<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19046">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2>
<DIV id=fb-root></DIV>
<DIV class=header>
<DIV class=left><A href="http://www.nytimes.com/"><IMG border=0 hspace=0
alt="The New York Times" align=left
src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/nytlogo153x23.gif"></A> </DIV>
<DIV class=left> </DIV>
<DIV class=left>
<HR align=left SIZE=1>
</DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=timestamp>May 11, 2011</DIV>
<DIV class=kicker></DIV>
<H1><NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">Texas Passes Bill to Make Some Fish
Tales a Crime</NYT_HEADLINE></H1><NYT_BYLINE>
<H6 class=byline>By <A class=meta-per title="More Articles by Erica Goode"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/erica_goode/index.html?inline=nyt-per"
rel=author>ERICA GOODE</A></H6></NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT>
<DIV id=articleBody><NYT_CORRECTION_TOP></NYT_CORRECTION_TOP>
<P>Telling tall tales may be a matter of pride in Texas. But it may soon be
against state law to tell one about a fish. </P>
<P>A bill that would make it a misdemeanor — and in some cases a felony — to
misrepresent the size, weight or provenance of a fish in a fishing tournament
arrived on Gov. Rick Perry’s desk on Wednesday, after passing the State Senate
in a unanimous vote on Monday. </P>
<P>Senator Glenn Hegar, a Republican who sponsored the bill, said it was
intended to address cheating in high-level bass fishing tournaments, some of
which offer tens of thousands of dollars in prizes. <A
title="Tournament news releases about an anglers disqualification."
href="http://www.budlighttrail.com/BLT/newsrelease.html">In one notorious case
in 2009</A>, an angler who entered the Bud Light Trail Big Bass Tournament on
Lake Ray Hubbard, east of Dallas, put a one-pound lead weight inside the stomach
of the 10.49-pound bass he had entered to win the grand prize, a $55,000 fishing
boat. </P>
<P>“Some people are literally taking scissors and cutting off the tail of a fish
to make it fit into a certain category,” Mr. Hegar said. “Unfortunately, they’re
not playing by the rules.” </P>
<P>He said he had taken his share of ribbing from colleagues, who suggested he
was sponsoring the bill because he had lost out in a fishing tournament. “The
harassment has been pretty deep over this one,” he said, adding that he fishes
only recreationally. </P>
<P>A spokeswoman for Mr. Perry, Katherine Cessinger, said the governor would
make a decision about signing the legislation “as soon as he reviews it in its
final form.” </P>
<P>Many anglers are happy with the bill, which extends existing fishing laws to
include saltwater as well as freshwater tournaments and adds the provisions
about misrepresentation. A violation would be a Class A misdemeanor, unless the
tournament prize offered was more than $10,000, in which case it would be a
third-degree felony, punishable by 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to
$10,000. </P>
<P>Tommy Hagler, a fishing guide who operates out of Abilene, said cheating in
tournaments had “gotten out of hand” because of the large prizes and a difficult
economy. </P>
<P>“I think it’s just people who are trying anything to get through this tough
time, and trying to survive,” he said. </P>
<P>Mr. Hagler, who said he is known as Tommy the Hag, said he himself never lied
about the size of a fish — his largest catch was a 11.62-pounder, he said — and
in fact, once shorted himself by two pounds. </P>
<P>“In this business, you’ve got to tell the truth the whole time and all the
time tell the truth,” he said. </P>
<P>But Steve Schmidt, another fishing guide who works on Richland Chambers
Reservoir, south of Dallas, said that tall fish tales told by tourists, who were
not involved with tournaments, were probably acceptable. </P>
<P>“Everybody is just telling stories, that’s fishing,” he said. “But to cheat,
that’s another thing. That’s just not right.” </P>
<P></FONT><FONT
size=2>________________________________________</FONT></P></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV><FONT size=2>
<DIV><BR>Wayne A. Fox<BR>1009 Karen Lane<BR>PO Box 9421<BR>Moscow, ID
83843</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="mailto:waf@moscow.com">waf@moscow.com</A><BR>208
882-7975<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>