but the silver lining to the cheating cloud is a whole of them get caught thanks to the diligence of tournament directors and their staffs, wildlife officers, park rangers and reg- ular law enforcement. Still it’s such a gut-wrenching feeling when you provide a quality experience and you find out someone is cheating. I got to see that close up at the 2010 U.S. Open. I pulled into the parking lot at Boulder Station and saw Billy Egan standing by the back entrance. He flagged me down and as I rolled down the passenger-side window he leaned in with a plastic baggie, and the look on his face was pained. In the bottom of the bag were ring sinkers — what saltwater guys call torpedo sinkers — but the ring on one end had been replaced with a hook. “Nevada wildlife was cutting up the dead bass to give to needy families and found these in the belly of a fish,” said Egan. “They checked out the rest (about a dozen — there was outstanding survival) and found weights in two others. We’re checking the results to see which anglers had three dead fish.” I did a quick check on the way up to Naslund’s suite and only saw three names that qualified and they seemed out of the money. Bill Rice and John Cassidy were camped out in the suite, too, and I found a dark-browed Harvey pacing up and down muttering, “I’m going to catch that s.o.b. if it’s the last thing I do.” I mentioned that it didn’t look like any- body got any benefit from cheating, and Harvey, said “Oh yeah?” and pointed to number 15 on the results list — well within the money placings. Southern California angler Mike Hart, a highly successful team tournament angler, had moved up from the high 20s into contention for cash and had 3 dead fish listed next to his weight. Naslund, Cassidy and Egan hatched their plot and all in the room were sworn to secrecy. Yet here’s the thing, everything hinged on the cheater trying to cheat again. What if he got scared and didn’t attempt it again? What do you do then? Tell everyone we know someone cheated and we didn’t catch them? That would cheapen the entire event for win- ners and losers alike. Yet it would be worse to just have to live with the knowledge that someone got over on you. The gnawing doubt cast a pall on all involved. Still there was a good chance we would get the bastard and that helped.
While one of the three anglers was the prime suspect we had to check all three. As fate would have it, Hart was in one of the later flights. Bill Mays was helping cover the event and he knew what was going on, too. He came over and told me, “Hart’s coming up on stage, I think they got him, they felt something when they took the water out of the weigh bag.” Hart didn’t know the jig was up as he climbed the steps and watched as Cassidy was seemingly going to put the fish on the scales and then conferred with Egan. Behind Hart stood Naslund with the beginnings of a huge grin on his face and as Egan and Cassidy deftly guided Hart out of the tent to where the wildlife officers were stationed, Harvey gave a huge fist pump as he looked at me and mouthed the words, “We got him.” Of course, in legal terms all we did was discover that Hart had presented bass with
There were many great bass fishermen who came out of the north state, but the most beloved figure in California bass fishing, especially up north, had to be Hal Huggins. I got to go carp shooting with him at a Clear Lake tournament and he was my roommate up at New Melones. I remember that one well because Doty caught Huggins trying to let fisherman sign up late for the tourna- ment without the penalty fee. Huggins’ team tournaments regularly drew hundreds of boats. Simply put, there was no way not to like Hal Huggins. One other thing sticks out from that tournament. I always tried in my career to get news out as soon as possible. It’s a lot easier in this new cyber age. After Melones it meant stopping at a pay phone booth in the early morning rain and calling Associated Press. Then I called Mike Jones at Western Outdoor News to give him the report and
Hal Huggins, Forrest L. Wood and Harvey Naslund worked hard their entire lives to make bass fishing what it is in the West.
illegal weights in their stomach. In the arcane world of bass circuits where the tournament director’s decision is final, the discovery meant Mike Hart was banned for life. And cheaters had another reason to think twice. Soon after, Naslund got a congratulatory note from Ray Scott thanking him for the Tribute to the Legends dinner and saying “Sorry about the cheater. Sure glad you hammered his ass.” So that incident at the U.S. Open was both a low moment and a high moment for the sport. Many other highlights took place over the years featuring the people, the places, the pranks and the top anglers.
he didn’t want it. Media is selective in its interests. When Gary Dobyns shot out to a big second-day lead at the U.S. Open on the way to his first win in the biggest tourna- ment in the West and $50,000 and a new bass boat, I figured the sports desk at the Sacramento Bee would be interested. “Nope, I don’t think so, call one of the smalltown papers like Marysville or Yuba City,” the editor said. Of course since WON was run- ning the event, Dobyns got his due both in print there and all over the Web. One of the best things ever to happened to bass fishing in the West was the marriage of Harvey Naslund and Western Outdoor News.
July 2011 _ SILVER EAGLES 41