After fishing during the sixth and final stop of the National Professional Fishing League (NPFL) tour in South Carolina was canceled due to inclement weather on the morning of Dec. 11, NPFL President Brad Fuller allegedly ran into two unidentified anglers who were fishing in the cancelled event in a local diner, and an altercation broke out.
Authorities were contacted and the police arrived and filed a report, which Wired2Fish has obtained. We were also able to reach Fuller directly for comment about the incident and the cancellation; it is unknown if the two are directly related.
“We believe there are many inaccuracies in the report, and it is clearly one-sided,” Fuller said in a statement when Wired2Fish reached him for comment today. “We’re not interested in trying this in public. We look forward to clearing up this matter, and moving the NPFL forward.”
The Cancelled Tourney Event
The decision to cancel fishing on Dec. 11 was made after tournament officials reviewed reports from the National Weather Service and other sources issuing lake wind advisories that called for sustained winds of greater than 20 mph and gusts up to 40 mph.
“Our commitment is to the safety and well-being of our anglers,” Fuller said in a statement issued to W2F on Dec. 11. “We’re eager to get this tournament in the books, to wrap up our Progressive Angler of the Year race and finalize our field for the 2025 NPFL Championship, but safety will always come first, and the current weather situation presents a threat that’s too great to risk.”
The cancellation of the day’s fishing meant NPFL Stop 6 on Lake Murray was cut down to a two-day event starting Thursday, Dec. 12, and ending Friday, Dec. 13.
The Alleged Diner Incident
According to a Chapin Police Department incident report filed by Capt. Ryan Galinski, police arrived at the Bakon Southern Eatery on Ellett Road in Chapin at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 11 after receiving a call reporting an assault in the restaurant.
Galinksi states in his report that he arrived at the business and was met by two men accusing Fuller of assaulting them. One of the men told police “he was sitting down at Bakon about to eat breakfast when subject Brad Fuller came in cussing at him and another fisherman [name redacted], using profanity telling them both multiple times that he will ‘f*** them up.’”
The report states Fuller then chest bumped the man “back up to a chair while telling him he will “f*** him up.” Police say Fuller’s wife, Michele, joined in and “was also using profane language towards the fishermen as well as staff at Bakon.”
Restaurant staff told the Fullers they had to leave and then someone called police.
The report states one of the complainants said “he was upset due to the large amount of money he spent to be there on the fishing tournament and that Mr. Fuller is President of the National Professional Fishing League and can cause problems for him and his sponsors if he decides to.”
The other complainant told police that “it all started over some social media video posts.”
