Wild ride at San V today

[camobass]

Forward facing sonar isn’t new, just for fresh. I disagree it’s taking technology too far. Go tuna fishing or walking big baits on pinnacles with and without one- Your opinion will drastically change. Haven’t got a chance to use one fresh but I watch that crappie fisherman in Oklahoma that now consistently slays giant bass with it. Definitely is a very useful tool.

[Mcfish]

A few weeks back, I fished next to someone (starts with a V) who had FFS and I got smoked!! The fish were suspended around shad in 20'-35', and were rarely breaking, so I was pretty much blind to what was happening under the surface. I was in my tube and didn't have my 25 year old, $75 Lowrance fish finders that are in my boat! I did get some of the schooling fish, but mostly by blind casting and also by (V) telling me where the fish were! I'm not sure how I feel about FFS...it kind of seems like sight fishing, but at 30' deep! In tournament fishing, I don't think it is fair unless everyone has it..and I'm sure at the top levels of tour fishing everyone does...but not at club levels! I guess that one of the objects of fishing is to catch fish, so I guess that anything goes...but it does kind of seem like a video game..but it definitely works!

[Moose]

I guess it just comes down to personal preference. I think it just takes things a bit too far, but who’s to say that it IS too far? I was excited to add downscan/ side scan graphs to my boat, as well as spot lock. All just tools to use. I just feel like FF is maybe too big of a piece in putting the puzzle together. That is a big part of what I enjoy about fishing, the hunt and the game. I realize that finding the fish is not going to make them bite.The comparison to sight fishing is a legitimate comparison, and a good one. I actually love sight fishing so I guess I am being a hypocrite a little bit but sight fishing happens for a small period of time whereas FF can be used all year long. Can’t really explain why that is a big difference to me but it is. If I’m being totally honest though, if I could afford to add it to my boat, I would. At the very least I would like to see the major tournaments ban it, like the A rig. These guys are the best in the world and I have always appreciated watching them try to break down a lake, pattern fish, and trigger bites. Now it’s more a matter of scanning an area, grabbing a jerk bait, or a swim bait, and watching things on the screen. Kind of feel the same way about the smallmouth guys using the viewer that they put in the water (can’t think of the name off the top of my head) The thing that looks like a big traffic cone with glass at the bottom. I’d say that more than half of the sight fish I catch are from watching and judging the fishes reaction when I can’t actually see the bait. Now it’s kind of like playing with a cat. You just keep watching the cats reaction until you make it spring into action.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just being the old “get off my lawn guy” and at 57 I’m just a bit too old school

[Mcfish]

I'm even "older school" at 68! I wish we could go back to 1965, when walking the bank and throwing a 4" purple Creme worm was as complicated as we got! Miss the good ol days!

[Moose]

A spinnerbait and a worm were all you needed! Things were so much simpler back then

[Early release]

Age-wise I qualify for old school, but I like to use the things that are provided and either keep them or discard them. Some of my preferences are probably mistakes. I still prefer mono to braid or fluoro, I know sometimes I am wrong on that selection, but I just don't care. I liked my little humminbird depth finder ( PiranhaMax 4 )and it did what I needed well. I decided to "upgrade" to a 9 inch Garmin and in my excitement I really went crazy and got the Panoptix unit. It's pretty neat and a fun toy/tool. But, I also have had days since I got it that the panoptix didn't go on at all. I personally love shore banging with a popper or jerkbait and ain't no FFS going to tell me what's happening there, or if it is, I don't know how and I'm not interested in learning, because nothing is more fun to me, than casting close to shore, then the twitch, that anticipation and then a blowup on a topwater. If I am watching it on a screen, it kind of isn't even happening to me.

On the old school part, I think everyone here that I fish with, knows most of the time, I'm casting a floating Rapala. Amen to simple.