Fishing expedition

/fˈɪʃɪŋ ˌɛkspədˈɪʃən/

Fishing expedition

an attempt made to find out the facts about something via collecting a lot of information, often secretly

Examples

1. So it wasn't so much of a fishing expedition, but

2. And so what Cyber Ninjas was doing was going on a fishing expedition to find out if there was anything that implicated the outcome.

3. - What he said to me is like, I have to tell you the Messy Middle perfectly applies to fishing expeditions.

4. You're saying no fishing expeditions?