Whoops…
Anybody who is aware of bass fishing is aware of Ben Milliken. A Bassmaster Elite Sequence professional and tremendous common YouTuber, Ben is a well-liked man within the bass trade.
He was simply named (voted by friends) to the Bassmaster Elite Angler Board of Professionals (ABP) which was been created by B.A.S.S. in an effort to “present a extra direct and environment friendly method of discussing any present challenges and future alternatives” inside the skilled angling trade.
In his rookie 12 months within the Elite Sequence, the Texas native completed twenty eighth, with two High-10 finishes this season. I’ve personally watched a ton of his movies and discovered loads from him, not solely with regard to methods and suggestions for touchdown huge fish, however trade perception and politics as effectively. If you wish to get into bass fishing and don’t know the place to start out, I’d give him a observe and take a look at his YouTube channel.
And effectively… Ben discovered himself in some hassle with the ol’ Texas Fish & Recreation of us.
In line with The Every day Sentinel, Ben was arrested earlier this week in Nacogdoches County and charged with freshwater fishing match fraud in addition to fishing with out a license. Ben caught a 13+ pound tank of a largemouth again in February and submitted it to Texas Park and Wildlife’s ShareLunker Program, which takes among the state’s largest fish for a breeding program to assist maintain the state’s lakes full of huge ol’ bucketmouths.
And in line with Texas wildlife officers, Ben didn’t have a sound fishing license when he caught it.
“Throughout the due diligence course of this fall, previous to distributing program prizes on the Toyota ShareLunker Banquet, it was found that Milliken didn’t have a sound fishing license on the time the fish was caught and knowingly falsified the competition/match entry type.”
He was kicked out of the ShareLunker program, and cited for fishing with out a license, however let’s not get it twisted, this isn’t actually a match… it’s extra like a leaderboard with some prizes. Sure… individuals who submit fish are eligible to win some money prizes, however anglers are inspired to submit their fish for conservation functions… not as a result of you might have an opportunity of profitable some prize cash in a raffle. That’s type of only a bonus for taking part. An incentive.
And like I stated earlier, Ben is knowledgeable angler. He’s required to be licensed in each state that he fishes a match in. And a few tournaments which have waterbodies in a number of states require a license in each. Texas can be the place he lives and fishes very commonly so one would assume he’d have a license there nevertheless it’s not fully troublesome to get issues combined up once you’re fishing all around the nation, holding tons of various licenses for various states.
I suppose it turns into barely extra egregious if Ben didn’t have a license, knew it, went and bought one, after which submitted the fish afterwards, however on the similar time… this system is about conservation… Ben didn’t gather any cash on this. It simply appears foolish to me…
Ben launched a fast assertion calling the entire debacle an entire misunderstanding:
“By now, a few of you might have heard of latest authorized subject I’m dealing with for an incident final February. This subject is due to an entire misunderstanding and unrelated to any Elite Sequence or native fishing match I’ve participated in.
In truth, the incident arose whereas I used to be recreationally fishing. And never in a match in any respect. I very a lot look ahead to making a video(s) explaining this complete state of affairs. However because of ongoing investigation, it’s greatest I wait.
Within the meantime, I’m going to proceed working seven days every week to movie and produce one of the best fishing content material attainable to assist unfold my love of the outside and promote the game of fishing to as many individuals as attainable. Thanks all to your endurance and understanding.”
That is maybe the fish in query… and even in his caption he says he had caught a bunch lately and this was the primary one he submitted… which might lead an affordable particular person to consider that it wasn’t in regards to the cash:
“Snatched up a 13 pound GINA on the sixth Sense Fishing Juggle Minnow. This was ShareLunker #5 within the final 18 months so I lastly determined to show one in. Been a enjoyable few weeks! Want to take a seat down and lower by way of a few of this cool content material in some unspecified time in the future… meh I’d somewhat go fishing.”
Enjoyable reality: I really like these little Juggle Minnows…
The truth that Ben already made his mugshot his Instagram profile image is superb… when do the T-shirts come out? #FreeBen
