Forward-facing sonar is how 95% of today’s tournaments are won! The young Japanese anglers, as well as the younger American anglers, have already taken this new technology to a level never seen before. Recent professional Elite Series tournaments on Toledo Bend and Lake Fork saw the top 10 anglers advancing to the final round by using forward-facing sonar. In a matter of minutes, anglers were able to locate bass and catch them with precision casting in real time. Today we’re going to ask a few questions about where this new way of fishing is headed and what it means for the professional angler.
I’ve always heard that tournament bass fishing is a young man’s sport, but now that I’ve reached that older angler status, I’m wanting to prove that quote is simply a myth. If you’re wondering if the game has changed, let me go ahead and confirm one thing….it has! The legends of the sport, guys that have set the bar for what we know as the Bassmaster’s, are struggling to make not just top 10’s but top 20 finishes as well. No longer are anglers required to have years of experience to compete against the best anglers in the world. All they need is forward-facing sonar and the patience to chase bass in open water.
What does this mean for the older generation of anglers who have spent years and decades developing their bass fishing skills? Why is their style of fishing no longer good enough to win or, in some cases, even get a check? From this angler’s perspective, it’s a case of young anglers understanding how to use the new technology better than the older generation of touring pros. They have adapted and mastered forward-facing sonar at lightning speed while the older anglers have been a lot slower about jumping on board this new way of fishing. It’s kind of like trying to teach an old dog a new trick; there's always going to be a little bit of resistance.
Will this force many of the older anglers to consider retiring way before they originally planned? Or will this new way of catching bass be like so many other new techniques that over time tends to fade away? One thing about today’s bass fisheries, they are getting a lot more pressure than they did 20 years ago. Bass are becoming educated more quickly due to this fishing pressure. Therefore, new techniques in the last five years don’t seem to last as long as they used to.
After two Elite Serie events, I looked at the Angler of the Year (AOY) standings and was totally surprised. What got my attention and was shocking for me to see was that legendary anglers who have had major success were sitting in the bottom 50 of the AOY. There were anglers such as Michael Iaconelli, Scott Martin, Greg Hackney, Rick Clunn, and Gerald Swindle to name a few. This is new uncomfortable territory for this caliber of professional anglers. These are guys who have won Bassmaster Classics, Angler of the Year titles and numerous Elite Series championship events.
As this controversy continues over forward-facing sonar, older anglers will be forced to either get better with it or decide if they no longer want to fish for a living. Or maybe they just ride out this new wave of bass fishing and try to hang on until the next technological advancement comes along. But 2024 has been a very frustrating year so far for so many of the older anglers on the Bassmaster Elite Series as the young guns have made their mark.
Till next time, good luck, good fishing and make sure to check out Tackle Talk Live podcast, as well as the Hook’N Up & Track’N Down Show on You Tube.
Steve Graf Angler’s Perspective
