His DQ And The Cayuga Cheating Scandal

Chris Zaldain and Trait Zaldain sit down with Spencer Shuffield to talk his upbringing in fishing, his life before BPT, his DQ at MLF, the other Cayuga controversy through his eyes, and much more on this week's The Bilge Podcast presented by @battlebornbatteries
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[@toddbrown9398]

Ive drawn him several times and been able to get to know him a little. Ive also been lucky to draw more than a few full time guys as well. He's the best ive ever been in the boat with by far. He works harder than i thought was possible and is a really good guy. Sucks he got rolled with the mlf deal. If half the people knew the truth about their favorite anglers, they probably wouldnt be fans anymore.

[@FloydMayes-me3jc]

Anything is possible, but I doubt it. Nobody is a Saint, but it would take a lot for me to dislike some of my heros in the sport!

[@stevekent8673]

The bilge podcast is rocketing to the top of bass fishing podcasts. Great questions asked with inside knowledge we all crave. NOW show that shop chris is building!!

[@Zaldaingerous]

The roof is going on next week and the bi-fold garage door. It is getting close! Headed home to see it

[@robstone1489]

That was a great interview. Really enjoyed hearing his side of it. Good luck to both of you next year.

[@bigemtchris]

Keep it up guys! Awesome watch! Thank you with my morning coffee!

[@johncure8268]

Great clip..Spencer is a great guy and a heck of an Angler. No explanation needed about the deal last year, things happen. Look forward to watching both of you guys for many years ahead 🤟

[@104bierman]

Time to get an anglers union or anglers association to protect these guys. Every major sport has one.

[@steveskinner8195]

Thanks for having Spencer as a guest and letting him explain the details.

[@BassUnion]

Love the style of your podcast! Good job!

[@marydunn2009]

Great podcast. Thanks for posting.

[@slabbusterrtr7690]

Good interview yall👍

[@Scrub_Zero]

I fully expected to hate this dude after everything I heard and the little bit I saw, but I cant hate the guy. I wish him luck and I hope everything works out for him. Awesome show.

[@jamesweaver9307]

Thanks for sharing your story Spencer!

[@stevedunlap5017]

Thank you fir having him on

[@TheAverageAngler]

Spencer is a good dude! Great show again. Raising the bar.

[@wisconsinhiker9735]

awesome as always

[@stevenbates5921]

I love how even with him explaining how his DQ went down you could tell he still can't say what he wants to say for fear of what Daddy Boyd and his goons might do. Best of luck Spencer! I hope you are able to make it to BASS one day and no longer have to live your life under the Bass fishing mafia's rule.

[@colt110987]

Can you imagine…your career in the hands of a jackass like Boyd Duckett!! As long as he has Jacob, Ott & Connell happy he will destroy anyone else who doesn’t comply. Plenty of stories to back that up, even James Watson elaborates on Low Budget live recently.

[@mikemaloney2342]

He is afraid to speak because he ll get whacked with fine against the confidentiality clause that Watson spoke about on Luke Dunkin. The MLF just seems like such a shady organization.

[@jackdixon4530]

Your videos are well done.

[@wesleysmith6018]

Favor la fav Fishcast! Keep them coming

[@davidharris4030]

I always loved watching his dad Ron. I was in the game early on and he was always a favorite for me.

[@davidblake5199]

Another great podcast🐟

[@billernst840]

You picked out a great guest as always. Love the pod. Stay brutal trait.😂

[@stevekent8673]

Trait for speaker of the fish house!

[@slayerstacker2074]

Spencer is an amazing person. This was a great interview. I would love to see ya'll do an interview with Jacob Wheeler. You could ask him what it's like fishing with Scott Martin.

[@robbiewinton4187]

Heck Ya!!!!! Jay...I need that heater cause e ery time I overnight headaches and yukky can't wait to get this heater rig

[@TheTrident1982]

Hot dang you guys are bringing the fire with this topic and the JJ scope show. Haven't watched yet, but I lost all respect for the MLF and field at Cayuga after that shetshow of a derby. Great job getting the juice!

