Lie detectors put fishermens' tales to the test

When hundreds of thousands - sometimes millions - of dollars are on the line, nobody wants to hear the adage about how fishermen tell lies.

So tournament directors across the country use polygraphs to keep things on the up and up.

Yep - lie detector tests for fishermen.

The practice received national attention in June when the winning boat in the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament was disqualified after it was discovered during a polygraph that the team's mate did not have a required state license.

An angler on the boat Citation caught a tournament-record blue marlin that day. The 883-pound fish was worth a little more than $1.2 million.

But the disqualification took all that away. The outcome now will be settled in court.

Nearly a dozen big-money offshore tournaments have been held since. And the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament starts Wednesday out of Rudee Inlet.

Polygraph tests costing between $150 and $600 are used in all of them, almost always without incident. They've become a necessary tool to keep the playing waters fair.

"Oh... you have to have polygraphs," said Jim Tobin, tournament director of the Pirate's Cove Billfish Tournament, which concluded last weekend. "With this much money involved, it's the final layer of protection."

On Saturday night, hours before the checks are handed out, several members of winning teams will be strapped up with electrodes and asked a series of questions.

Hopefully, nothing will smell fishy.

Every year, professional athletes are fined, suspended or fired for breaking the rules. But competitive fishing may be the only sport to use lie detector tests - because the huge cash payouts make cheating so tempting, and tournaments, especially for largemouth bass fishing, have been plagued for years by wrongdoing in pursuit of victory.

Anglers have found all sorts of illicit ways to get an unfair advantage - taking fish out of hidden holding cages full of bass, using secret live wells to hide fish caught before the tournament, and stuffing weights down the throats of fish to make them heavier.

Just two weeks ago, professional bass fisherman Mike Hart was caught after forcing lead into the guts of bass he checked in for the West Coast-based U.S. Angler's Choice tournament series' U.S. Open.

The California pro, who has won more than $200,000 in his career, was banned for life from the circuit.

Largemouth bass fishing's two elite series - the Bassmaster and FLW tours - now issue polygraph tests.

Even the Fishers of Men, a Christian-based fishing organization, reserves the right to test its anglers if there are concerns about rule-breaking in its tournaments.

"We've never had a case where we had a problem, but we have given polygraph tests at random in the past," national tournament director Bob Eads said. "You wouldn't think our group would need it."

Nearly every billfish tournament held on both coasts has a polygraph section in its list of rules. According to several organizers for both salt and freshwater events, disqualifications now are few and far between.

Because of the Big Rock tournament's huge prize money and high profile in the billfishing community, the disqualification focused attention on polygraphs.

The problem was, the team on the Citation wasn't disqualified for cheating. The Big Rock board nullified its victory because someone on the team didn't have a state license that North Carolina requires for all anglers leaving a state port for the purpose of fishing.

"Our law says that if you engage in recreational fishing, you are required to have a license," said Randy Gregory of North Carolina's Governor's Cup - a seven-tournament series that concluded with the Pirate's Cove. "To compete in the Governor's Cup, a tournament has to have that stated in its rules. It's discussed with captains at the meetings.

"Rules are rules. When you sign on to compete in one of these tournaments, you acknowledge that you will play by the rules. They didn't."

But to many fishermen, the lack of a license had no bearing on the team's success. Even officials of the Morehead City, N.C.-based Big Rock acknowledged that there was no cheating. But a tournament rule was broken.

"The board stands by its decision," Big Rock director Crystal Watters said. "We have to stick to the rules."

Some captains agreed that "rules are rules," while others viewed the infraction as "just a technicality."

"I don't think it should be the job of a tournament to police state and federal laws," said Greg Span, an offshore tournament angler from Virginia Beach who owns and captains the Rudee Inlet-based Canyon Express, winner of $1 million in the 2004 White Marlin Open.

"The (Big Rock) disqualification was a technicality. A license didn't help that team catch that fish. If they were found to be in violation of not having one, the mate should have been ticketed and fined," Span said.

Citation mate Andy Wann of Alexandria was fined $35 for fishing without a license and ordered to pay $125 in court costs. He still is widely credited in the fishing community for his work with the bait spread that attracted the big blue marlin to the hook.

Tobin, the Pirate's Cove director, likes the use of polygraphs. But he also thinks regulations shouldn't be part of the questioning.

"The owners, captains, mates and anglers all should know what licenses and permits they need," Tobin said. "Leave that to the state and feds. They're always on hand for these tournaments anyway. They could check.

"But there's one good thing that will come out of what happened at Big Rock.... Everybody will be sure they have their licenses from now on."

Paula Owen, director of this week's Virginia Beach tournament, said licenses and permits will be a topic of conversation at her captains' meeting. The tournament website even emphasizes proper licensing and permitting.

Like all the others, Owen will order polygraph tests when the fishing is complete. But she worries the tests and the controversy at Big Rock will cast an unfavorable light on tournaments and the anglers who compete in them.

"It's a necessary evil and the teams know it's standard procedure," said Owen, who, as an added precaution, deploys certified observers on many boats. "But these people don't knowingly cheat in these tournaments. We've never had a DQ because of a lie detector test. But I know of situations where teams have called themselves on a mistake they made, but...

"The fishermen-tell-lies thing comes from a fisherman who tells his buddies he caught more fish than he did. It's got nothing to do with these tournaments."

T.V. O'Malley, the polygraph expert who administered the Big Rock tests, agrees.

"The people who fish in most of these things own million-dollar boats and pay thousands of dollars to compete," said O'Malley, who has performed polygraphs at fishing tournaments all over the world. "They are professional people who have to worry about their reputations. There is a lot of honor in this sport. They want the pride and bragging rights.

"You won't find many who are willing to risk that on failing a polygraph."

Lee Tolliver, (757) 222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com