A Pro Angler Voices Concerns About FFS

[TnRiver46]

Actually it is working, they get more and more engagement, clicks, and views now than ever. They may be reaping a benefit from all the controversy, it sells. 
 

wait, who created this topic?? 😂 😂 

[gimruis]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Actually it is working, they get more and more engagement, clicks, and views now than ever.

 

I hear ya there.  Aint gettin' my views, clicks, or subscriptions though.

[TnRiver46]

Then how do you know they were all starting at their screens ? 

[gimruis]

I see it on live and on the lakes with my own eyes.

 

I thought you were referencing youtube and you know who...

[TnRiver46]

Ah. I meant bassmaster is getting more engagement, views, etc. 

 

don’t know bout BPT cuz I don’t watch it 

[Reel]

1 hour ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I would be interested in hearing how seeing fish react to your bait has changed the way you fish.

 

 

I've been through a similar path going from the little green box to paper graphs, LCD and the newest technology.  I agree that GPS has changed the way I fish completely.  No more hours spent looking for those three rocks where you caught that big one.  I have FFS now but it's recent so I still don't know how much it will help.  

But I have been sight fishing for more than 20 years.  I live close to crystal clear water and most days, I can see the smallmouth I fish for before I catch them.  It's also true for largemouth sometimes.  And this is not during the spawn.  I like to fish in shallow water but shallow for me is less than 10 feet with that clear water.

The biggest change I have made is that  when you see a fish you keep your lure  in the vicinity.  By instinct, you don't want something that buzzes by and is reeled in through 50 feet of empty water.  

You begin using lures that move even if you don't move them, something that seems alive even if you are not turning the reel handle.

[Texas Flood]

50 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

wait, who created this topic?? 😂 😂 

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Reel said:

You begin using lures that move even if you don't move them, something that seems alive even if you are not turning the reel handle.

 

F'instance?

[JayMac89]

22 hours ago, Koz said:

 

You seem to contradict yourself here. How does FFS do the job for you, especially in light of your second statement?

 

What FFS does best, for me at least, is eliminate water that is not holding a decent amount of baitfish. I can't tell you how many times I've found schools of baitfish on FFS but did not see any bigger fish. But I still cast to the schools of baitfish and more often than not a bass comes out of nowhere and hits my bait or the school.

 

One thing I haven't done a lot of is using a Damiki Rig or hover strolling. I fish from a kayak in narrow lakes (dammed up rivers) and there's too much boat traffic out there for my taste.

 

But my biggest takeaway from the pros using FFS is that many are now fishing areas that they would not have fished in the past. That's the biggest game changer with this technology.

 I absolutely did not contradict myself, good sir. You just took my statement too literally.

 

I totally get that FFS still requires skill and doesn't fully do the job for you. And I specifically said I wasn't ignorant enough to think/say that. But your getting real time feed back. Live. How many casts does it take for a non FFS using fisherman to determine what's going on under water compared to one that does use it? Forget seeing the bass. Are they following this lure? No.. swap color, lure, retrieve. It's immediate visual feedback. Otherwise we'd have to come to our own conclusions based on multiple different factors, what's going on under water. With FFS you can look at a screen. That's what I meant by it does the job for you. 

[TnRiver46]

Flashers are live

[gimruis]

Do people use flashers in open water?
 

Cant say I’ve ever seen it. But maybe they used them before I started fishing 25 years ago. They are still very popular during winter here for ice fishing. I honestly wouldn’t even know how to read one. The main brand I see is Vexilar.

 

The biggest difference would be strictly a vertical feed back compared to a forward facing feedback.

[Texas Flood]

How do you live in Minnesota and not ice fish?
 

 

That’s like living in Minnesota and not ice fishing

[JayMac89]

5 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Flashers are live

Live feedback? Or just live? 

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, JayMac89 said:

Live feedback? Or just live? 

I mean, they are ancient but you can see the fish moving. Not sure if that’s live or live feedback 

7 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Do people use flashers in open water?
 

Cant say I’ve ever seen it. But maybe they used them before I started fishing 25 years ago. They are still very popular during winter here for ice fishing. I honestly wouldn’t even know how to read one. The main brand I see is Vexilar.

 

The biggest difference would be strictly a vertical feed back compared to a forward facing feedback.

Yep, all boats had them straight from the factory back in the day. I have actually put transducers on broom handle and water bottles and panned around, probably should have patented that 😂 😂 

[Texas Flood]

We use flashers and live scope all time during ice fishing. I would consider you a psycho if you chose not to use one. 

[gimruis]

46 minutes ago, Texas Flood said:

How do you live in Minnesota and not ice fish?