[@dylanriney4487]

Yessir love listening to Spence

[@TODDWOODS]

I followed Trait on her FB while she was on tour. I watched the frist couple of Podcast and started to hate her. Now its the opposite. She is brutally honest and I love that. She turned me around. I have a crush on her. She doesnt pull any punches. I also knew Ron Shuffield from many years ago. He obviously raised a wonderful man. Spencer seems like a man of integrity. Too bad he has to work so hard to get railroaded like that.Tournament Bass fishing is a tough gig.

[@ericporterfield4599]

Good stuff and respect that dude 🐟

[@jmccOutdoors]

Lesson here is if your reputation and livelihood depend on it then stay out of the grey.

[@jobrandofishing]

Right. The fact he said I knew that fish was there but I could not see him, then goes to tell what the rule actually means and why he thought it was legit. 😂 A cheat is a cheat no matter how you cheat.

[@mikeleistner1071]

He knew exactly what he was doing - but the way he initially denied everything especially an earlier podcast , he said he unhooks fish like that all the time on the side of the boat....yeah ok

[@devinwillis7787]

@@jobrandofishing how can it be cheating if the tournament director or rules official says it’s okay?

[@joshuagreene9976]

My new favorite angler after hearing his back story. He will be the most winning angler over the next 2 years.

[@principleoutdoors8932]

It's a male on the nest not a "woman' except for when they actually spawn, and catching that bass multiple times is not a good thing...even if putting them in a live well is worse..but good to hear from the man at the centre of it all. He handled the situation very well

[@jonathancreed4968]

Man the ammount of feather I could ruffle just talking about what being on the lake that week looked like. Watched alot of the event from the boat and this tournament was DEPLORABLE.

[@Zaldaingerous]

I can only imagine. The organization has these guys thinking they did no wrong

[@jonathancreed4968]

@@Zaldaingerous crazy to watch a line of pros poled down waiting to catch a bedding bass one after another. Could watch the same bass get caught 6 or 7 times a day every day of the event. All those smallies were on a total of MAYBE 4 miles of shoreline.

[@rickmcfaul2551]

Wow! I'm glad Spencer was able to tell his side of the story. It's far different than what I read on online. I feel bad for most of the MLF guys.....clearly there are ethical issues with MLF ownership.

[@eddiefason3783]

Most of the violations were on camera.

[@-SavedbyGrace-]

I’m a new fan! We need more men like this in the world. Humble with God first. Great podcast 💪

[@jeremypierce1607]

MLF wouldn't admit that they screwed up because Boyd doesn't want to admit he was wrong. So they dq'd spencer because they wanted to quell some of the public outcry from social media. He did what the other guys did and he had the fish unhooked outside the boat, which while incidental do to the finger hook, put a huge target on his back from Boyd when they needed to hammer someone.

[@TBassFactory]

I heard Arkansas guy I was all in! Go Hogs Spencer! Are you related to Dan Bilzerian?

[@johntauzin4705]

Thats 5 or six anglers ive listened to saying they were told that by the TD. Thats crazy. I think knowing that makes it a little different. More about MLF than the anglers doing something wrong. That must be why no one got DQ? I Still don't like weighing same fish 3 times.

[@AsianAmerican113]

Got a lot of respect for Spencer with all the things he had to deal with his ex-wife and being the best Dad he could be.

[@andyd834]

Hell yea epic shawn ryan podcast during work and a bilge podcast after!

[@davidcahan2978]

MLF is all about Boyd’s himself & his intimidation of the anglers. He can’t say anything bad about MLF because they’ll “cull” him! Great Spencer didn’t loose any sponsors.

[@cw4973]

Pro Fishing payouts need to be addressed period, should be the number one priority for all the anglers. 🤷 Good stuff as always🤘

[@davidharris4030]

I would have to read the rules on catching the same fish. I am hearing the wording “ Grey Area “ playing within the rules. I don’t know how I feel about this. Before throwing stones I’d have to see the footage and read the rules to make my final. Great podcast!

