Matt Herren Disqualified and Retires

[fishballer06]

Matt Herren has been disqualified for his performance at the first event of the 2025 season at St. Johns River. Herren failed his polygraph even following the event. He has decided to retire all together from the BASS Elites and will be fishing the NPFL going forward. 

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/elite/news/elite-herren-disqualified-at-st-johns-river/

https://www.si.com/onsi/fishing/bass-fishing/matt-herren-announces-exit-from-bassmaster-elite-series-after-disqualification

[Choporoz]

Info rules need to go away.  I think one of the 'non-major' trails has already gone that route...maybe WON Bass?

 

Unenforceable, ambiguous at times, and not even field-leveling, which I guess is the intent

[JHoss]

Anyone have more info on his side of the story? I saw a tidbit about his brother posting a comment on his Facebook page which was considered illegal info.

 

Meanwhile at the Bass Open on Rayburn, a guy who finished in the top 10 gets a $4000 fine for violating the rule instead of DQ'd because "it didn't affect the outcome of the event" or some excuse like that.

 

Rumors are another Elite will be DQ'd before the Okeechobee event for violating the same rule.

 

 

[Jar11591]

“Polygraph credibility test?” That must be a joke, unless we’re still in 1985

[fishballer06]

2 minutes ago, JHoss said:

Anyone have more info on his side of the story?

 

Matt posted a video on his Facebook page. Didn't go into really any details at all and mentioned that the rest of the story will come out eventually to the public. The primary topic of the whole video was him saying he talked to all his sponsors and they all supported him to move over to NFPL going forward. 

[GReb]

The SI article has all the information you need. 
 

When are folks going to stop giving bassmaster a pass? They are no better than MLF….

[JHoss]

Just found this post from his son on another forum:

 

"He got dq’d because we were talking on Tuesday about how he was spending all his time practicing down south. That’s where he spent his practice and all the tournament. I wasn’t thinking and made a comment hopefully this one doesn’t get one north in deep creek like a tournament that my buddy had fished the previous weekend just as a general comment talking fish. He never went there to look and went right back and put in at Astor the next day. I have fished opens and understand off limits periods but we talk fishing daily and I just wasn’t thinking when I said it. Polygraph examiner asked if he had received any information and told them I had said it on accident but never went in that direction(70 miles the exact opposite is where he went in practice and the tournament). That flagged it as soliciting for information and dq’d him. The rule states soliciting while trying to gain a competitive advantage so I don’t understand how mistakenly being told something and not pursuing the information or using it for any gains can fall into a disqualification."

 

If all that is true, BASS messed this one up bad. 

[Glenn]

He said, she said, rumors, assumptions, guesses, accusations and judgements.

 

I'm going fishing.

[MN Fisher]

Again we're dealing with this pseudo-science that's been proven to be inaccurate and banned from use in court situations. When are the tournaments going to join the 21st century and give up this practice of believing something that lies itself?

[Tennessee Boy]

13 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Again we're dealing with this pseudo-science that's been proven to be inaccurate and banned from use in court situations. When are the tournaments going to join the 21st century and give up this practice of believing something that lies itself?

I don't think he failed the polygraph test.  He told the truth during the test and the truth got him disqualified.  That's the only value a polygraph test provides.  It sometimes compels people to tell the truth.  

 

I heard a story of police using a copy machine to get a very dumb suspect to confess.  They put his head on the glass of the copy machine and ask him if he did it.  When he said no they pressed the copy button.  The guy realized the machine could tell he was lying so he confessed.  😆

[JHoss]

22 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Again we're dealing with this pseudo-science that's been proven to be inaccurate and banned from use in court situations. When are the tournaments going to join the 21st century and give up this practice of believing something that lies itself?

I couldn't agree more. If we know it's not reliable, why are we letting that dictate a guy getting DQ'd who quite possibly never violated a rule. 

 

6 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I don't think he failed the polygraph test.  He told the truth during the test and the truth got him disqualified.  That's the only value a polygraph test provides.  It sometimes compels people to tell the truth.  

That would be all well and good if that's how these organizations used them. But they're actually DQ'ing guys who fail, when we know that polygraph's are very fallible. 

