fishballer06

Rules specifically state other competitors can share information amongst each other. Like it or not (I personally don't like the way they bully themselves around), but they're not breaking any rules.

I respectfully have to disagree with you on this case in particular. Something was reported, Scott publicly stated on video that he talked to someone gathering information about the area, then further explained that he gave the guy information and waypoints on another lake in exchange for the info the guy gave him. Like I explained in my earlier message, BASS tests anglers at every single event. No one ever talks about who got tested because its not a big deal whenever you're being truthful. This situation caught news because everyone on tour knew it was happening, and told their friends, who told their friends, etc, etc. until the news eventually was everywhere. If Tom Brady is deflating footballs to gain a competitive advantage, I don't think it should matter whether its the locker room janitor, a news reporter, or Gronk himself that turns it in. In a sport like fishing, the only truest way to govern rules is to have the anglers policing one another. Fishing isn't the only sport that does it this way. Golf is solely reliable on cardmates reporting any rules violations. The only "better way" to do this rule is to require every single angler to take a test prior to each event and after each day of competition. However that would require a ton of time, resources, and money to go to that level at every event throughout the year. If you have a better suggestion to solve this situation, I'm sure we'd all love to hear your suggestion.

You've got til Wednesday to make your picks. If you have Scott Martin on your roster, I suggest swapping him out for someone else. https://www.bassmaster.com/elite/news/official-statement-from-b-a-s-s-regarding-scott-martin/

BASS polygraph tests random anglers during each and every tournament. 99% of the time there is never an issue. Scott passes his test, he can fish the Pasquotank River event. Scott was never punished for this event. Scott decided to leave the organization before he could ever get in trouble. The reason Scott was being asked to take the test was because someone reported a protest that they believed he was gathering information that he wasn't allowed to gather. It's not a matter of being a "tattle tale". The rules are written that anglers are REQUIRED to report any rule violations they see (both on or off the water). If they do not report a rule violation, they can and will be punished as well. Perfect example of this - Last season, Gerald Swindle was fishing in a no wake zone. Trey Mckinney blew past Gerald with his boat up on plane. Gerald reported the situation to the TD because Trey did not turn himself in for breaking wake in a no wake zone. In this situation, if say Jordan Lee was on the other side of the lake and also watched this happen, if Jordan reported the situation to the TD - both Gerald and Trey would get in trouble because Gerald failed to report a rules violation. The rules are written this way to prevent anglers from teaming up with their buddies and allowing one another to cheat the rules. I hope this helps explain why the rules are the way they are.

I personally do not care whether Scott is guilty or innocent... But his video and explanation leaves me with a few questions. How many tour level anglers are calling "random guys they've never met before" to discuss similar bodies of water to one they're going to be fishing? If you truly believe you're innocent, to the point that you would pay for your own polygraph test (to which you claim you passed), then why refuse to take the BASS test? All of that seems suspicious to me. The anglers voted to have this no information sharing rule and from everyone (who is on tour) I've seen commenting on the subject, they are in favor of the process and how it is going. If 98% of the anglers on tour have no problem taking lie detector tests, then the 2% who are up in arms about it must be playing a grey area (or cheating) to a questionable degree. Dave Mercer talked about this subject on his podcast and mentioned something that I found of significance. Dave stated that "nobody is getting disqualified because a guy came up to them at a gas station and said Hey! They're eating chartreuse spinnerbaits!" and further explained that something like that doesn't get someone DQ'd. He explained that disqualifications are happening because guys are purposefully going out and talking to folks getting specific information in terms of where to go, water clarity or temps, etc. He then made an analogy that explained the situation that if he was walking through the grocery store and a woman walked up to him and kissed him, he wasn't cheating on his wife. The woman was just wild and came upon him out of the blue. Then he explained that if he went to a bar, approached a woman, bought her drinks and chatted with her for a while, and then asked to kiss her... Then that would be cheating. This sort of scenario is the type of thing that BASS doesn't want anglers doing. That's just my questions on the subject. I thought Dave explaining everything publicly on his podcast shows how he probably knows some inside info on how some guys are gathering information that they shouldn't be. I would question if Scott knows that there's more events this season that Scott can/will be reported for this same rule violation again.

Interesting story regarding this question. A number of years ago, I was browsing Google Maps at work and saw a pond close by my work, so I decided to go check it out during my lunch break. I got there and the place was super weedy and had cat tails all around it. It looked like the only way to fish it was with a frog. So a day or two later I was finally able to get out and fish it. In less that 2 hours, I probably had 20 blow ups on my frog but I never hooked up on any of them. I thought I had found a new secret honey hole that was loaded with aggressive fish. I have probably fished that pond at least 30 times since then. Ever since, I have never had an outing where I got more than 2 or 3 bites. Many outings I get totally skunked. I also learned that all the bass in there are 8-12" at best (hence why they probably couldn't get my frog in their mouth). I don't know what was going on that first trip out there, but I'm convinced that there's hardly any fish in this pond and the ones that are there are all stunted out in that 8-12" range.

Not defending Scott here, but there were no rules against info sharing back whenever Roland was fishing at the top level. From what multiple current elite anglers have said (Feider and Hackney) on Mercer's podcast recently, Scott is widely known on tour (for years) for being a guy who gathers information that he shouldn't be. Neither of those guys were overly shy about their opinion of Scott and his ways.

These tidal events are always a crap shoot.

8 days to pick rosters for Pasquotank River event. Choose wisely.

Not a bad first fish of the year. Caught on a hand built 1/2oz spinner bait with a #5 Colorado blade.

I successfully picked the 53rd and 54th place guys. I feel you.

Matt Arey kicked off the day with a 6-4. I know he's looking for redemption after taking 2nd here last time.

And we are blasting off. Good luck everyone.

Results are still offline. Cheering for you @Bluebasser86!

Tomorrow is the final day to make your picks. Get them in!

Little over 3 days left to make those Classic picks. From what I've seen online, its been super windy and the water has been really rough down there. That could make things interesting.

Just now finding this thread, but I am a big fan of Backfire and Spomer. Going off what I have at my disposal, here's what I'd go with. - Pronghorn: 25-06 - Hogs: 7-08 - Coyote: 243 - Fox: 204 - Deer: 7-08 - Elk: 280AI - Aoudad: 280AI - Black Bear: 7-08 - Caribou: 280AI - Everything: 257 Roberts or 270 Win

I'm pretty sure they were up in the Kissimmee River at the dam/lock.

When they're biting, they're biting.

And just like that, the Florida stint of the season is over. Kudos to Brandon Palaniuk for putting on a cranking clinic on Okeechobee. I never would have imagined a derby on that lake could be won with deep diving crankbaits. Anfrobodine has jumped into the lead for our group after two events. We have 18 days before the Classic kicks off. Time to start doing research.

Love to see that everyone figured out what the baits were he was throwing. I was extremely happy to see baits with a treble hook were the ones winning a tournament for once. I had heard the crankbait was a prototype that he was helping develop. From what I saw of the bait during the live coverage, it looked like Megabass was creating their version of a Rapala DT for Brandon. Either way, looks like they've got a winner in their hands.

19 pound lead on day 2. Unreal.

6 guys all sitting in the same hole casting over each other. Majority of them all top 10 guys. This is wild.

Fog delay this morning.

None of them have a marshal with them. Looks like they only had enough marshals for about half the field today.