Tony Christian

Does anyone know anything about Tony Christian? He is(was) a profisherman competing on the FLW tour this season but on the second day of the Atchafalaya Basin tournament was DQ’d. Not only that he was shortly thereafter forever banned from ever fishing any FLW events again (BFL,EVERSTART,FLW,etc.). FLW outdoors has never given a specific reason why he was DQ’d and banned from their tournaments, other than he broke the rule involving unsportsmanlike conduct. They did not say what he did that was unsportsmanlike. Just curious if anyone knows anything more about this.

I fished with a couple of pros this year and they didn’t talk specifics but they said what he was doing was catching fish out of a box. This may not have technically been illegal because he was indeed catching fish. I guess it might be a loophole. It does in my mind violate the sportsmanship rule.

I was also told that there were lots of lawsuits proposed against FLW for winning that fishermen were cheated out of and this prevented FLW from announcing anything. It appears they are more scared of being sued than being fair.

I admit this is hearsay but it was told exactly the same way to my by at least 6 people who should be “in the know.”

I’m more upset by FLW’s handling of it than the act. ABA or BASS would have announced it as would any other sports organization. I can assure you if this happend in my circuit everyone would know what happend. I don’t tolerate cheating.

What exactly does this mean?

Quote:

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catching fish out of a box.

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I have some pictures floating in my head, but they probably aren’t accurate.

Thanks a lot for the reply Ken, you’ve answered a lot of my questions on the subject. I agree that if indeed Tony was cheating the details should be made public by FLW.

What is:

“CATCHING FISH OUT OF A BOX”?????????????

This is what I “heard” about the box in question.

It was large enough to hold some decent fish. The lid was constructed in a manner that would allow a small gap for a bait to fall through. Once a lot of upward force was applied the fish could be pulled through the top. Maybe the top was made out of some thick semi-flexible rubber or something of that nature.

Not 100% clear on the exact construction but I have a basic understanding of how it “supposedly” worked.

JT Bagwell

so it had like a rubber maid lid on it with a hole then maybe 6 cuts angled away from the hole so when the fish got pulled up it would seperate at the cuts then close after the fish came threw?

Yes, I heard it was something along those lines.

Then it was placed in an area that would make it very easy to pitch a bait into it without anyone else being able to know. If I recall correctly, it was placed underwater near a dock pole.

Of course this is all just rumor. I wasn’t there so I can’t say it is a fact.

JT Bagwell