Tournament bass fishing in general is a horrible financial decision. Most of the toddlers entering the sport have mommy and daddy footing the bill so they don't ever realize how easy it will be to go broke in this sport.

Absolutely not, soliciting information that will help you on a specific tournament water is against the rules. If the fisherman's education does not allow understanding the rules, hire someone to explain.

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That rule is so wide open in those terms.
Scott was setup by the guy who gave him the info. Then that guy sent the texts to multiple other elites. But according to Scott, those texts only include him give way points to the unamed local.
It is very fishy that the local asked for info on one lake, but Scott did not know that lake, then, convienently the guy asks for info on Kentucky lake. Right after Martin fished there.
This is why I think it was a setup..

How the hell cares scoot martian doesn't need BASS drama show he lost nothing to that Reality tv show there all the same i dont know why anybody watches tournament fishing anyway waste of time. Bottom line nobody cares. He'll get along just fine.

Scott said he called the guy looking for information. Are you saying someone made him make the call?

He did not say that.
He said he called the guy and specifically told him not to give him information on the off limits lake.
The guy told another elite angler, or more than 1, that he gave him info on the off limits lake along with way points and lures to use.
Huge difference in the protest and what Martin is saying.

The idea he was set up is silly.

Martin reached out to him. Of all the people you think he picked someone that just wanted to ruin his tournament career? I’m a conspiracy theorist with the best of them. It’s in my dna, but common sense has to prevail here.

It the protesters are really Fiedler and Robertson, I can see those guys having no problems trying to bait someone into something like this. Unfortunately, we truly don’t know all of the details of this story to say if Scott was setup like he said.

The guy he got the information from certainly could have set him up. Doesn't have to be another elite angler.
If you and I have a text chat,, and someone else ends up with our texts. There are only 2 people who could have been responsible for giving those texts to someone else.

BASS is screwing up quite a bit right now, but this is on Scott. He chose to have multiple phone conversations with a guy clear across the country and now he wants to act like the victim? It's hard to give the guy the benefit of the doubt after he's already been DQ'd once this year. According to Scott, he only solicited information from this complete stranger about how other lakes in the area fish, but not the tournament waters. At best, that is a very gray area that he chose to put himself in. If Fork is off limits and I tell an angler "don't practice at Tawakoni. Go to Rayburn and fish Indian and Harvey because they set up like Fork when you will be there", I just gave information about Fork. Scott had no business even having that phone call. The rules around information gathering need to be tightened up, but the intent is clear. BASS doesn't want anglers getting local information that isn't readily available to every angler. Taku and Kyoya aren't able to pick up the phone and severely bend the rules, why should Scott be allowed to?

Scott claimed it was a phone conversation and that he did not ask specifics on the river. This guy says no he did. Not saying the guy never came forward. But saying he had no reason as to lie about what he told Scott. Likely came forward after Scott got dqed in Florida.

Bass tried to do away with info rule. Anglers balked and so BASS is going scorched earth. Don’t do slimy things and you wont get covered in slime.

Until his accuser comes out, I will give Scott the benefit of doubt here. Unamed sources and unamed protestors make all of BASS look slimey.
Bending rules is not breaking them

This is not hard. DON'T SOLICIT INFORMATION THAT MIGHT HELP YOU ON TOURNAMENT DAY WITHIN THE TIMELINE SET!

If you're defending Martin, two very simple questions need to be answered.

1. If he wasn't looking to gain a competitive advantage why would he call a local he admits he didn't know that well?

2. If he's innocent, why not go through BASS' process? You can't just say you don't trust their polygraph, it's given to like 10-15 anglers EVERY tournament, and other than Matt Herren, EVERYONE else has been fine.

It's possible other anglers have it out for him, that's not uncommon when people are known cheaters. After the Astro's garbage can debacle they were targeted by other players as well, people bashed them (no pun intended), I think they led the league in being hit by pitches, boooed everywhere they went, and generally regarded as scum within the game. And they earned that.....no different here.

Here's a novel idea, if you think people are out to get you, don't "bend" the rules or think you're living in the grey area. He's a cheater, period, end of story. This isn't about Seth Feider, Matt Robertson, Gerald Swindle, Greg Hackney, Canadians you may not like, BASS, or anyone else.

It's about Scott Martin getting caught cheating not once, but possibly twice inside of a month. The fact that he quit based on an investigation should tell you all you need to know.

I'm not lending any credibility to the accuser, whoever they may be. If it isn't Scott who leaked information though, it had to be the other party who at least told someone else. I am going off of exactly what Scott said happened in his own IG video. He engaged in a conversation that never should have happened trying to bend the rules. He may have a point that someone who is out to get him got the information and told on him, but he wouldn't be in this situation if he never had a phone call with a complete stranger who he has no reason to trust about fishing in the general area of the announced tournament waters. If he hadn't done that, then this is a simple matter and when they ask "did you have a conversation with a local angler in an attempt to get a competitive advantage" then he could say no, pass the polygraph and go on about his business. When you engage in shady business that you know isn't exactly legal, it is going to change how you answer questions and he would have likely failed that test and he knows it.