Scott Martin dq'd again? Martin Withdraws From Elite Series

[F14A-B]

Yep, Scott Martin quits the Elite series tournament circuit. 

[VABassin'14]

The anglers wanted more enforcement and polygraphs. If they want stricter enforcement then I'm all for it as well. Also the fact that several veteran well respected anglers were so willing to publicly state what they did regarding Scott's reputation and past should also be very telling. If he was willing to break a rule to gather information on his home lake, who knows how many other events he was willing to do so for. I hate to see it come to this, but this is probably the best outcome BASS at this point.

[IYAOYAS]

From what I've heard most anglers try to get information if not directly, in a roundabout way. Feels to me while Scott may not necessarily be innocent it does seem like he's being targeted for the status quo that most of these anglers are guilty of as well. That doesn't mean he shouldn't be punished if he's breaking the rules I just wish things were uniform in their enforcement. Maybe it's bass trying to make an example or maybe it's other anglers with a grudge? I can't say but I can say all this negative drama BASS has been subject to over the last couple of years has really tarnished their reputation with just about everyone I know. The only thing that concerns me is this going to affect Hillary's chance of competing when she graduates from Bama if she chooses to follow in her family's footsteps which it seems may be the case. I'd love nothing more than to see her dominate BASS in a few years.

[Maverick2017]

I saw his statement he released on Facebook. Unless I heard this wrong, that this conversation in question occurred 7 months ago?

 

 

 

 

[F14A-B]

[rangerjockey]

I'm not his biggest fan but BASS has turned into an absolute sheet show. I hear he hired a independent polygraph  examiner and passed. 

 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

1 hour ago, Maverick2017 said:

I saw his statement he released on Facebook. Unless I heard this wrong, that this conversation in question occurred 7 months ago?

 

 

 

 

Yeah. The statement was pathetic. And it’s easy to see why there is suspicion.

 

Who calls/texts so called strangers that they don’t know or trust to get info on water bodies that are “like Albemarle Sound”?  If you believe that then I don’t know what to tell you.
 

And then later on Scott sends the guy waypoints and info on Kentucky Lake for a tournament?

 

Scott Martin is only a victim of his poor judgment.

 

31 minutes ago, rangerjockey said:

I'm not his biggest fan but BASS has turned into an absolute sheet show. I hear he hired a independent polygraph  examiner and passed. 

 

LOL. Maybe players in the NFL or the Olympics should pay for their own drug tests.

 

Why is BASS a sheet show for enforcing the rules? In fact it’s quite the opposite.

 

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, VABassin'14 said:

The anglers wanted more enforcement and polygraphs. If they want stricter enforcement then I'm all for it as well. Also the fact that several veteran well respected anglers were so willing to publicly state what they did regarding Scott's reputation and past should also be very telling. If he was willing to break a rule to gather information on his home lake, who knows how many other events he was willing to do so for. I hate to see it come to this, but this is probably the best outcome BASS at this point.

This is exactly right. Martin has been repeatedly called out by other anglers. The fact that absolutely nobody is coming to his defense is telling.

 

Swindle even went off on how the whole self reporting was totally bogus.

 

I would also remind people that Herren failed three tests and didn’t pass until he told the truth about the discussions with his son.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Lol in my eyes Scott's Instagram post made him vastly more guilty.    

 

At the end of the day he traded a dude waypoints for information on "a lake/river right by the one I'm fishing a derby but don't tell me anything about my lake....WINK, WINK".    Then goes out and gets his own poly whom asks only questions the client requests to asked......and Scott is the client 😆

 

The first incident is still the one that is the worst, because it involved BASS covering for him imho.

 

At this point, BASS and Scott deserve each other, two sinking ships lost at sea.  

[rangerjockey]

1 hour ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

Yeah. The statement was pathetic. And it’s easy to see why there is suspicion.

 

Who calls/texts so called strangers that they don’t know or trust to get info on water bodies that are “like Albemarle Sound”?  If you believe that then I don’t know what to tell you.
 

And then later on Scott sends the guy waypoints and info on Kentucky Lake for a tournament?

 

Scott Martin is only a victim of his poor judgment.

 

LOL. Maybe players in the NFL or the Olympics should pay for their own drug tests.

 

Why is BASS a sheet show for enforcing the rules? In fact it’s quite the opposite.

