There seems to be a lot of he said, she said going on with this so we thought we would post Scott Martin’s statement in his own words.
Transcript
Well, here we go again. Cannot believe that I’m making another video. I never thought in a million years I’d be doing this again. But we are. The last 30 days have been extremely tough on me, and the last seven days have been excruciating. Trying to defend my reputation, the anxiety of the whole matter, everything swirling around my head.
It’s been awful. So here’s the deal. I’ve been officially protested from the Albemarle Sound event that’s coming up this next week. Now let me explain. I had a conversation with a gentleman seven months ago, and in that conversation, it started off with a message saying, hey, give me a call, but I can’t talk about Albemarle Sound. But I have a question.
When he reached out to me, I simply said, I can’t talk about Albemarle Sound, the tournament waters, but I have a question. And the question was what areas around there outside of the tournament waters are most similar? We talked about the Chickahominy, the Potomac, when you are a bay, and we identified a couple places far away from the turn of waters.
I asked some general questions in regards to that type of fishing. I asked him about the tides and just a general overall information. Nothing specific. And again, nothing in tournament waters. I repeated myself to him several times that we can’t talk about tournament waters. I’ve made myself extremely clear at the end of that conversation, which was very short.
He asked me, hey, do you know anything about the Washita River, which I don’t? I said, I’ll make a few phone calls to see if I can help you out. We never talked one more time about that more sound eastern fishing at all. Zero. He reached out to me later on to tell me that the tournament, his tournament had been moved to Kentucky.
Like I said ironically, I’m going there in a few days to do a sufficient show and do a little fishing. So after my fishing, I actually gave him some waypoints, gave him some screenshots of some places to fish, which was all legal. Told him good luck, don’t even know how you did the tournament and we never communicated one more time about that or anything.
On the eastern fishery. That was the end of the conversation. And also let me point out this. This is a guy that I don’t know at all. Never met him before in my life. He’s not friends of a friend or anything. So there’s no connection with me and this gentleman. So now let’s fast forward to this past Monday.
I start getting some messages from people saying there’s a rumor going around that I might be disqualified from the upcoming tournament based on getting some information from some local guy. My heart sunk. Not cool. My anxiety level went through the roof. I’m thinking this is not good. I’ll talk to that angler later on the day and ask him, what the heck is this thing going about?
I told you I couldn’t get information about that. Why would anybody think that? And we had a conversation in regards to that. I’m not sure where the confusion let in or what’s going through his mind on this, but it is what it is and it’s not fair. Bassmaster called me shortly after that. Ask me a few questions, sent me the protest, and I me explain the protest to you guys.
The protest is simple. It’s stating that I made an agreement with this angler to barter information for getting information. Albemarle Sound and trade for information in Kentucky Lake, which, by the way, wasn’t even on the schedule yet. This didn’t happen. This is a guy that I don’t even know. So he’s going to give me the juice at Albemarle Sound if I give him the juice for his upcoming tournament.
The second statement and the protest is that he mentioned the names of two rivers for me to check. Not that I asked that he mentioned the name of Two Rivers for me to check. He also stated that he mentioned lures for me to use in those rivers. And the last thing that he said is that he told me specific places to fish based on the wind.
These are not true. I’m not sure where the confusion came in, but this did not happen. I’m not sure why I’m being targeted quite like this, but let’s think about this, guys. Let’s put our common sense hat on for a second. And this is the problem that I have with this whole situation. I don’t know, they’re just trying to get me.
They’re trying to hang me up on something that I communicated with a guy that I don’t know when the first few minutes of a short conversation to to barter information and all I got was the names of two rivers and a couple baits to throw, like a swim jig and a chatter bait or a wacky worm or whatever.
He said. It didn’t happen. How silly is that?
Is it right? So again, I’m not sure who’s targeting me, but I’ve got a decent idea what’s going on here. Bass then said that I would need to take a polygraph to clear my name, and I said, no problem. So for the last week, I’ve sat around nervous, confused, knowing the things going through my mind. Waiting on this guy to show up, to give me a polygraph test, to ask me whatever random question who wants to ask me about some vague comment and some vague protest?
Not good.
So let’s back up for a second. At the Bassmaster Classic just a few weeks ago, my family all sat down and decided this would be my last year on the Bass Bass Rally Tour. I’d finish out the season and back away from the elites. I would still continue to do tournaments, still continue to do team tournaments, fun stuff.
And most of all get back to enjoying filming and doing stuff that I want to do. The drama, everything going on around these tournaments had not been enjoyable, not like how it used to be, and not something I really want to be a part of. And with these recent attacks, and again, I kind of have an idea who they’re coming from and think you guys are too.
I don’t want to be part of it. So I’ve decided to move on. I’ve decided to withdraw from the 2025 elite season and get my life back, and go back to enjoying fishing like I should. Now, as far as the polygraph test the bass master wants me to take on Saturday. After a few days of thinking about it, worrying about it, and thinking that my entire life is in the hands of some polygraph guy that shows up, that has some questionable things already about him.
There’s a lot going on in the polygraph world right now. I keep hearing of all these things. I had my family, my friends, and even other anglers reach out to me and say, dude, I don’t know if I would take that test. I don’t know who to trust. I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s good. That being said, there was an independent polygraph set up for me on April 3rd by a 25 year veteran in the state of Florida.
Law enforcement, very credible, accredited test. And guys I passed. And just to let you know, this gentleman formulated the questions based on the exact polygraph that bass provided. I knew I would pass, but I’m going to be honest with you guys, that was the most stressful thing that I’ve ever been through, that my entire reputation is on the line to defend on silly accusations.
The names of two rivers that I bartered out and got the juice, and all I got was the names of two rivers. I’m disappointed that people didn’t read through the lines on this and just throw this whole thing away. But that being said, I’m tired of it and I don’t want to be part of it anymore. And I’m okay with that.
So there’s more to come. We’re going to be, sharing these results with bass, and they’re probably not going to accept it, obviously. And I don’t care if they do, but they’re vetted. They’re certified. Everything’s good, and we’re going to move on. I’m ready to spend time with my family. I’m ready to spend time with my with my kids.
I’m ready to film awesome episodes, and I’m ready to get back to fishing. Some tournaments that I enjoy. I appreciate all the support from my fans. I really do. It’s been awesome. Thank you to my friends. I appreciate you. We’re moving on. It’s my daughter’s birthday today. Her 18th birthday, and I’m gonna go spend time with her and enjoy it.
Thank you all.
Disclusure: This video transcript was generated using Adobe Premiere Pro’s transcription feature. While we strive for accuracy, the transcript may contain minor errors or omissions.