[@mikeleistner1071]

After you watch the footage, you will see him as guilty 💯. And there's audio of him saying that everybody's doing it and that he is going to catch the same 4 big ones each day.....so yeah Everyone else that did it should be held accountable too but he is guilty.

[@davidharris4030]

@@mikeleistner1071 I actually think a bunch of them were doing it. Exactly which ones I am not for sure. I watched a podcast on bass university with David Dudley and he didn’t say he was doing it but acted like it wasn’t a big deal. Dudley’s wording and explanations made me think he felt like it was within the rules. You would have to listen to that podcast to understand what I am saying. He used some analogies of other pro sports playing in the gray area. If you listen to podcast I believe it is at least 1/2 through before it gets to the discussion

[@mikeleistner1071]

@davidharris4030 Absolutely agree that many broke rules or at least tried to skirt around them. I watched it live and heard the anglers' commentary and the announcers' reactions and thought it was suspect immediately. So, definitely got me listening to several videos surrounding the drama. Quite aquite a few guys were in the "gray" area of the rules. I listened to that one with Dudley and he was implying that rules were being broken and is the case all-too-often and that "everyone that followed the rules at Cayuga, like him got throttled, thrrrroootttllled" by the others

[@davidharris4030]

@@mikeleistner1071 I definitely wouldn’t feel right catching the same fish. If all of those anglers discussed those rules prior to competition and agreed, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Bottom line is we all know what the rule was about but evidently some decided to skirt around it.

[@devinwillis7787]

@@mikeleistner1071I don’t think he is guilty because they were told they could do it. I don’t know if they should be able to do it or not but the way the rule was written it was allowed

[@TheBaitmanTV]

Spencer is a good dude. He has some great OG bait knowledge as well

[@bassbro92]

If your have to go into detail about how the rule reads and I "technically" didn't do anything wrong then that makes ppl question your ethics. That's where my issue stands

[@devinwillis7787]

That’s how professional contests work. If you don’t take all of the advantages available to you that are legal you will be beat by the guys who do. It’s the same in racing or any other individual event. He didn’t break the rule because it was written poorly and he was told he wasn’t breaking the rule

[@johnsamsky6253]

Never knew much about Spencer. He's a decent guy who I'll pull for in the future.

[@RaisedOutdoors]

People can believe what they want, that’s how things work. Knowing this man and his parents, I can tell you there isn’t a dishonest bone in them. This is a great family and highly respected here. Might be a few guys with hurt feelings because they got outfished by them regularly lol. I’ll say this….I taught Spencer in Sunday school one time and the conversation came up about plans for the future. I asked Spencer about college and he said he had no intention to do anything but fish. I asked him if he thought it’d be good to have something to fall back on and he dead looked me in the eyes and said he didn’t need a fall back. He truly never had a plan B. So when he said it wasn’t worth dragging himself through the mud and not being able to fish to fight something he had already provided proof of, I believe him.

[@edwardcowan7012]

I fished with Ron once, great guy

[@DHW448]

Eye opening. Even in a small town in Arkansas.. You can get into trouble... Keep one eye open parents..

[@jimk4267]

Spencer can spin it how he wants. NO ONE unhooks a fish outside the boat below the gunnel. The whole "Well I ain't looking at it" deal. Not singling out Spencer. Everyone knows what the intent of the rule was. If you don't understand it on the inside....you have some work to do. Don't have any ill feelings towards him. It was handled and now it's over. Great fisherman and sounds like good guy. Insightful speaker. Look forward to seeing him on live this next year and many more to come. Back in the day his dad was bad ass!

[@jackjohn3035]

Good show.. mlf is jacked up..

[@edwardcowan7012]

I lived in NY and until recently you couldn’t even fish for bass during the closed season. Some bodies of water and parts of the state you still can’t. Recently the state opened bass fishing up to catch and release fish for bass. MLF was totally wrong holding that event in what any bass angler from NY would consider the closed season. I hold them responsible for anything negative that happened at Cayuga.