 

 

 

 

 

This is exactly right. Martin has been repeatedly called out by other anglers. The fact that absolutely nobody is coming to his defense is telling.

 

Swindle even went off on how the whole self reporting was totally bogus.

 

I would also remind people that Herren failed three tests and didn’t pass until he told the truth about the discussions with his son.

I mean if your sure that the guy who gives them for bass is better than a guy with 25 years of law enforcement experience and certified by Florida to give them then  OK.

 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

5 minutes ago, rangerjockey said:

I mean if your sure that the guy who gives them for bass is better than a guy with 25 years of law enforcement experience and certified by Florida to give them then  OK.

 

 

Last I heard BASS had a former FBI guy running their tests.

 

But that's beside the point. The idea that you can just do your own test is preposterous.  No sanctioning body in any sport would or should allow it.

[volzfan59]

18 hours ago, DinkDonkey30 said:

Looks like the proof is in the pudding. It's a d**n shame to see a an angler like Martin go out a cheater but he made the choices.

It sucks, but you are 100% correct. The arrogance of this guy (Scott).

[rangerjockey]

2 hours ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

 

Last I heard BASS had a former FBI guy running their tests.

 

But that's beside the point. The idea that you can just do your own test is preposterous.  No sanctioning body in any sport would or should allow it.

I'm pretty sure he knew that BASS was never going to recognize the outside polygraph anyway.

It was an attempt to save face and maybe some of his reputation for his families sake.

If he had failed the independent one I doubt he ever would have said a word.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Yeah I think everything he's doing is simply damage control to try and hang on to his sponsors and TV show.    

 

Sucks because at the end of the day I do think Scott is a tremendously talented angler.   I think his Okeechobee Open win is the most unique and cool win I've ever seen.   Still blows my mind what he did during that event.  

[rangerjockey]

27 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Yeah I think everything he's doing is simply damage control to try and hang on to his sponsors and TV show.    

 

Sucks because at the end of the day I do think Scott is a tremendously talented angler.   I think his Okeechobee Open win is the most unique and cool win I've ever seen.   Still blows my mind what he did during that event.  

100%. i'm not sure why he would want to fish the elites anyway. I would think he could make a great living guiding out of his dad's marina and watching his daughters career 

Hopefully , he hasn't derailed that.

Honestly I don't think guys getting a little teach is all that uncommon. I heard ramp talk or whatever you want to call it in my less than stellar career but who cares? information that isa week old is pretty much useless.

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

9 minutes ago, rangerjockey said:

100%. i'm not sure why he would want to fish the elites anyway. I would think he could make a great living guiding out of his dad's marina and watching his daughters career 

Hopefully , he hasn't derailed that.

I think his dad's legacy hung around his neck like an albatross.   

 

At the end of the day, I don't think these guy's main motivation to fish the BPT or Elites is financial.    I think it's about the competition and respect.    These guys would be fishing derbies for free.    

 

It will be interesting to see how Hillary's career progresses and if she tries to make the Elites or BPT.   At some point a female angler is going to be competitive on the top level.  

[Pumpkin Lizard]

28 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Yeah I think everything he's doing is simply damage control to try and hang on to his sponsors and TV show.    

 

Sucks because at the end of the day I do think Scott is a tremendously talented angler.   I think his Okeechobee Open win is the most unique and cool win I've ever seen.   Still blows my mind what he did during that event.  

Thr fact that he has demonstrated a clear pattern of behavior taints the win now.

 

And before you say he didn’t need to then I will direct you to the podcast episode I linked above where Greg Hackney says Scott has been doing this for 25 years and that he saw the Okeechobee video. 
 

Scott “bumped into a guy for about 30 minutes” and that BASS 100% did the right thing.

 

Other than trolls, ignoramuses and some highly questionable YouTube channels I haven’t seen anyone respectable come out in support of this guy.

[Tackleholic]

I'm curious how long the no info rule has been in place.  I'm going back in time, way back, to when I heard "rumors" that particular top competitors hired others to pre fish and engage in dock talk at lakes where there were upcoming tournaments .

[rangerjockey]

Heck , They used to hire guides to pre fish with . I knew a guy who has since passed that took 2 guys  out  before an event on Table Rock. 
Tying up fish is cheating. Short of that, ehhh

[AlabamaSpothunter]

20 minutes ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

Thr fact that he has demonstrated a clear pattern of behavior taints the win now.

