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YouTuber Ben Milliken was arrested on December 12 in Nacogdoches County for alleged freshwater fishing tournament fraud, as per Fishing On Si.
Authorities accused him of falsifying an entry form after submitting a largemouth bass to the Legacy Class ShareLunker program, claiming he caught it at Lake Naconiche in February 2024. He was released 29 minutes later.
Maggie Berger, a spokesperson for the Texas Parks and Wildlife, said in a statement to The Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel that it was discovered that the 35-year-old:
“Did not have a valid fishing license at the time the fish was caught at knowingly falsified the contest/ tournament entry form.”
He has since been disqualified from the program.
As the allegations circulated online, Ben Milliken took to his Instagram account on December 14 to address the incident. He alleged that the arrest was not related to the tournament at all and that there has simply been a “misunderstanding.”
Exploring Ben Milliken’s statement as angler gets arrested for fishing tournament fraud
For those uninitiated, the Nebraska-born had amassed over 500,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel at the time of writing this article. His fishing videos have caught the attention of many, with his most popular video titled FLASH FLOOD Draws BIG Fish to Urban Spillway!!! amassing over three million views.
Ben Milliken took to his Instagram account on December 14 to share an official statement in regard to the recent arrest. His statement read:
“By now some of you have heard of recent legal issue I’m facing for an incident last February. This issue is due to a complete misunderstanding and unrelated to any elite series or local fishing tournament I’ve participated in.”
Ben Milliken added:
“In fact, the incident arose while I was recreationally fishing. And not in a tournament at all. I very much look forward to creating a video(s) explaining this entire situation. But due to ongoing investigation. It’s best I wait.”
The content creator ended his statement by saying that he is going to continue creating content in the meantime and promote his love for the “outdoors” and “fishing.”
Milliken competed in the Elites while growing up in Omaha, Nebraska. His father and grandfather introduced him to fishing. He began competing while in university. Speaking about joining the bass fishing team, Milliken told Bassmaster in a January interview:
“It went very poorly. I loved bass fishing, but I was unprepared for serious tournament competition. I had to decide if I was going to go all-in or not fish tournaments anymore.”
He eventually began posting content on YouTube, which also supported his family. Subsequently, he became a partial owner of the 6th Sense Fishing company. Speaking about his journey on the video-sharing platform, Milliken said:
“I used the GoPro to film a couple of fishing tip videos that I posted on YouTube. Four months later I learned those videos had 40,000 to 50,000 views. I didn’t know what views and subscribers meant.”
Followers now await Milliken to further address the allegations.
