New Article! "I just don’t want forward-facing sonar to take the fun out of fishing. I’m just not sure staring at a sonar screen will ever be as fun as slack-lining a swim jig tied to a complete element of surprise"

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/swindle-ffs.html

 

Great article!  It's a topic that doesn't get enough attention on this forum. 

Easily my favorite pro fisherman.  I agree with what he says.  I'll be sorry to see him go.  

There's a lot more he's NOT saying right now, because he doesn't want to upset the folks that run tournaments.  But you can bet he's going to uncork as soon as he retires.

Probably be too late by then, and he’ll just get treated by the peanut gallery the way Randy does now…but it will still likely be entertaining 

I can really sympathize with him.  I was a software developer for 36 years before I retired so I spent my share of time staring at screens and there were never any elderly crappie fishermen around. 😆

15 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Probably be too late by then, and he’ll just get treated by the peanut gallery the way Randy does now…but it will still likely be entertaining 

He’s a whole lot funnier than Randy 

Old Gerald has found out that there is more money in being funny than in fishing. 

 

Used to be good, educational, and entertaining, but he has just about over done the "Ol Country Boy" schtick.

 

Best caster I've ever seen.  Watch his dock skipping videos.  Amazing what he can do with a fishing pole.

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

He’s a whole lot funnier than Randy 

Certainly has better looking teeth too.

I remember when Swindle was the hot rodder of bass pro’s until he was DQ’d doing 70 mph in a no wake zone on camera.

Yes we change as we get older and somewhat wiser to appreciate there is more to life when smelling the roses.

FFS/ Live Scope is here to stay until the next technology makes it obsolete. The question is will there be any adult size bass to catch?

Tom

4 hours ago, WRB said:

I remember when Swindle was the hot rodder of bass pro’s until he was DQ’d doing 70 mph in a no wake zone on camera.

Yes we change as we get older and somewhat wiser to appreciate there is more to life when smelling the roses.

FFS/ Live Scope is here to stay until the next technology makes it obsolete. The question is will there be any adult size bass to catch?

Tom

No piece of water gets livescoped more than lake fork and they caught 14 bass over 8 lbs in half a day today. So yes IMO there will be adult bass

I give O.H. Ivie 2 more years of high pressure Scope fishing before the giant bass population drops in half to under DD size.

Tom

Ivie is already a couple years into an accelerating downturn, but TWP director believes it's because the lake levels are falling again.  

 

He does have concerns about the scoping of DD sized fish on Ivie because of the depths and number of those fish killed from barotrauma but doesn't make a case one way or the other from lack of data to this date.   

When was the last Legacy Lunker (13#+) caught at Lake Fork? Looked at the Share A Lunker site and got tired of looking after 70 pages.

Tom

The biggest Bass caught in Texas by a Lady Angler was a 16lb+ fish in 1999 on Lake Fork caught while CATFISHING 🤣

 

eta

 

1 hour ago, WRB said:

When was the last Legacy Lunker (13#+) caught at Lake Fork? Looked at the Share A Lunker site and got tired of looking after 70 pages.

Tom

Looks like there were 2 taken in March 2021, and one in March 2019. Those appear to be the most recent ones.

It’s about habitat not a front looker, doesn’t matter how ya catch em unless you use a gill net 

 

ivie has already gone thru those same cycles before the FFS 

 

everyone in Texas knows, and plenty of people outside of Texas know, they go through massive droughts. When the lakes dry up, a bunch of bushes grow. When those bushes are flooded, there will be a big bass boom. It’s happened over and over again on many different Texas lakes, amistead, ivie, falcon, etc. It has even happened here near my house, we have one lake they have had to drain to half pool or less to repair the dam for a couple years. Upon refill (two separate occasions) there are trees and bushes in the water and the bass go bananas. Eventually they rot and die and it’s back to normal mediocre fishing 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C39KOPhtg-a/?igsh=MWxndmkza3k5aTl4YQ==
 

funny post from Jacob wheeler …… 1984 West Point lake . I’d imagine that was supposedly going to “ruin fishing” when it came out 40 yrs ago as well 

Wong was live scoping and saw a large flock of birds behind the boat, commenting on how beautiful it was and insisted the camera man get a shot. Seems we may be painting with too broad of a brush here 

57 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Wong was live scoping and saw a large flock of birds behind the boat, commenting on how beautiful it was and insisted the camera man get a shot. Seems we may be painting with too broad of a brush here 

Or he has seen the same meme that everybody and their brother has posted on their social media page this week and he was just being sarcastic 😉

Nah man I saw the birds 😂. Wong appreciates nature , I follow him on YouTube 

His Going to Japan series on his channel was some of the best content I've watched in awhile.   He's got a fantastic channel, not just a Bass fishing channel.  

Have you seen him bow hunting goats??? Hahaha

Frankly, I don't really think live scoping should even be called "bass fishing". I'm not sure exactly what to call it, but it ain't bass fishing. It needs to go the way of the a-rig. Beyond that, the very steep learning curve in bass fishing is why we still have some good fisheries. Mark my words, forward facing will destroy fisheries.

On 2/29/2024 at 1:01 PM, WRB said:

I remember when Swindle was the hot rodder of bass pro’s until he was DQ’d doing 70 mph in a no wake zone on camera.

Yes we change as we get older and somewhat wiser to appreciate there is more to life when smelling the roses.

FFS/ Live Scope is here to stay until the next technology makes it obsolete. The question is will there be any adult size bass to catch?

Tom

No. At least not enough to be fun.

On 2/29/2024 at 5:09 PM, TnRiver46 said:

No piece of water gets livescoped more than lake fork and they caught 14 bass over 8 lbs in half a day today. So yes IMO there will be adult bass

Give it time. This doesn't end well.

7 minutes ago, stratos4me said:

Frankly, I don't really think live scoping should even be called "bass fishing". I'm not sure exactly what to call it, but it ain't bass fishing. It needs to go the way of the a-rig. Beyond that, the very steep learning curve in bass fishing is why we still have some good fisheries. Mark my words, forward facing will destroy fisheries.

No. At least not enough to be fun.

Give it time. This doesn't end well.

It’s had plenty of time already