 

And before you say he didn’t need to then I will direct you to the podcast episode I linked above where Greg Hackney says Scott has been doing this for 25 years and that he saw the Okeechobee video. 
 

Scott “bumped into a guy for about 30 minutes” and that BASS 100% did the right thing.

 

Other than trolls, ignoramuses and some highly questionable YouTube channels I haven’t seen anyone respectable come out in support of this guy.

I could accept that if it weren't for the fact that Scott did something maybe a handful of anglers even tried in the past which is using perspective mode to catch gaints of the bed.   To that point, nobody had ever done it successfully in a high level event to my knowledge.  

 

If you watched the coverage from that event, he was fishing almost side by side with dozens and dozens of other competitors.     There was no secret way points, or baits in that event.  

I've been calling him out since the Okeechobee DQ, but to me his Open win isn't tainted. 

[rangerjockey]

7 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I could accept that if it weren't for the fact that Scott did something maybe a handful of anglers even tried in the past which is using perspective mode to catch gaints of the bed.   To that point, nobody had ever done it successfully in a high level event to my knowledge.  

 

If you watched the coverage from that event, he was fishing almost side by side with dozens and dozens of other competitors.     There was no secret way points, or baits in that event.  

I've been calling him out since the Okeechobee DQ, but to me his Open win isn't tainted. 

Didn’t he have the saltwater FFS transducer  on his boat then ? 
I remember something about it having more range. When he got closer he could switch to the 34

[AlabamaSpothunter]

6 minutes ago, rangerjockey said:

Didn’t he have the saltwater FFS transducer  on his boat then ? 
I remember something about it having more range. When he got closer he could switch to the 34

I'm not sure, but Martin was one of the very earlier adopters of the tech.    

 

Lot of those guys were running LVS 62s, but with the new rule changes I haven't heard if guys are sticking with the LVS34s or the 62s now that they can only have one transducer.  

[Pumpkin Lizard]

31 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I could accept that if it weren't for the fact that Scott did something maybe a handful of anglers even tried in the past which is using perspective mode to catch gaints of the bed.   To that point, nobody had ever done it successfully in a high level event to my knowledge.  

 

If you watched the coverage from that event, he was fishing almost side by side with dozens and dozens of other competitors.     There was no secret way points, or baits in that event.  

I've been calling him out since the Okeechobee DQ, but to me his Open win isn't tainted. 

I actually defended him a little after Ok. Feel  a little burned.

 

 

[F14A-B]

4 hours ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

 

Last I heard BASS had a former FBI guy running their tests.

 

But that's beside the point. The idea that you can just do your own test is preposterous.  No sanctioning body in any sport would or should allow it.

Scott isn’t asking BASS to accept it. Remember he said he’s pulling out of the Elite series. So there ya go. 
Btw, everybody, EVERYBODY use to talk to locals and get info in the 80’s, 90’s and even into the 2000’s. 
Fisherman talk. People talk. 
Guides get paid to take clients out to fish. When I pay a Captain 2800$ to take me solo out on the GOM I’m saving waypoints. Same on Cumberland, same on Kentucky LK. 

But hey, there is a new way and it’s called FFS often called a cheater box. I’ve seen the Johnson brothers team up and you know they share info when at Harris last year they end up in the same spring even pointing out fish on beds for one another. Imo, EVERY. SINGLE. FISHERMAN. At every elite series event should be given a poly before and after. You want a straight playing field? That’s one way. A lot of these guys cannot even properly operate their boats or even trailer them properly. You got Zaldain trying to intimidate a weekend fisherman to get out of the area he wanted to fish, going so far as to threaten going to the guys job and interfering with his factory job. He got a fine. But he wasn’t DQ’ed either. Different rules for different guys. 
All of this to say BASS looks very incompetent to me. 

 

[Catt]

The apple didn't fall to far the tree!

 

Roland was known for playing fast & loose with rules. 

[F14A-B]

5 minutes ago, Catt said:

The apple didn't fall to far the tree!

 

Roland was known for playing fast & loose with rules. 

There weren’t many rules back in Roland’s day.. I remember when he put a ladder on his boat so he could spot beds easier.. salt guys do it all the time, of course Ray Scott made a rule forbidding it but there wasn’t one prior to that.