TX Ramping Up Tourney Cheat Laws

The great state of Texas already has a law that penalizes dastardly folk for cheating in fishin’ tourneys. Pretty soon it’ll be tougher. Like felony tougher.

A little background first: The law originated a couple decades back, when there was a rash of well-publicized cheating in TX bass derbies. One fatality was involved.

At the time, the TX legislature passed laws penalizing cheaters in freshwater fishing derbies – only freshwater because saltwater derbies were little more than occasional fish fries. Well, no longer, so:

House Bill 1806 by Rep. Dan Flynn (D-Greenville) eliminates the word “freshwater” from the existing laws and and “adds language prohibiting altering the length or weight of a fish entered in a tournament or entering a fish taken in violation of any fishing regulations,” according to this article in the Houston Chronicle.

“It also makes violation of the fishing fraud law a Class A misdemeanor carrying a $4,000 fine and as much as a year in jail – and jumps that to a third-degree felony (2-10 years, $10,000 fine) if the tournament’s prizes are worth $10,000 or more.”

Any cheaters out there better bear that in mind the next time they think about tying fish to a stump or whatever cheaters do these days…although don’t think any law is going to stop a dang cheater.