Maryland angler Bryan Schmitt has been disqualified from the Guntersville FLW Tour Open and banned from participation in the organization's events for at least a year due to a violation that dates back to the Potomac River FLW Tour Open in June, in which he was the 4th-place finisher and collected $25,000.
BassFan received the following statement today from FLW Operations Division president Kathy Fennel:
"Earlier this week, FLW Outdoors became aware of a possible rule violation committed by Bryan Schmitt of Deale, MD. Yesterday, Mr. Schmitt admitted to a violation of FLW Tour rule No. 5 (off-limits, practice and competition) for the Potomac River tournament when asked to take a polygraph examination. Based on this admission, he was immediately disqualified from the FLW Tour Open on Lake Guntersville based on FLW Tour rule No. 9 (sportsmanship) and will be ineligible to participate in future FLW Outdoors tournaments for at least one year.
"Since a protest was not filed within 30 minutes of the check-in time of the final flight at the Potomac River event, and the violation was not discovered until several weeks later, those results will stand. Time constraints for dealing with protests and violations in a specific tournament are necessary to ensure closure. Had the violation been discovered within the time constraints specified in our rules, it would have resulted in disqualification from that event only."
Schmitt fished the first 2 days of the Guntersville event and weighed a 17-05 sack on day 1 that put him in 5th place. His weights for both days were listed as zeroes in the official day-2 standings.
This is the second 1-year ban that FLW Outdoors has issued recently. Last month the organization handed down the same sanction to Michigan Bassmaster Elite Series pro Nate Wellman due to Wellman's alleged offer to "buy" a fish from his co-angler at the Erie Bassmaster Northern open in late August.
Schmitt has won five FLW Outdoors events over the past 4 years – back-to-back Potomac River EverStarts (2010-11) and three Chesapeake Bay BFLs. He's won a total of $218,565 in 52 career events since 2005.
When reached by phone today, Schmitt had no immediate comment, but said he'd issue a statement soon.