[@jeremypierce1607]

You can hold a bass during spawn without catching and hammering the same 20 smallmouth. We do it in kayaks all the time. We actually check pictures to ensure the same bass is not submitted by anglers multiple times. It was MLFs obscure wording that left a loophole and a few anglers just not doing the right thing. Those no fish periods are commy bull.

[@edwardcowan7012]

@@jeremypierce1607 PA opened up to catch and release around the same time but no tournaments are allowed

[@devinwillis7787]

the closed season in ny is the dumbest thing ever. Can’t fish for them all year then they get on bed and I can go hammer them. We should be able to fish tournaments anytime other than last week of may- first week of July

[@aaronrobinson3517]

I will take his explanation with a grain of salt…. If he’s that innocent let’s see some proof, sounds to good to be true. Great show though keep them coming

[@Zaldaingerous]

Rightfully so. We wanted to let him tell his story and let the viewers come to their own conclusions

[@aaronrobinson3517]

I hear ya!

[@devinwillis7787]

Unless he has a audio recording of the phone call what is he going to do? The problem is the rules and the format not with the anglers

[@KyleB3434]

His AOY by 1 point . I won mine by 1 point too fishing the western strens in 2009 I was 20 then.. But didn’t win anything for it lol. But o well I did my job and the trophy last… I beat one of the best co anglers ever on the west coast Roy Desmangles , shot out to my boy Roy he’s a real 1 💯. Hopefully I can get my health good and be able to get a legit job again. I miss being able to fish like I use too

[@binkwood]

I watched this interview when it first came out and was convinced Shuffield knowingly cheated (and I still not convinced he didn't). I am not a fan of BPT and did not see the footage of him hiding the position of the hook to his boat official. After watching this a second time 2 months later and learning more about what occurred regarding other anglers in the same tournament the BPT rules "were" (don't know if they are fixed) absolutely ridiculous by allowing anglers to knowingly target the same fish more than once per day. From this interview, and others I've heard with other anglers that participated in this tournament, it's apparent that the anglers felt the rule was "unethical" because many, including Shuffield, checked and double checked whether or not they could target the same fish more than once a day. From what Shuffield claims, the fish he caught outside the mouth off a bed was not in plain site, even though he admits he knew the fish was on a bed in that location. If that's true, I don't see how you can punish this guy because the rule was the culprit. If he did see the fish and unhooked it before his official saw it than he did violate the rule but without seeing both the vantage point of Shuffield and the boat official you really can't make a call. Yet another reason BPT is not a legitimate contest, too much apples to oranges crap going on.

[@stephenknight7601]

To be honest I didn’t really like Spencer but after hearing his story and hearing him man up and handle the crappy hand he was given by the old snakes at MLF. I will be rooting for him every tournament and life. Great guy. God Bless him and his family. The more I hear about MLF the less I’m liking them. Seems like there are a lot of snakes running that show. Don’t feel sorry for any of the original anglers of BPT they had to know what they where getting in bed with and the way they attacked BASS instead of shutting there mouths and just worrying about there product almost makes it feel kind of good that they are getting screwed over. Anyhow great show as always keep it up.

[@chrisshaffer9572]

I truly believe he is sincere . And wasn't guilty of cheating. And as far as lie detector test go anybody nervous can fail the test. Watch the show 48hrs there is people innocent fails it if they are very nervous. And with him being the sole bread winner of his family you know he was nervous!

[@davidschell7784]

good stuff right there......the rest or the story

[@waylonschmidt3474]

Could yal by any chance get Keith Poche on the podcast?

[@Zaldaingerous]

I invited him on back at Lay Lake at one of the weigh-ins that week and I never heard back from him. I invited him on a second time during one of his livestreams about the DQ and he acknowledged the comment but again, never said he wanted to

[@Michaelkansas2korea]

5 bass limit l, weigh-in only

[@treylee7623]

Man!! You can tell Spence is so scared of big daddy Boyd. Please do a show with Luke Dunkin! He is not scared to tell the truth!

