A brand new bass match league that billed itself because the highest-paying crew path within the nation is now being blasted as the largest rip-off within the sport’s historical past. The anglers who helped promote Dual Threat Fishing and competed within the league’s first (and solely) two tournaments at the moment are saying they have been ripped off by DTF. Not one of the profitable anglers have been paid and a few of them are nonetheless owed deposits. DTF’s proprietor has additionally disappeared from contact, and a few concerned at the moment are contending he was utilizing a faux identification.
A few of the allegations surrounding the proprietor, often known as Ethan Phillips, stay unsubstantiated. The group’s official website seems to have been taken down, and messages from Out of doors Life to its social media accounts have gone unanswered. However a handful of anglers, influencers, and content material creators have gone public about their very own experiences with DTF during the last week, and the supposed rip-off league is now dominating most corners of the net fishing area.
“We’ve all had our suspicions for the final a number of weeks, however Twin Menace is a rip-off, guys,” bass professional Scott Martin says in a YouTube video he shared Tuesday. “It’s what it’s. The match group was a faux.”
$1.5 MILLION SCAM – Twin Menace bass fishing TOURNAMENT FRAUD SCAM
Martin didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however he refers back to the alleged scheme in his video as a $1.5 million rip-off “that’s shaking the complete fishing group.” Martin explains that along with the anger that each one the opposite fishermen are feeling, he feels personally betrayed by DTF as a result of his household allowed the group to make use of its enterprise, Roland Martin Marina, as the bottom for its first-ever occasion on Lake Okeechobee.
Dangerous Checks and a Bunch of Excuses
The Twin Menace Fishing league generated loads of pleasure when it was first announced in 2025. A whole lot of skilled anglers appreciated the thought of a crew occasion and helped promote the brand new league via their very own channels. Many professionals noticed it as a enjoyable option to make some extra cash in between the opposite main circuits like B.A.S.S and Main League Fishing. In order that they despatched in functions in hopes of fishing the primary six tournaments DTF had deliberate for 2026.
Initially, the league requested the chosen groups to pay $5,000 in entry charges for all six tournaments up entrance. The league would later shift to a no-entry price coverage, which added to the thrill. In accordance with Martin, although, round six to 10 of the anglers had already despatched in deposits. It’s unclear what these deposit quantities have been, however at this level, not one of the anglers have been reimbursed.
Martin explains in his latest video his personal theories across the rip-off he thinks Phillips was making an attempt to run. Phillips had informed the anglers he had traders, and he even talked about having the tournaments streamed on Netflix. All anybody is aware of for certain at this level is that the anglers have been those left holding the bag after DTF’s first two tournaments in Florida, which have been held on Lake Okeechobee and the St. Johns River on back-to-back weeks.
The tourney on “the Massive O” came about Jan. 21 to Jan. 23, and the first-place crew, Matt and Lafe Messer, have been purported to win $50,000 apiece. The brothers obtained the massive novelty checks on the occasion. They are saying their precise checks by no means cleared, nonetheless, and Lafe is certainly one of a number of anglers who claims to have been ghosted by Phillips.
DTF’s second match came about the next weekend on the St. Johns River in Palatka. Jace Lindsay and Fisher Anaya received that tourney with a three-day complete of 76.71 kilos. Similar to the Messer brothers, they have been declared the winners and given giant novelty checks on the occasion. And similar to everybody else who completed “within the cash” on the two occasions, they nonetheless haven’t been paid.
“He was fairly responsive for a short time after the second occasion,” Lafe tells Out of doors Life. However someday final week, he says, “he minimize off all contact [with] everyone.”
Within the weeks main as much as Phillips’ disappearance, Lafe says that he, Matt, and others obtained a collection of excuses from Phillips that grew extra sophisticated over time.
“Initially, we have been informed that his investor had gotten on him for not having [W-9] tax varieties. When the primary match was over, he wrote us the checks and was like, ‘Don’t money them but till I can get these tax varieties executed.’ And that appeared cheap,” Lafe says. “Then it became this rationalization that there have been some disqualifications, and he was going to have to vary the payouts. So he mentioned he was placing a maintain on the account to maintain the disqualified boats from cashing their checks.”
