Overview
- Tournament staff at Lake Fork used a metal detector during weigh-in and flagged a bass submitted by Curtis Lee Daniels for foreign objects.
- Texas Game Wardens performed a necropsy and found three 0.75-ounce weights in the fish’s stomach, then located matching weights on Daniels’ boat.
- Daniels of Willow Park was arrested on a fishing-tournament fraud charge and booked into the Wood County Jail on a $20,000 bond.
- Because the event’s prizes exceeded $10,000, the charge qualifies as a third-degree felony carrying potential penalties of two to ten years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
- Organizers affirmed safeguards and named the legitimate winner as William McDaniel, whose bass weighed 10.22 pounds.