consider them a brother.
have a nice night.

Colby

What is done is done...I thank you for your post. There are always two sides to every story...nice to hear your explanation! Neverless, I still wanted my friend to win. 8) Unfortunate situation for both teams! Hope all continue to enjoy the competition and sport...it's up to you younger competitors to set our future standards and etiquete on the water.
Dwell Well

Right on Raggamuffn , also to you Colby glad you posted and i feel for you and your feelings the rule needs to be changed , then i belive none of this would have happened dont take all the comments to you and your partner so hard , its the rules that suck you guys just got caught in em, i agree with raggs as well whats done is done , tight lines remeber its a competition and yep folks will be human and want someone to win and so on, dont let it bring you down , relax its not like we hate ou guys , cuz we dont we just see the toruney flw rules are written in a way that can lead to something like the results here peace be with you and your partner , life is hard enough dont sweat the small stuff!!! Peace brah

Welcome to the forum Colby! Im so stoked that your on the form. I watch alot of you videos on YouTube.

Umm, yes, this is called cheating.

I have to say that I honostly feel as if it was cheating.
He knew he would have a MAJOR advantage by doing what he did.
There might have been a flaw in the rules but he knew by taking advantage of it that would pretty much guarantee him the win. I'm pretty sure his guide "friends" did not just sit there, be quiet and drive...
With that said...to me...our local guys are the true winners!
Tight lines fellas.
GS

Colby ,
I am gald tgo hear that you are a young dedicated fisherman. I wish I had the same oppurtunities when I was your age .
The bottom line is this . You knew the rules by either reading them very carefully or , you were advised on what they were by somebody within or close to the FLW organization (fellow competitor , guide , locals etc..) .
If you didn't have a local knowledgable guide on the pre-fish . you wouldn't have had the same weight on game day .
Some would call it cheating , some would call it smart planning.
I call it taking an unfair advantage. No different than want CEO's , politicians and lobbyist's do to take advantage of millions of hard working Americans. They twist the rules , apply them to their advantage , then stand up and say " I played by the rules" !!! I am good guy .
I say B**LlSH*t . If our local guys had done what you did , they would have won and you would be complaining.
Learn to grow up and be a stand up guy. Stop taking advantage of rules and situations and playing to them your advantage at the expense of others.
People who do what you did are why regular Americans don't trust our goverment and CEO's. Twist the rules and take advantage of regular Americans ----the new American way!!!!!!!!!
Rob

You have some valid points ,Rob well said ! I gotta say say i feel ya lost all my retirment due to twisted rules , pretty straight fwd if all the compeitors wer on the same playing field i wouldnt be posting anything on this ,but yep Colby u guys did infact have an advantage and thats that

I think cheating mighta been a lil too hard of a word. Unfair advantage is more politically correct. Dangit, sorry, we really need to just let this go!!! It's madness!!!

Yep i agree we should lock this out , marce what do you say?

"You knew the rules by either reading them very carefully or , you were advised on what they were by somebody within or close to the FLW organization (fellow competitor , guide , locals etc..) ." Uh no i read the tournament packet and we got a boater that flw said was fine.....

"If you didn't have a local knowledgable guide on the pre-fish . you wouldn't have had the same weight on game day .
Some would call it cheating , some would call it smart planning." - Funny because pre-fish threw us for a bigger loop than anything! We caught one fish during prefish.....

"I say B**LlSH*t . If our local guys had done what you did , they would have won and you would be complaining." -say whatever you want you dont make the rules, and i dont typically complain about my best friend beating me in a tournament........

"Learn to grow up and be a stand up guy. Stop taking advantage of rules and situations and playing to them your advantage at the expense of others."- Your the one criticizing a teenager for fishing within clearly stated rules, I thought making a presence here and trying to contact the OP and resolve problems was being "stand up" but apparently it isnt.... think about that

"People who do what you did are why regular Americans don't trust our goverment and CEO's. Twist the rules and take advantage of regular Americans ----the new American way!!!!!!!!!"- honest high school bass anglers create distrust between the goverment and the people under it I fished a tournament with a boater who works as a guide once in a while and is a part time electrician the other? that makes me a bad person? that makes me a cheater? for fishing perfectly inside the rules and winning? hmmm doesnt add up to me

I try to explain why we won......noone listens....... We stopped on a bank with noone one it, it wasnt pointed out for us as anything more than a bank noone was fishing, we stopped i caught a 3lbr, then a 3.5lbr, then a 4lbr and thats how it went, no jokes noone told me what to do or how to do it we stopped on a bank because NO ONE WAS THERE! we caught fish and didnt need to move, take a minute to think about that? it was a possible advantage that didnt really come into play. Saguaro lake was fishing wierd that week we found a bank with some fish 7 to be precise and we caught the 5 we needed, this is why it pisses me off when people speculate over things and they are wrong.

Lastly: quote me here- "I played by the rules, im a good guy."

honestly think about what I said in this post because its the truth.

have a nice day

SJbass needs to check itself.. the internet is a place where it is easy to run with misinformation,
lots of accusations without knowing the facts....

Locked.

Thanks for the heads up guys - and good luck to all of you fishing tournaments in the near future.

My best - Marce