There’s no more polarizing topic in the fishing world than forward facing sonar (FFS). At this point it’s foolish to deny its effectiveness, as professional anglers who have perfected its use have left everyone else in the dust. But still, during the offseason of the Bassmaster Elite Series and Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour, many fans and anglers called for a ban on FFS. I’ll admit that as a fan, I too was on the fence and leaning toward the banning bandwagon. FFS has made the sport tough to watch. The pro anglers simply stare at a screen (or several) and then occasionally make a cast. For many of us, the live stream seems to have lost its excitement.
I’m not alone in that line of thinking either. In the off-season, pro angler Gerald Swindle put out a poll across his vast social media network to ask what bass fishing fans prefer to watch in regards to FFS on live streamed tournaments. After he tallied the votes, 72 percent of respondents said that they don’t want to watch live-streamed tournaments with anglers staring at their FFS units. Now, you can make the argument that the poll is biased based on Swindle’s social media demographics, but the results were still eye-opening.
Tournament officials realize the impact FFS is having on their competitions, and Bassmaster put together a technical committee to continuously monitor the use of live sonar throughout the 2024 Elite Series season. The committee’s goal is to listen to angler feedback and gauge the technology’s impact on competition, fan experience, and bass populations. The committee also reviewed the onboard technology being used by each Elite Series angler prior to the beginning of the 2024 season, with subsequent surveys of the top 10 following each Elite event.
But as the professional seasons kicked off, the technology remained in play, and anglers have continued to dominate using new FFS techniques like moping, hover strolling, and strolling. At the same time, fishing companies have scrambled to release new products specifically crafted for forward facing sonar. As we wrapped up ICAST 2024 and looked at all of the new products designed for FFS this year, one thing is certain: Forward facing sonar is officially here to stay.
Money Talks
For those of you who aren’t pro bass fishing nerds (like me), I’m about to loop you in on one of the biggest issues the sport faces: Non-endemic sponsorships are rare for these professional tours. In layman’s terms, that means companies that are not fishing-related usually do not contribute significant advertising dollars. This makes our sport siloed and tough to grow. The lack of non-endemic sponsors is one of the reasons why professional anglers live a harsh reality where they have to pay their own way and acquire personal sponsorships to pay entry fees, even at the highest level.
That means endemic sponsorships from companies like Rapala, Shimano, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Lowrance, Hummingbird, and others are what keep the professional tours moving. Since they are essentially funding the sport, those companies have quite a bit of sway — and this includes determining whether or not forward facing sonar should be banned from the professional tours.
Let’s say for instance that one of those companies has been a main sponsor of the Bassmaster Elite Series, and they are paying a premium to have their brand plastered anywhere BASS can put it. Now, after working on a new line of FFS gear for the past year, said company finally launched their product at this year’s ICAST show. It’s safe to say that the company would be strongly against the banning of FFS now, as their new products wouldn’t get the airtime and would likely see a decline in sales. It’s a good bet that the company would use its influence to advocate against the banning of FFS.
If you extrapolate that theory across the entire bass fishing industry, it’s pretty obvious that forward facing sonar isn’t going anywhere.
A Barrage of New FFS Products
As ICAST kicked off this year, it was clear that there was a ton of energy behind FFS. On my radar there were at least five major brands, not counting Lowrance, Garmin, and Humminbird, that launched numerous different products designed specifically for use with FFS. These product launches are clearly at the forefront of a much larger industry initiative to capture the rapidly growing FFS crowd and make products they’ll be using for years to come. I believe these brands are early to the party, and we will continue to see more major brands releasing FFS focused gear in the coming months.
The Upside of FFS in Pro Bass Fishing
But if you’re a pro bass fan, FFS isn’t all bad. We’ve seen our favorite anglers catch some truly remarkable bags in recent years, simply by targeting a population of fish that bass anglers used to leave alone — those suspended bass that are out off the bank in deeper water. Since the BASS Elite’s often revisit popular bodies of water, we can prove that FFS is helping anglers catch bigger bags more consistently. For example, in 2017 the winning bag at Lake Champlain was only 58 pounds and 12 ounces after 3 days. That means the average weight caught per day by the winner, Aaron Martens, was 19 pounds and 8 ounces. Last year, Kyoya Fujita won the Lake Champlain tournament with 86 pounds and 12 ounces after 4 days. His average weight caught per day was 21 pounds and 10 ounces. I’d argue that increase in weight is thanks mostly to FFS tactics unlocking bigger fish.
We’ve also been introduced to a new group of young anglers vying for their shot to become a champion. The likes of Trey McKinney, Justin Hamner, Kyoya Fujita, Ben Milliken, and Patrick Walters have dominated the Elite Series this season, in large part due to FFS. But there’s more to it than just having FFS on the front of your bass boat, these anglers are constantly working on developing new tactics and ways to rig baits to catch more bass using FFS. And lucky for you, they’re sharing those tactics along the way for you to copy and use on your home water.
Whether you want to admit it or not, it’s similar to watching Kevin VanDam fish a spinnerbait in shallow grass back in the early 2000’s; you learned how he did it and replicated it. Now, you have the same opportunity to learn from these young, tech savvy anglers that seem like they could catch big bass out of a mud puddle with their FFS gear.
Read Next: The Unwinnable Battle Over Forward-Facing Sonar
Final Thoughts on FFFS
Whether you love it or hate it, it’s hard to deny that FFS is a big part of the direction the bass fishing industry as a whole is heading for. As endemic brands continue to pump out new FFS-focused gear, the likelihood of your favorite professional bass fishing series or even your local tour banning the usage declines rapidly.
I no longer think that’s a bad thing. Anglers can be a bit stubborn and hard-headed at times, and change seems to be scary for some, but change is how our sport will continue to advance. The evolution of FFS and the tactics and gear behind it has brought with it a new class of bass pros and that’s reinvigorated the sport of bass fishing for many weekend warriors who had grown tired of the way things used to be. So, we might as well embrace the change and see where it takes us.
