News
Gene “Flukemaster” Jensen gets KBF wins pulled
Gene Jensen, more commonly known as Flukemaster on YouTube, had his first KBF Trail and Pro Series wins at Laurel River Lake. Jimmy McClurkan took second place in the Pro Series, and the West Virginia phenom Jody Queen took third. A few days after the event was over Jensen went to the socials as well as posted up a video on how he caught his fish. This is typical of Jensen as he documents and adds the KBF competition content to his Flukemaster YouTube channel regularly.
This is where some controversy spiked on the socials over the interpretation of the fishing out of your kayak rule which was the main focus of the video. This however was a gray line and not really the major problem with his catches although it could easily be considered not within the spirit of the rule. The main problem wasn't as much about how, but more about where he was fishing.
The marina in which Flukemaster found himself some bedding shallow bass is posted as "No Fishing" marked with a buoy in front of the marina. This makes the area an off-limits for fishing competition in a boat or kayak. Tournament directors from Reel Tournament Management - a 3rd party company that handles all the judging of KBF events - soon became aware of the situation and immediately opened a "formal challenge".
The decision was made to disqualify the days catches which stripped Jensen of his win in the both the Trail Series and Pro Series for the weekend.
"I asked the wrong question"
In hindsight, Jensen looked back at how the decision to fish for those bass came into play. During the public interview by Kayak Bass Fishing's Chad Hoover Jensen admitted he had seen the buoy a couple days previously and was curious if it meant "just the boat slips or back behind it?" but didn't give it further thought.
While walking along the bank behind the marina he had noticed some bedding bass he could clearly see. Not really thinking he would fish for them at the time he found himself in the marina store buying a drink and asked "Hey, Do you allow people to fish back here behind the marina?" in which the employee replied "Oh yeah sure! all the time!" which he immediately thought "Game on!". Jensen explained "That's the mistake I made, I didn't ask the right question. I didn't ask do you allow kayaks back there. They allow bank fishing back there but they don't allow kayaks back there." he continued "I wanted to bank fish just to make it a cool video."
Was leaving the kayak legal in this case?
One of the different rules in kayak bass fishing events is the allowance of fishing from outside of the kayak itself. This rule was made for safety considerations as well as the basic foundations of kayak fishing where it is common to fish water with fast current where it is near impossible to hold position and fish effectively. This aspect of river fishing was the main driver and was also a consideration for heavy wind days on lakes where an angler could be safer and more effective if able to plant their feet on solid ground.
Rule 5.E: Fish caught in eligible water while wading or walking on the shore are eligible for submission under the following conditions:
- Competitors’ watercraft must be launched before fishing from it or vacating it to catch and land fish while wading or walking on the shore or an ice field. “Launched” means placing the watercraft on liquid water, occupying it, and going underway. NOTE: at no time may competitors photograph fish on their vessel while it is on their vehicle or trailer.
- Competitor must pedal, paddle, or power his watercraft to the fishing location.
Competitor must remain within sight of his watercraft at all times during the competition, and the watercraft must be visible in every fish photo submitted. Any Competitor who goes out of sight of his watercraft for any reason (e.g., restroom break, seeking or rendering aid, or reporting an emergency) must cease competition fishing and resume it only after re-launching the watercraft.
A closer look and consideration of part 2 of the rule is where I believe there is a valid argument. It appears in Jensen's video that he had to traverse over and around docks to the spot he was fishing. The rule on portaging over man made obstacles in 5.B is also a consideration in this case which could be another addition to the potential of a disqualification. If Jensen had tried to kayak around the docks, he would have both found obstructions as well as seen a clearly posted sign reading no fishing.
5.B: Competitors may launch from any public-access shore directly onto Eligible Water. Crossing restricted property to reach Eligible Water is not permitted. Tributaries, canals, sloughs or estuaries separated from the rest of eligible water by temporary obstructions (e.g., fallen trees, log jams, beaver dams) that, if removed, could be entered by floating/paddling are considered eligible waters in which competition is permitted, and competitors are permitted to drag or portage watercraft over or around such obstructions. Those separated by obstructions of a permanent nature across or through which one cannot paddle/float (e.g., levees, earthen or concrete dams, berms, elevated roadbeds, spillways, waterfalls) are ineligible water, and competition in such areas is prohibited. Violation will result in disqualification from the event.
Disqualification or Ban?
With rules being broken, or cheating being done during competition there are a couple of ways in which a kayak series will handle it. KBF has some criteria it considers before applying consequences to infractions:
- Was it intentional?
- Was there malice involved?
- Was there opportunity to deceive?
All 3 of these criteria are false in this case because Jensen created a video for his channel explaining exactly what he was doing and about how it was "within the rules" of the event. This made this infraction more about making a mistake than purposefully breaking the rules or cheating.
Understanding the rules
Regardless on how you want to interpret the rules in this case, it was clearly off limits and that enough makes this an open and shut case. The complexities added to rules are necessary in most cases, even more so than in boat events. It is the angler's responsibility to know the rules, and whenever there is a questionable situation should most certainly refer to the rules to be sure, and ask questions to the tournament director to make sure you have an unmistakable understanding.
Chad Hoover has always modified rules as needed, sometimes to a fault in the eyes of some anglers. However there are reasons for these rules where these events are often at the angler's word. Not sharing a single launch point, launch to lines in gaps, photos verse physical weigh in and more all leave holes to be exploited. Kayak bass fishing events across the country have kept the competition as fair by applying the strict rulesets. Read them. Memorize them. Bookmark them. And most importantly understand them!
Comments
Be the first to comment on this article!