I’ve been using forward-facing sonar for a week and I’m curious how it’s changed your fishing and what you’ve learned about fish behavior?

• How has FFS changed your techniques or style? Are you fishing differently than before?

• What have you learned about fish behavior (reacting to lures, holding around cover, chasing vs. ignoring bait, etc.)?

• Any specific moments where FFS completely changed how you approach a spot or species?

Looking forward to hearing your experiences. Thanks!

This is my 4th season with it now, all hbird.

Things its added:

• chasing fish with a jig and minnow. Certain times, certain days it is the only thing going. And once you’re dialed in with how to do it it can be a lot of fun.

• Fish ID. Once you’re dialed in with a jig and minnow, you can graph in 2D for the arches and then jump to FFS and drop a 3” minnow on their head. if it is crappie or perch, they will eat it quickly and you can go about your way scanning some more. If it’s bass, you win.

• A visual on cover and where my bait is. I don’t always look at it and I’ve learned enough to have a better idea now, but a given retrieve speed with my rod and a 1/2 in bladed jig yields a certain depth. It is shallower than I thought. Now I can take a quick look to confirm it is running where I want it to.

• Smallies. I wasn’t good at them before and I’m not claiming to be an expert. But outside of when they are on their beds, I now have half a chance of finding them and catching them with any regularity. You can always throw into grassy cover and find largemouth but smallies are a different animal and deep water cover is more approachable to me now (I was never a dragger).

• This is fun:

Fished the home lake for the second time today with FFS. My observations:

• Absolutely amazed how many fish are down there, and are picked up on LiveScope. I'm seeing mainly crappie and bluegill. I do see some larger fish cruising by (bass and possibly catfish?)

• Common to see groups of 30-40 stacked on brush piles, just milling around.

• So interesting to see how they flock to my jig-gulp minnow, and fight for it.

• I did find a small group of largemouth...and caught one before they moved off. They were slightly larger on the screen, and were grouped horizontally, not stacked vertically as the crappie were.

• I need to work on settings...I can "see" out to about 30 feet. Water is pretty cloudy, visibility under two feet. Anything beyond 30 feet doesn't show on the screen.

• Tossed a 10" t-rigged worm, and worked it back to the boat...and the panfish were following it the whole way

• As I was moving between spots, running about 1.5 MPH, FFS pointed in front or me...watched fish dive deeper as boat approached.

• Really cool to find groups of crappie in places I would have never fished.

Like you saw, if the fish are stacked vertically they are probably panfish.

30’ is way short. 75’ is a bare minimum for me.

For me, Livescope is a double edged sword. It's easy for an amateur like my to get too caught up in it. And what you get out of it is what you put into it. I've listed to podcasts were pros stated it took them hundreds of hours of playing with it to understand it, and the majority of hours they were not actually fishing.

Yes, it's really cool to see bass sitting on deep water timber, toss a worm out there, and watch them eat it as it sinks. Or see a bass out there and watch it turn and hit your minnow. What I should do is use it more to fish offshore more often, but I'd rather crash the banks and power fish.

I use FFS more to find structure more than find fish. For example, I rarely used it last week and when I did it was to help see the edge of the hydrilla. I do use it a lot to look under docks.

I keep telling myself I need to go out there a bunch of days with no fishing rods and just work on finding fish offshore with FFS, but I never do it. What I'm getting at is that I don't rely on FFS. But maybe I should learn to be an expert at it and rely on it more.

I've learned quite a bit in my little over a year playing with FFS.

There's a lot more fish just out in the middle of the lake "floating", than I ever would have guessed.

The number of cast you make that a fish follows your bait and doesn't bite is so much higher than you could ever imagine.

There's way more cover/structure in the lakes I fished than I ever knew.

It's so much easier to catch offshore fish when I can visualize what I'm fishing.

It's really easy to waste a lot of time just driving around looking and casting at fish if you're not careful.

Fish very noticeably react to the boat, sonar, and bait splashing down.

I think the only thing that it has really changed about my fishing is I'm much more willing to get off the bank and fish and I'm constantly aiming it offshore while fishing the bank, looking for anything that I think is worth making a cast I. I catch way more fish with my FFS by finding an object to cast at, than I do finding an actual fish to cast at.

@Bluebasser86 - I'm totally onboard with all of that. I'm a very visual person and being able to actually see where the branches of a tree extend to out into the water makes such a difference. If you were to watch me and not see my FF, you would definitely wonder what the heck I'm casting at some times. Which is exactly this:

"There's way more cover/structure in the lakes I fished than I ever knew."

It makes sense when you think about it some times- a tree falls on the bank and the treetops had to go somewhere. Sure there is probably a fish right up on the bank under the trunk. But if you go straight there, you've just run over the fish that were in the tops. In the past, the mantra of "stay further back and make long casts" would have covered that some, but now I'm staying WAY back and still making long casts into the middle of 'nowhere'.

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I think the only thing that it has really changed about my fishing is I'm much more willing to get off the bank and fish and I'm constantly aiming it offshore while fishing the bank, looking for anything that I think is worth making a cast I.