[scaleface]

38 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Again we're dealing with this pseudo-science that's been proven to be inaccurate and banned from use in court situations. When are the tournaments going to join the 21st century and give up this practice of believing something that lies itself?

They may as well use a Magic 8 Ball.

[padlin]

Polygraphs and fishing just don’t go together.

 

 

 

[DinkDonkey30]

Hes not retiring he's going to npfl. His son has openly admitted to "accidentally" giving him the information about where the previous weeks tournament was won. It's also been said Matt was never anywhere near the location his son gave him. My question would be why not self report? I would also think Matt should have known when his son started name dropping a location he should have told him to stop mid sentence. Personally I think the no info rule at this point is silly. With all the technology and other ways these anglers can find info this rule is useless.

[MediumMouthBass]

I wondered last week why i dont follow professional bass fishing tournaments, between everyone staring a screen fishing the same bait, the ridiculous rules, and drama... I answered my own question in under a minute.

 

The polygraph test isnt surprising. Many guys invested alot into these devices and refuse to stop using them because they dont want to look stupid, jokes on them🤣

[scaleface]

Now Scott Martin has been disqualified. 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

Drama. 

 

Tons of ice melted here last night. I'm going fishing this weekend.

8 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Now Scott Martin has been disqualified. 

 

Now I have to fix  my fantasy lineup.

 

Self reported. Seems like the rule is sensible but the penalty is overkill. Why can't they just put him in a penalty box or apply a weight penalty?

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/elite/news/scott-martin-disqualified-from-okeechobee-elite/

[scaleface]

9 minutes ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

Now I have to fix  my fantasy lineup.

Most people do. Unfortunately many wont know. I had him too.

[GReb]

What information could Scott Martin receive on the Big O that he doesn’t already know lmao

[Pumpkin Lizard]

1 minute ago, GReb said:

What information could Scott Martin receive on the Big O that he doesn’t already know lmao

 

He was rigging his boat and some rando walked up him and gave him info. He says in the article that didn't cut him off soon enough so he self reported.

 

I was actually looking forward to seeing how he would do. This diminished event a little in my opinion.

[JHoss]

1 minute ago, GReb said:

What information could Scott Martin receive on the Big O that he doesn’t already know lmao

Apparently he was talking to a local while rigging up and the conversation got too detailed about specific conditions in certain parts of the lake. He self reported and BASS decided he had an unfair advantage because of that knowledge. But to your point, highly unlikely that info would really help a local guy like Scott. 

[GReb]

3 minutes ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

 

He was rigging his boat and some rando walked up him and gave him info. He says in the article that didn't cut him off soon enough so he self reported.

 

I was actually looking forward to seeing how he would do. This diminished event a little in my opinion.

Ah. I would say it diminished it a lot. He was the favorite to win. 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

1 minute ago, GReb said:

Ah. I would say it diminished it a lot. He was the favorite to win. 

 

Yeah I was just trying to moderate my take. But you may not be wrong.

8 minutes ago, JHoss said:

Apparently he was talking to a local while rigging up and the conversation got too detailed about specific conditions in certain parts of the lake. He self reported and BASS decided he had an unfair advantage because of that knowledge. But to your point, highly unlikely that info would really help a local guy like Scott. 

 

At what point should these guys completely sequester themselves? This is a crazy high standard.

[F14A-B]

Disqualifying Scott Martin from the entire Tournament plus a fine is total BS.. it’s ridiculous. What’s next, forbid fishermen from using Cellphones? 

[JHoss]

7 minutes ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

At what point should these guys completely sequester themselves? This is a crazy high standard.

It's a weird place right now. I think they're having a hard time getting the letter of the law to match the spirit of the law. There needs to be something to prevent folks from buying info, but these situations seem to have gone too far. I thought the rule stated that you couldn't "solicit" info, which it doesn't sound like either of these guys did. Completely unfair to punish a competitor who didn't plug his ears fast enough when someone else started talking about stuff they shouldn't.

4 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

Disqualifying Scott Martin from the entire Tournament plus a fine is total BS.. it’s ridiculous. What’s next, forbid fishermen from using Cellphones? 

They fined him too?!?