I watched the Winyah bay tournament TV coverage last night and something stuck out to me. Davy Hite flat out says he was getting gas when the attendant told him about a shortcut back to the ICW that would save him time. Obviously that backfired because he ended up beached and missed weigh in completely.

My question is why wasn't he DQ'ed for getting information from a non-competitor? It would have only made a slight difference in AOY points for him as he was near dead last anyway but seems to me to be just as obvious rule violation as what they canned Luke Clausen for.

I think the rules pertains more to the fish and techniques of catching rather than navigation.

Would be interesting to know.

Because he didn't receive any info about locating or catching fish on tournament waters.

https://www.bassmaster.com/sites/default/files/attachments/2016/02/2016_elite_classic_final_3.pdf

"During the offlimits
periods, other than using publicly-available information (e.g. newspaper and
Internet reports), competitors cannot solicit, receive or gather any information via phone,
electronic devices or any other means about locating or catching fish on tournament
waters".

Thanks that makes sense, I wasn't sure how it was worded.

Still seems like getting navigation information could be very advantageous if it gets you more fishing time.

Probably saves some lower units being able to talk about navigation.