[@livingmissourisoutdoor6815]

Excited for this podcast. Hope Mr.Shuffield speaks on being the “fall guy” for bucket head ducket. My advice, for FREE; tell mlf boy kiss it. Unless a NDA clause has got him lassoed. Hope everyone figured out who the chosen wheeler dealer is, hate to be attacked to a piece of sh*t like bucket head, money for soul isn’t that how it goes!!

[@sickofidiots4095]

I only watch Live when I'm driving and sleepy. -Genius Spencer

[@billbray5995]

Another great interview, I first met Ron when Spencer was in diapers.

[@BenC-77]

Spencer is desperate to succeed, by his own admission he doesn't have a "plan b". Desperate men will always push the boundaries by necessity. I don't see how it was right for ONLY him to have been punished for the Cayuga debacle.

[@jamey1e]

Dude is scared to death of being kicked out.😂

[@mikeleistner1071]

Definitely agree that many more should have been punished, fined, or DQ'd along with Spencer but made him the scape goat.

[@Alliedcrawlspace]

How dare someone post on social media to question them!

[@joeys7519]

I don’t know man he knew he was catching the same fish, even though it was legal that can’t feel good ethically. Why not just catch that fish 10 times since it’s legal ?

[@mikeleistner1071]

Agreed, just because it's "ok" to do does not make it the right thing to do. Definitely riding the line on a very slippery slope.

[@devinwillis7787]

I would catch the same fish 10 times if the tournament director said I could do it. The problem is the rules not the anglers. There is nothing wrong with following the rules of the tournament directors

[@areddfishing7473]

Shedding some light on the shady practices of MLF. everyone knew that rule was sketchy but how it was handle was terrible.

[@joeyriordan5023]

Did you have to sign an NDA after the scandal?

[@colt110987]

I never lost respect for Spencer during that debacle. However I’ve continuously lost respect for back stabbing Boyd Duckett. Chris, your tha man! Great episode, this was breathing room for a lot of folks!

[@johnnymassengale6275]

Guilty or not people will have their opinion and judgement. What I think is BS is how MLF singled out one person when they knew full well that the others were indeed guilty. The other completely BS issue is allowing the same fish to be caught a second time. As far as Im concerned that is unethical.

[@charlesclayton7815]

Appreciate your stand for Jesus Christ brother!

[@drmichellethomason]

So they could’ve legally caught the same fish 5 times??? As long as they weren’t visually targeting it? This makes no sense. The point of a 5 fish derby is to weigh 5 fish! How is anything else acceptable?

[@Zaldaingerous]

It’s concerning that the league that touts itself as being the leaders of conservation in tournament fishing signed off on doing it and why did they sign off on it? To inflate the weights for the event?

[@Mjones8383]

How the F could people hate Trait, ive followed her for years, and have always thought she was great. Ive always loved how she was outspoken, yet so for the sport she was in.

[@jeffwortham7768]

I love that he gives credit to God.

[@secretbassrigs]

I get Dairy Queen'd all the time. 🤔

[@leviwiget8848]

Amazing how there are 2 sides of the story. He was the fall boy . Sad really

[@TjTaylor4706]

Spencer seems like a stand up guy.

[@jamesmurphy1040]

Some one with money needs to buy the FLW side back and get rid of Duckett

[@eddiefason3783]

He was not the only one. There were ALOT of catches that were unhooked in the water. Terrible tournament and even more terrible officiating. Do better.

[@jimmychunga2626]

Trouble follows this guy, end of story

[@RCSTILE]

Zaldain, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like. Chris like learn a few more words.

[@Zaldaingerous]

Where’s your podcast? Like, I’d like to listen?

[@Gatesoutdoors]

How can you be guilty of a rule infrastruction when you have an official in the boat.... and if the official looked at what he was fishing and said it was good then no rule was broken

[@jeromywalker4362]

Denial or the Nile?

[@edwardcowan7012]

MLF should have never had that event. Smallmouth on beds are easy to catch over and over. Immediately releasing them just makes it easier. There not Largemouth you don’t have to be looking at them.

