A 14-year-old boy who caught a brown trout that would have made him a second-place winner of $500 in an ice fishing tournament in Colorado was disqualified by organizers in what turned out to be a controversial decision that caused an uproar online.
Darron Boling caught a 2.68-pound brown trout at Vallecito Reservoir on Saturday during the fifth annual ice fishing tournament put on by the Vallecito Conservation and Sporting Association, as reported by The Durango Herald.
Contest rules require competitors to purchase and display a $5 daily recreation permit in their vehicles. Darron was disqualified for not having a valid permit. Boe Boling, Darron’s father, had driven his son to the event but fished elsewhere and was not part of the competition.
The Herald reported that the Boling family maintains that Darron tried to pay the $5 fee when he registered on his own, but when asked if he drove to the event and answered no, that he was only 14, he was told by the registration attendant that he didn’t have to pay the fee.
“Watching my son be told he didn’t do everything by the book, watching him be told that he cheated and he wasn’t an honest sportsman hurt,” Boe told the Herald.
Tony Shurts, president of the VCSA, disagreed with Boe’s account, telling the Herald in an email, “It was determined that his father brought him. It was also determined that there was no recreation permit displayed in that vehicle.”
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The permit requirement was announced several times during registration and in the event advertising, Shurts told the Herald. The tournament website states, “At least one person in party must have valid PRID recreation pass display in their vehicle. Violators will be disqualified and forfeit their registration fees,” which were $40.
Boe Boling, who said he has taken issue with the recreation permit fee at the marina in the past, says VCSA was “taking their issues with me out on my son.”
“Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it isn’t because they don’t like me. Maybe they feel they’re just in their determination of what happened,” Boling told the Herald. “For the mistake to be on the tournament people, to not allow Darron to try to rectify that…It’s a shame.”
The disqualification provoked a verbal confrontation between Boling and VCSA organizers, prompting Shurts to call the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office. Boling was detained, not for his conduct at the event, but for an outstanding warrant for a missed court appearance.
The disqualification prompted “hundreds of comments” on the VCSA Facebook page, which have since been taken down. The Herald reported that some said the rules were clearly stated, but the majority condemned the disqualification.
Anglers at the contest pitched in and gave Darron $370 to replace the lost winnings, and another $130 was contributed by the community.
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Only 14 trout were weighed out of the 153 tournament participants. A 5.12-pound rainbow trout landed by Chase Ribble won the event and was worth $750. Second place was a 2.42-pound rainbow trout caught by Richard Samora, and third place was a 2.12 rainbow trout landed by Dave Peterson, who earned $125.
Photo courtesy of Boe Boling.
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