Morgan City, Houma anglers face fishing contest fraud after Fishers of Men tourney

Published 9:30 am Sunday, September 6, 2020

BATON ROUGE — Two South Louisiana bass anglers have been charged with fishing contest fraud after a Fishers of Men South Louisiana Tournament Trail tournament near Stephensville.

Wade Bourg Jr., 42, of Morgan City, and Justin Lane, 39, of Morgan City, were arrested on Aug. 23 by state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agents who fielded complaints about possible bass tournament cheating in the tournament held July 24. An LDWF spokesman said the agents were advised tournament officials and contestants believed that two contestants violated boundary rules.

Bourg and Lane, who accepted plaques and a total of $5,562.50 for first place, first place bonus bucks and big bass of the tournament, eventually were disqualified by tournament director Malcolm Smith of St. Amant. The first-place prize money and big bass money were reissued at the circuit’s next tournament held Aug. 8 out of Doiron’s Landing at Stephensville.

Enforcement agents investigated the reports and discovered Bourg and Lane fished in an area listed as off-limits in the rules, according to a news release Monday by the LDWF. The LDWF officers secured arrest warrants. Bourg and Lane turned themselves in to authorities and were booked into the St. Martin Parish Jail.

Fishing contest fraud is punishable by up to $3,000 and one year in jail.

Smith discussed the reported cheating incident for a few minutes early in a 27:21 Facebook video at 6:59 p.m. on Aug. 6. He emphasized the two anglers were disqualified because they refused to take a stress test (polygraph test), which leads to automatic disqualification.

“They will not fish a Fishers of Men tournament for a very long time,” Smith said.

He said in the video that during the weigh-in and while tournament officials were cutting checks several tournament bass anglers approached him to tell him about their concerns that rules were broken by Bourg and Lane. He also said they told him something was going on that wasn’t right if it was allowed to continue.

In the Fishers of Men Facebook page video, Smith described the boundaries for that tournament. Competitors could fish either side of Doiron’s Landing (either the Atchafalaya Basin or the Stephensville side) but they couldn’t venture south of U.S. 90 on the Stephensville side, he said. On the Spillway side, he said, competitors could fish south of U.S. 90 but not east of Bayou Schaffer.

It was spelled out in the rules, Smith said.

A Morgan City outdoorsman familiar with the incident said two bass anglers saw Bourg and Lane returning to the weigh-in on tournament day via a route that placed them below U.S. 90.

Some bass anglers pointed out the suspects ran the long way around to Bayou Black through Bayou Ramos (where they reportedly were seen by the two bass anglers) instead of running straight down Belle River to Amelia.