[@johnm2617]

Poor guy got screwed! No results from polygraph ! I think he has way to much to loose than gain ! The Marshall's stood up for him ! Look what mlf is going through ! KARMA IS A BITCH < HOLD YOUR HEAD UP SPENCER ! DAD WAS A CLASS ACT ALSO !

[@Mjones8383]

I lived on Logan martin for 20 years and grew up fishing with Taco, he was a legend and would beat your brains in with his shaky head, he just called it a jiggin worm

[@ronrobison2847]

He will not ever convince me he didn’t know what he was doing.

[@brandondodd7973]

Catching fish twice is BS on amy tournament.. thats why weigh in tournaments rule.

[@Morg3]

Felt like gloves were off

[@captainron3494]

trey I got a inclusive on a polygraph at a boat ramp 107 that day In a car a car with duck tape held the cord lol... sad thing is I paid out of pocket took one at FBI and not only pass but the question was way different fbi was have u ever cheated to have u ever broke a rule so on at the Ramp it was way different it was only focus on that day like did u wear life Vest so on to did u hook any fish out side the mouth and only 3 question at fbi it was 8 question and pass sad thing is I had a go pro of me catching bass that day but no no can't use that data yes it was 7 years ago to this day folks think I cheated over 100 bucks lol sad and it sucks they DO NOT DO NOT WORK ANOTHER THING FROM JW TO KVD THEY ALL HAVE FAILED A TEST BUT NOBODY SEE THAT U ONLY HEAR ABOUT IT YEARS LATER WHY THEY GOT A DQ OR FINE

[@sickofidiots4095]

Wow, this guy is something else!

[@damienbethea7443]

I get it. You think I'm cheating, that's cool , take that fish off my weight and I'll beat you anyways

[@mathewsarrowslinger2787]

Ran into this guy at Headwaters one day and tried to talk to him “how’d you catch emm” he was a complete dick to me. This was well before he made BPT. Lame. Can’t believe he wrap boated me who the F cares.

[@brianabercrombie6999]

I gotta say, I was skeptical about this guy after this tournament…… but after hearing this, he got screwed royally…… ethically it may not have been right, but by the rules and the tournament director saying it was ok….. why was it an issue!?!? But I mean look at the owner of BPT, it’s gonna be a shitshow……

[@byronbrush9030]

Yeah i dont buy his story 🤷‍♂️ too many things dont add up...im surprised trait was throwing such soft balls after going so hard against wheeler.

[@mikeharris130]

The more i hear about MLF, the more corrupt I think it is. I feel bad for the ethical anglers that are on this tour. Spencer is a stand up guy for sure.

[@xmarkedx]

Why are people targeting to catch the same spawning fish twice in any organization lol they all talk like it's a normal thing

[@academicmailbox7798]

Really only one push-back to Spencer's logic (in twenty years from now, we will look back at forward facing sonar and think it is so crude and primitive, or even lame).

[@academicmailbox7798]

To apply this logic, but this time instead of time traveling in the forward direction. Lets go back to the Prohibition era, and hooch serving speak easy's of the roaring twenties. And allow Robert Redford to narrate for the audience what an angler then in Montana was doing, standing on a rock.

[@academicmailbox7798]

He called it Live scoping. How to hold one's sonar beam long enough and low enough above the water, in order to make a rainbow rise. And I understood that in the time I had been away, my brother had become an artist.

[@academicmailbox7798]

Who's going to make the Robert Redford film about this current crop of young and up-and-coming anglers? In a way we might have done for anglers from a century ago? That's my question to Spence, in a nutshell. What is the audience going to see and think, wow. Look at that.

[@Patriot-dt3wk]

MLF needs to change that rule. You shouldn’t be able to catch the same fish twice. 5 fish in the well and that’s that… oh wait… then they would be like BASS… so let the s**t show continue.. I think with all the bs surrounding MLF they are on the way out.. they had a good thing and fun to watch but now it isn’t fun to watch and some of the guys are now getting screwed.