I can drink beer just fine at home. No need to sit on sketchy frozen water and do it.

 

Think I’d rather spend a night in jail than go ice fishing again. And that isn’t an exaggeration either.

[Texas Flood]

That’s true my friend. We never drink when ice fishing really. Just one of those things we never did but there was plenty to be had back at the house. 

[gimruis]

Ice fishing is very popular here. I can’t deny it. It’s way more popular than open water fishing season, assuming there’s safe ice (which never happened last winter).  I just never took to it much. It seemed like more work than fun constantly drilling holes, trudging through snow and slush, and not catching much other than a buzz. Sitting in a deluxe ice castle with a rattle reel down while drinking beer and watching satellite TV wasn’t really fishing to me.

 

The guys that stay mobile and constantly look for active fish are respectable. It’s a lot of work.

 

The ones that sit there and wait over dead water for fish to show up are lazy. Some people do that for days or weeks on end.

[Texas Flood]

I can respect all of that. I have no patience in ice fishing if they aren’t biting. I am constantly on the move until that flasher lights up like a christmas tree. 

[Catt]

I've been skunked without FFS & I've been skunked with FFS!

 

I use FFS to see if the bass are located on a specific piece of structure. I can do the same thing with Side Scan.

 

I'm wanting to see if the bass are there without driving over them. Once I see em, I rely more on maps & GPS. 

[Eric 26]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Flashers are live

I think you meant to say “flashers are alive” 🤪

[Columbia Craw]

It won’t take long for this topic to hit page 183.  

[Susky River Rat]

If flashers are the same as FFS I should be the next Justin hamner when If I’d put FFS on my boat. 

[Tennessee Boy]

I’ve watched the video that @Team9nine posted 4 times.  It might be the best fishing video on YouTube.  Very well done and hilarious.  
 

I encourage everyone that does not have FFS to watch it and pay close attention to how the guy is fishing the walleye tournament.  He starts out targeting suspended fish with his LiveScope.  Immediately we see his screen with a fish about 30 feet out.   He makes a perfect cast and we see his lure fall down to the fish.  We see the fish take the bait and he sets the hook on the fish and starts reeling it in.   It’s amazing to watch.   It looks easy.  It looks like cheating.   The fish get’s off but how can someone without the technology compete with this.  He catches another but it’s a pike.  Then he finds a bunch of fish but we only see him reel in one and it’s a dink.  Then he gives up on scoping suspended fish and he heads for the bank with no scoreable fish.  He then catches his first keeper near the bank by targeting it with LiveScope.  He uses LiveScope to see breaks in the grass and starts catching fish very close to the bank.  Then he seems to get dialed into a pattern and gets his limit without looking at his screen very much.  Then he heads back out to open water to target big fish with LiveScope.   He quickly give up on that again and heads back to the bank.  In the end he’s really dialed in on the bank.   He’s standing up throwing behind the kayak with his back to his fish finder.  He finishes second in the tournament.

 

What role did FFS play in his success?  He ended up culling the one fish he targeted with it.   It gave him a lot of information that might have helped him dial in the pattern.  He also wasted a lot of time offshore that he wouldn’t have wasted if he didn’t have LiveScope.  It’s hard to say from watching if it helped him or hurt him.  It might be hard for him to answer the question.  
 

This is the reality of using FFS every day in the real world.  It’s my reality.  FFS is amazing technology.  I love using it.  It is a game changer in many ways but in the end fishing with it presents the same challenges as fishing without it.   It gives you information that you can’t get otherwise.  You have to figure out how to interpret and use this information.   The information can make it possible to catch fish that you would not be able to catch without it.  The information can also lead you astray.  You can end up spending an hour throwing at a school of fish that show no interest and may not even be bass.  If you lean on it to catch fish in 20 feet of water when you should be throwing a buzzbait in 3 feet of water you will not be successful.  One of the most important features on any fish finder is the off button.   It’s important to know when to use it.  
 

Many people on this forum have shared their experience getting FFS for the first time.  They can teach you more about real world FFS than the pros or the YouTube stars.

[Swamp Girl]

I so want to believe that @TnRiver46 is right when he wrote that our activities can't kill a fishery, but as a kid, I saw other anglers ruin a beloved pond. They began with stringers of 17" bass and then removed stringers of 14" bass and then stringers of 9" bass. At that point, we simply quit going. 

 

And when I was a kid, we watched Jacques Cousteau specials, where he'd call the oceans "inexhaustible," again and again. 

 

Well, in merely my lifetime, Cousteau has been proven wrong again and again, as trawlers with sonar decimate many species.

 

So, when you accept that we can have an effect, from farm ponds to oceans, we need to carefully consider new technologies.