The question always comes up,… “what about cheating”? As tournament organizers, we want to address the topic of cheating.

This tournament represents a recreational sporting activity with prizes. Whenever their is prestige or valuable prizes on the line, the potential for cheating exists. Examples are all around… whether it be the Tour D’France, the Olympics or professional Baseball, certain individuals cheat in an attempt to gain advantage over the competition. It’s really sad!

With respect to the 17 Rivers Striper Tournament, event organizers will do everything within their power to protect the interests of the competitors participating in the tournament. It is our intent for anglers to be assured the process of determining prize winners is fair and equitable. But we can’t guarantee against individuals trying to cheat! What we will do, is take the following steps to prevent cheating… 

1.) When individuals register for the tournament, they are asked to define the Method and Style by which they will fish. These two categories include several variables with assigned weighting factors. The scoring system used to determine prize winners is a mathematical formula where a fishes length is multiplied against the weighting factors for both Method and Style, thus determining the fishes score. The selections anglers make when they register will be used to calculate the score(s) for fish submitted by individual anglers over the course of the tournament. However, if an angler uses a differing method or style when they are fishing and register a fish, they would note the method and style that did apply. So if an angler says they landed a fish using flies, they should be prepared to demonstrate their skill at casting with a fly rod and have the gear to prove it.
2.) Photo manipulation is another concern individuals have raised. With technology, people can and do manipulate photos or elements within a photo. As event organizers, we will scrutinize all contending photos before awarding prizes and will look closely at each image to determine whether a photo has been graphically manipulated. The individuals, who will assist with this review, have worked as graphic designers for 22 + years. They work with photos day-in, day-out and in aggregate have over 100 years worth of experience to draw from.
3.) Since this tournament is a catch & release tournament, the photos submitted should reflect fish that are alive. We will assess each contending entry to determine whether the fish shown in the image appears to be freshly caught and alive. Those of you who have taken photos of live fish recognize their is a distinct difference in a fishes appearance. So even if you intend to keep a fish for the dinner table, take the required photos while the fish is alive.
4.) For a fish submission to qualify for prizes, Photo II- depicting the fish laid out on a flat surface, showing the angler ID and a readable tape measure, is a must. Having these elements in the photo prevents unscrupulous anglers from submitting images of fish caught in years past for tournament prizes.

If individual fish entries are rejected for any of the above reasons, the entry will be disqualified from prize contention.  This decision resides with tournament organizers and is at the sole discretion of said organizers.

If an anglers fish submission is shown to be blatantly falsified, this action would clearly represent fraud. If an angler attempts to perpetrate fraud, the angler will be “black-balled” from the tournament and future tournaments organized by Maine Striper September. Fraud is also a punishable crime and event organizers are prepared to press charges with local law enforcement against said individuals attempting to perpetrate crime. We clearly hope this course of action will not be necessary!