Tournament Bass Angler Goes on the Lam After Weighing Down Catch with Lead

A Louisiana man has been arrested after six days on the lam for trying to cheat at a bass fishing tournament.

The organizers of the Big Bass Splash in Toledo Bend contacted the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) because they suspected that 38-year-old Aaron Moreau had cheated in the contest. The tournament is held at lakes in Texas and Louisiana, and contestants fish for the heaviest or longest largemouth, smallmouth, and Kentucky spotted bass.

Tournament officials called LDWF enforcement agents to Lake Toledo Bend on May 17, 2024. Those agents, along with a state biologist, confirmed that Moreau had placed 2.59 pounds of lead weights in a fish he used for weigh-in.

Moreau fled the tournament when the weights were discovered and briefly became (probably) the only man in America running from the law for cheating in a fishing tournament. But agents were able to obtain a warrant for his arrest, and Moreau turned himself into LDWF agents six days later on May 23. He was transported to the Sabine Parish Detention Center and faces up to a $3,000 fine and one year in jail for “fishing contest fraud.”

Tournament directors were asked to keep silent until Moreau could be arrested, but once that took place they released a video statement.

“For the past few days, we have respected and honored authorities as they have conducted their investigation and today a person has been apprehended,” they said. “This is nothing we ever want to do, but when the time comes you can trust that will we [sic] ALWAYS stand up for the honest angler.”

Tournament director Chris Bennett said they recognized “immediately” that the fish was heavier than it should have been. They then alerted the weigh master and held the fish until authorities arrived.

“For the individual who did this, we have no idea what possessed him, but he’ll never be able to fish a Sealy Outdoor event,” said Bob Sealy, the founder of Sealy Outdoors and the Big Bass Splash. “But we’re going to be praying for him and his family and hopefully things that transpire with law enforcement [will] hopefully turn him around and put a different perspective to his life.”

Cheating at bass fishing tournaments is common enough that many require contestants to pass a polygraph test. The Big Bass Splash administers polygraph tests randomly every hour of the tournament, but it is unclear whether Moreau was given or passed a polygraph.

Fishing tournament shenanigans gained international recognition in 2022 when a pair of walleye anglers got busted for filling their catch with lead weights. Video ofthe incidentwent viral, and the tournament director explained the whole fiasco inan appearanceon The MeatEater Podcast.

Since then, a few other similar stories have made headlines. In May of 2023, a Michigan anglergot bustedfor hiding lead weights in his fish during the Omer Suckerfest. Then, in February of this year, a Kansas anglerwas accusedof weighing down a crappie that would have been a state record.

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