2024 Bassmaster Classic TV Coverage

Kind of funny how the FS1 TV production crew is going out of their way to say the anglers aren’t relying on Forward Facing Sonar Technology to catch their fish and yet literally EVERY angler has a 16’ or larger screen on their bow dedicated to Live Sonar…. They are even going live to the angler boats while they are fishing and the angler is basically doing play by play (with the Live Sonar display split screened) as they watch the fish stalk & bite their lure on live sonar…

I’m not here to start a Live Sonar debate (I use it myself, but I dont keep fish) but I find it funny that Professional fishing is trying to have it both ways…

Call me old fashioned, but i’d like to see “Pros” fishing without it…

There are a handful of pro’s who are dead set against it. I watch the Dave Mercer interviews on You Tube quite often and FFS is a hot topic. Everybody has a opinion.

I find it odd that so many who own them and use them for just fun fishing, don’t like that profession fishermen are using them when they do it for a living with a ton of $ on the line.
It makes more sense to me that professional fishermen use them than those simply fun fishing and have nothing on the line except their enjoyment.

fishthumper wrote:

I find it odd that so many who own them and use them for just fun fishing, don’t like that profession fishermen are using them when they do it for a living with a ton of $ on the line.
It makes more sense to me that professional fishermen use them than those simply fun fishing and have nothing on the line except their enjoyment.

Hmmm, i’m thinking the exact opposite… different strokes

How old fashion do you want to go Joe? No electronics at all? That’s old fashioned. Every Pro bass guy just pounding docks and shoreline, no offshore fishing?
This is the progression of fishing and electronics. FFS will be the norm in 10 years, just like down/side imaging has become.

The guys who win with FFS will never be viewed as great fisherman IMO. Just my opinion, I don’t care if people need the tech to be happy fishing or not.

I would just remove Live Sonar, I feel the Live feedback is too easy for Pro’s

Kinda of like not letting Pro Baseball players use Aluminum/Carbon Fiber bats…

Just my opinion…

I actually started watching bass fishing the last couple years again because of Livescope and FFS.

I love seeing them pick off those bigs offshore. Bigger bags and bigger fish. I can see the nostalgia and trying to keep the traditions, but to me it’s more exciting seeing 30+ lb bags than guys struggling to catch 10lbs. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that everyone has the same technology available and same playing field. I’m sure they will implement some sort of restrictions or limits, but if they take away FFS I probably won’t be watching as much.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I would just remove Live Sonar, I feel the Live feedback is too easy for Pro’s

This particular event actually has far less “scoping” than the two previous ones on Toledo Bend and Lake Fork. Those ones were nothing but scope fests because the fish were deeper. The fishing during this event is more shallow cover oriented where scoping is not as advantageous. I much prefer this type of fishing.

I’ve posted about this before but there are young elites on tour that have success directly tied to scoping. They can and only can compete because they are scope wizards. Kyoyo Fujita is one of those guys. He has more than $50k invested into his live sonar setup.

There is talk of limiting it next season. An outright ban is unlikely. But some kind of limitation may definitely be coming. Right now it’s just an arms race to see who can rig their boat with the most technology and IMO it doesn’t place as much significance on other aspects of competitive fishing.

Wait until they head north in midsummer to smallmouth waters. It will be 100% livescoping on offshore structure with a vertical presentation.

Close tourney, top 2 within 9 ounces. On fox until 2:00pm

2 Wisconsin guys in top 3

It’s on channel 9 right now.

Hank Cherry just gave a great end of the tournament speech. Part of it was on FFS. If you get a chance watch it.

Adam 2nd and Jay 4th.

Nice showing by the Wisc. guys. Some local guys are really showing what great fishermen we have here in the area. I think in the future we will start to even local guys showing up and doing well. The whole college and High school fishing has really changed the look of pro fishing. The average is getting younger and younger. These young fishermen show up way more ready than they use to in the past.