Lafe nonetheless doesn’t know who was supposedly DQ’d on Okeechobee. The story Phillips gave was that some anglers have been fishing in closed areas, so he was holding a maintain on the account till he obtained to the underside of it. Lafe now thinks this was simply one other lie to purchase time.
“The following excuse was that his investor was overseas, and he couldn’t re-open the account with out him, so [Phillips] was ready for him to get again,” Lafe says. “That was just about the final lie, I assume … as a result of then communication stop.”
He explains that earlier than Phillips requested them to not money their checks, and even in the course of the two DTF occasions, there have been no pink flags that he and Matt seen. In hindsight, although, Lafe thinks it’s odd that when the 2 brothers tried to pay their $5,000 entry charges early on, Phillips had no real interest in taking their cash. Whereas initially perplexing to the Messers and different anglers, some now imagine this was a part of Phillips’ lengthy con.
“I’ll say this,” Martin says in his video. “He was a incredible liar.”
“I imply, the 2 weeks we spent down there, it was loads of enjoyable,” Lafe provides. “It appeared like all of the anglers have been having time, and it felt like this was gonna be factor.”
Nonetheless, Lafe estimates that in the course of the two weeks they have been down in Florida, they spent at the least $2,500 on gasoline, lodging, and deal with. It is a frequent grievance among the many affected anglers, who now imagine that Phillips obtained away with between $700,000 and $1,500,000.
Learn Subsequent: Tournament Anglers Say Their Checks Keep Bouncing. Now They’re Suing
Lafe confirms that beneath the contract the anglers signed with DTF, the league has 30 calendar days to pay out the match winnings. That timeline would expire this Sunday for the Okeechobee match, and on March 1 for the St. Johns occasion.
Who Is Ethan Phillips and The place Is He Now?
A few of the extra startling allegations round DTF have been made in latest days by two bass-fishing content material creators: Steve Chapman of Get Ur Fish On and Dwayne Shamburger of Cerebral Tackle. They’ve executed some in depth digging into DTF and the person behind it, and they’re nonetheless investigating the alleged rip-off as extra data involves gentle.
In a collection of movies he’s shared during the last a number of days, Chapman has come out strongly in opposition to DTF’s proprietor and founder, Ethan Phillips. Chapman says he had been advising Phillips and helping promote the league during the last 12 months, however that Phillips minimize contact with him over the weekend.
BIGGEST Bass Fishing CHEATER and SCAM of All Time
“No person has been paid, no deposits have been returned. And now I’ve been blocked, or Ethan’s cellphone quantity has been turned off,” Chapman explains in another recent video. “There’s no communication in any respect.”
A video that Shamburger shared Sunday (beneath) consists of the allegations that Ethan Phillips is definitely a person named Timothy Lynn. As proof, he factors to the web sleuthing executed by Skeeter Crosby, one other disenfranchised angler whose crew completed in ninth place at Okeechobee. They obtained a examine from the occasion, however Crosby, like many others, has mentioned the examine by no means cleared.
Who Actually IS Ethan Phillips? | Twin Menace Fishing
Crosby not too long ago made a publish with {a photograph} of Ethan Phillips in a Monroe County TN Fb group, the place he requested for details about the person within the picture. He was informed by one other social-media consumer that the particular person pictured is definitely a person named Tim Lynn from East Tennessee.
Shamburger claims in his video {that a} supply on the Monroe County Sheriff’s Workplace informed him they’ve somebody by that title of their system, and that Lynn had three energetic warrants out for this arrest.
The MCSO’s public data officer, Sue Pettingill, tells Out of doors Life, nonetheless, that they’ve neither a Timothy Lynn nor an Ethan Phillips of their reserving system.
“Now if there’s a warrant out for his arrest that’s completely different. He might not [have been] arrested but,” Pettingill says. “But when he’s been booked into the system or if he’s really incarcerated, he could be in our laptop [database].”
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