In a new move for FLW Outdoors, a release went out today stating that two anglers had been disqualified after the fact for breaking the off-limits restrictions on practice time at the FLW Sereis event on Lake Champlain this past weekend. It was an inadvertent mistake by one of the top-10 pros, and he turned himself in after another angler quizzed him about his practice and realized he was on the water too early.
This marks a new precedent for FLW Outdoors in that they sent out a release about the DQs without prompting to clear the air and keep the other competitors in the loop. We applaud the anglers involved and FLW Outdoors for making the right call for everyone’s benefit. Sometimes it’s nice when something unfortunate happens to see there are a lot of great people in tournament fishing from the organizers to the anglers.
Here is their full release:
FLW Outdoors announced Monday that professional angler Jim Gildea and co-angler Peter Demoya have been disqualified from the recent FLW Series Eastern Division event held on Lake Champlain Aug. 25-28. Gildea and Demoya violated the off-limits rule by practicing for and fishing a local tournament on Lake Champlain the previous weekend.
“This was the easiest call I have ever made,” said Gildea. “Once I realized I broke a rule, I knew I needed FLW Outdoors to know about it right away and contacted the tournament director immediately. All parties acted with integrity to rectify this mistake.”
“We appreciate Jim and Peter for approaching and informing us of this situation once it was realized,” said Kathy Fennel, FLW Outdoors President of Operations. “We encourage all our anglers to know and understand the rules for each circuit and tournament they participate in and to adhere by those rules to ensure a quality tournament.”
The standings and awards for the FLW Series Eastern Division and the Lake Champlain tournament will be updated on FLWOutdoors.com in the near future.
