Tommy Biffle had to sit out the first hour of fishing on the final day of the Mississippi River Bassmaster Elite Series, and he thinks that penalty – which he deemed unjustified – might have prevented him from winning the tournament.
The sanction stemmed from a protest filed the previous day by Marty Stone, who contended that neither Biffle nor Alton Jones stopped to render assistance when Stone's marshal was thrown from the boat. Biffle said he saw the marshal swimming, at least one other boat (Skeet Reese's) was already on the scene, and he decided that stopping and turning around posed more of a safety risk than continuing on.
"It was just a ridiculous call on (BASS tournament director Trip Weldon's) part and it probably cost me the tournament," said Biffle, who ended up finishing 4th. "I get an hour penalty for something that Marty Stone did. I told Trip that if he didn't do something to Marty for his careless, reckless boat driving, then the next one's on him.
"I told him I've been doing this for 25 years, and I asked him did he really think I'd leave a guy out there in the water swimming? Marty was there and Skeet was there, and if I'd stopped that would've been more things for them to dodge.
"Marty makes a big deal out of it, but he had no reason to protest me," he continued. "If you hit a stump or a log or something, then that's an accident. But if you lose control of the boat while you're driving by yourself up the river, then that's pilot error."
Phone messages left for Stone were not immediately returned.
A BASS communications official told BassFan that Biffle and Jones were penalized because they "acted unsportsmanlike on the water. All the anglers were running to similar spots and were around for the incident. All but Biffle and Jones stopped to help (or) see if the marshal was okay."
Jones Disagrees, Too
Biffle and Jones both said they did not see Stone's marshal get ejected from the boat. Biffle, who was closer to Stone than Jones, said he saw Stone's boat veer off course in an S-pattern, so he swerved to his left. He first saw a hat in the water, and then saw the marshal bob to the surface and begin swimming.
Jones was farther back in the line of boats headed out of the lock to Pool 18 and said that by the time he arrived, there were at least a half-dozen boats already on the scene.
"I made a judgment call not to add to the congestion," he said. "There was no aid I could possibly render and I'd make the same call again tomorrow. I don't understand why I was penalized.
"I think the punishment fit the crime, but I just didn't think I was guilty of the crime."
He said he intends to file an appeal, but it's basically a symbolic gesture because there's no way to get that hour of fishing time back.
"My main hope out of all of this is that BASS will revisit its appeals process. If you win one now, all you get is a 'You were right and we were wrong,' and there's no way to rectify the situation."
He said he asked Weldon if he could fish the entire day and tag any fish he caught during the first hour and keep them segregated in his livewell, and have them weighed separately at the end of the day. That way, if his penalty was overturned on appeal, he wouldn't have lost the crucial first hour.
Alton Jones will appeal his suspension, but it's mostly a symbolic gesture because he can't get back the hour of fishing time he lost.
It would also force him to make a major decision if he got into a culling situation and his best fish had come in the initial 60 minutes – keep the first-hour fish while knowing they might be disallowed, or release them and weigh a smaller bag. The ESPN cameraman who rode with him could provide testimony as to whether he followed that procedure.
That was denied, as was Biffle's request to serve his hour at the end of the day instead of the beginning.
"I respect BASS, I respect Trip Weldon and I respect the decision," Jones said. "I just don't think it was the right decision."
Critical Time Lost
Biffle, who began the final day in 2nd place, said the early-morning bite was critical to his chances for his second victory of the season.
"The bank I was catching them on was being fished by another angler (Scott Campbell, who started day 4 in 3rd place), and I didn't get there until 9:00. I knew if there were any fish left to be caught, he was going to catch them."
Jones is chasing Kevin VanDam and Reese in the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year (AOY) race. He led the tournament after day 2, but dropped to 5th on day 3.
He said the penalty caused him to opt to fish in Pool 19 (the launch pool) on the final day rather than lock upstream and fish the area he'd shared with eventual runner-up Kelly Jordon. The latter caught a day-best 12-05 bag there on Sunday.
"It certainly changed my gameplan for the entire day," he said.
Notable
> The incident was the second at the tournament in which a marshal was ejected from a competitor's boat. On day 1, Derek Remitz's boat collided with a submerged log, which resulted in the hospitalization of marshal Jerry Van Sickle.