That's essentially what I do. I'm throwing to structure and cover along the bank so I don't feel the need to point FFS in that direction. So I'll point FFS off the bow, directed at whatever nearest ledge or transition is around.

I'm really curious about what you've guys learned about fish behavior using ffs during those periods where the bite has absolutely shut down like during a cold front. Have you noticed that they moved deep offshore? Suspended out in open water? Tight to the bottom/cover? Are they still following lures? I'm amazed by the amount of info/feedback you can get with ffs really makes me want to invest in a setup. Not even to catch more fish just to learn more about behavior, seasonal/daily patterns, etc.

@dwong snug to cover. They basically disappear from FFS which says either I'm in the wrong spot or they are tight enough to the cover to blend in. And given the size of the lakes I'm fishing I'm going with the latter. My own thinking is that on those days when they are truly negative for whatever reason, they are sinking into the cover they prefer the same way you'd cozy up under a blanket on the couch when there's a bad winter storm out. They will occasionally make a trip to the kitchen for a cookie or hot cup of coffee, but it takes a lot. Now if their wife brings them a piece of chocolate and a cup of coffee, and they don't have to move from the couch, then they will eat it of course.

I've had it three years now.... I use it every time I fish whether deep or shallow... I was always a power fisherman and never really finesse fished but now it's sort of molded me into a finesse fisherman with a little power fishing mixed in. My #1 bait tied on year round regardless of season is the jighead minnow. When it's on, there is nothing to me more deadly... It helps me find fish more consistently and eliminate dead water more efficiently... I don't really tournament fish that much but if I did it's all I would use because you really cannot beat it on a daily basis... especially at the grassroots level...

Agreed @RHuff, I am using FFS every time I fish as well.

I have learned people catch big bass with it

I have learned I want it.

I have learned I can't afford it

I have learned I don't have time enough to learn to use it even if I could afford to buy it

I have learned some anglers are jealous of those who have perfected it

I have learned I am one of the jealous anglers

I have learned life is not fair

I have learned to hate anyone that posts Youtube videos of giant bass caught while using it

I have learned my Social Security check will not be enough to buy the boat and all the electronics I want.

I have learned because of all these reasons, I can try and make myself feel better by claiming it is cheating, and that I fish the old fashioned way because I am a sportsman with a high level of skill that doesn't need a cheater box.

I have learned lying to myself does not work, and I want it even more than the Monkey does.

On 5/26/2026 at 4:04 PM, casts_by_fly said:

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I have never used or seen FFS. What am I looking at? If you don't mind doing some teaching please.

I enjoy learning. I have an Eagle Eye 9. I have to remind myself that making good decisions, figuring out the fish every day, and enjoying what's happening around you is still important. Screen staring and button pushing can consume me to the point of frustration.

17 hours ago, BigAngus752 said:

I have never used or seen FFS. What am I looking at? If you don't mind doing some teaching please.

That is a ball of shad in the fall. The lumps on the bottom are rock piles where bass live. The bright white dot under the ball is a bass chasing the shad and eating everything he can, which if you’d like a closeup then look at pic #2.

If you look at the scale on the side, the ball is 10’ tall and 20’ long (and 10’ in the direction you can’t see). Think about a 10’x20’x10’ garage just being full of tight packed bait.

Just boat me a new used boat with LiveScope. Upgrading the poor wiring job. I've got alot to learn.

The thread title is a good one because it allows for folks who don’t own it but follow fishing closely to weigh in - no pun intended.

I have been watching channels that demonstrate techniques and teach FFS for years without ever owning it - thinking maybe I can learn some of things that folks who use it have learned and benefit from.

Well - I can certainly say forward facing sonar has changed how I fish a lot at lakes. I fish much more slowly and much more quickly. I’m much more mindful of water column and trying to keep my bait above fish. I’m always on the lookout for isolated cover with my bait or eyes or 2D. I now know that bass swim out in the abyss and chase bait all the time and it’s good to be on the lookout for that kind of thing even on 2D. I’ve learned that “cat and mouse” works much better than dead sticking most of the time with bass that aren’t locked on a bed.

I’ve learned that fish spawn all year and spawn deep and people have been capitalizing on this for years knowingly/unknowingly and FFS essentially lets people site fish deep beds and such. Much like smallmouth guides in 50 ft of clarity but with electronics users with largemouth in murky water down south etc.

I’ve learned that fish adapt to literally everything we do and learn from their fellow fish to not bite things without biting themselves.

I’ve had to master the art of bait modification and imparting nuance to my presentation because I can see how important it is for FFS masters.

Basically being a little different is often better than being great at fishing a popular bait. They learn profiles and shapes and actions fast.

One way it’s changed fishing is it has made fish incredibly difficult to catch compared to 5 years ago on our local lakes. You can not have any errors in your approach or presentation anymore these days.

Probably forgetting stuff but this is a good start on “what FFS has taught me” about fishing as a casual observer and student of the tech purely through videos and podcasts.