Direction of Leagues support of technology

[Dark3]

Wow, lately there has been a really scary jump in the use of technology with Bassmaster pro Ed Loughran figuring out how to sync his forward-facing sonar with augmented reality glasses, and several you tube videos documenting the use of apple vision pro goggles also linked to FFS, Maps, etc.

How do you think the professional leagues are going to approach this? Alot of technology sponsors fund the industry so I am interested if they support the advancement and use of rapidly advancing technology or if they are going to make a hard line in the sand.


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[caddyjoe77]

Technically, its over bluetooth. They could, hypothetically, tell the garmins, birds, and lowrances to kill the bluetooth protocol unique IEEE OUI/UUID like standard that allows those devices but still have the Bluetooth to ipads or similar.  Not sure, they could also say under the guise of safety you cant wear them w/out killing their market.  Time will tell

One thing i do like is the recording that bassmaster shows do explaining what the angler saw and how they caught it based on the behavior of the bass.

[Smallie_Stalker]

About maybe 7 or 8 years ago in a thread on advances in technology I mentioned that one day we would probably have the ability to use virtual reality headsets or smart glasses linked to our graphs. And here we are.

Over the almost 5 decades I've been fishing I've had ideas for products and thoughts on where things might be headed that eventually happened.

Maybe I should find a good patent lawyer and someone with deep pockets to fund some of my ideas

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[D.W. Verts]

Well, if you don't know what I think then you've never watched my YouTube channel..

It sure needs to end somewhere. It's literally out of control here in MO, and the crappie and paddlefish guys are worse than any bass fishermen. Multiple limits are caught and kept (illegally) each day. Fish that have never been messed with are now going under the filet knife. And the guides are the leaders in taking advantage of the tech, doing multiple trips in a day. Sad.

As an older guy I try to be open-minded. But this is not bass fishing. At least it's not the TRADITIONAL way that we all knew just e very few short years ago.

The argument that says "just because you can see them doesn't mean you can catch them" has been proven wrong. Look at the weights. Those Century Club belts are now meaningless.

Deep breaths, and PEACE.

Dale

[topdsm0138]

Tiller Mafia.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Technology is advancing leaps and bounds in regard to bass fishing. We are probably 3 yrs out, if not sooner, I imagine, where AI intelligence will be tied into electronics. The tech will tell the angler what to do to catch that bass. I bet.
As for me, I will continue fishing the old-fashioned way.

[D.W. Verts]

How B.A.S.S., MLF and the NPFL will attract viewers is the big question for me. I can't watch it. And I shore ain't by myself. That's got to be an issue eventually when it comes down to the root of it all, MONEY.

And there will be a whole bunch of doctors treating bass fishing patients for the dreaded "Tech Neck" also. Just watch.

Dale

[topdsm0138]

Seriously now,

  I have mixed opinions about it all but I can see both the positives and negatives of using tech here.

Positive: You're a Guide Service and your job depends on putting people on fish. Ok, this is acceptable for useage. You're just doing this for fun and helping others have a fun day. (Sure they rent your boat & gear, but it's not thousands of dollars in the line.)

Con: You're technically an "athlete" competing for a cash payout/reward and relying on the tech over actual skill, puts others (IE: Newcomers and Rookies, who may be less financially able to afford these gadgets) at a major disadvantage, hindering them from wanting to keep competing. (This kind of thing has happened a LOT in local AutoX & SCCA Car events. The guys who are better off financially always run the new or little guys out of the hobby/sport)

TLDR: (Too Long, Didn't Read) Job/Hobby ok. Sporting Competition, I'm not for.

Tiller Mafia.

[Eric-Maine]

Tyler Williams,who led most of the day Sunday, used to kick my butt here in Maine. His folks always came to weigh in. Joking with them one afternoon I said you know what that boy needs? He needs a wife, 3 kids and a mortgage lol
All that these kids do is fish. Every angler but one had the same technology on Fork.

Remember the days of 12v trolling motors, weak batteries, flashers, paper charts, having to triangulate and use a compass. I used to use marker bouys painted black so competitors could see the sweet spot that I was fishing.
After gps and waypoints came out I accumulated 25years of waypoints that then became public knowledge with lakemaster mapping. Triangulation became a lost art. I remember waiting for Rich Zaleski's article in the In Fisherman so I could stay on the cutting edge. Now all that is at your fingertips. 


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[caddyjoe77]

Another aside question:  lets use our brains here and think about what else might be contributing besides "FFS is going to kill the world"

If the idea has always been to figure the fish out, which used to take many years. It now takes several years.  The learning is now more efficient. 

It has been a steady stream of improvements and then a massive improvement or detriment which shows the bass behavior—i think that's the crux—> has that not always been the panacea?  "Let the fish tell you what they want" or "find the shad find the bass"(one of Bo's best lines and he was a master at this honed through years so thank you to him and rest his soul).  It is teaching the behavior of how bass react and i think, IMO, that is what people mean when they say, at least partially, that it is a tool.

Several things that also contribute to this: 
- ability to share knowledge to get clicks on socials. Thereby one is encouraged to share. This is a psychological thing — look into it. There are books written about it. Its a drug.
- ability to consume faster. Most humans are visual learners and what are socials?  Visual teaching compounded by the ability to consume.
- ability to communicate besides just phone: text, chats, socials
- lets face it, education is better
- As a general rule: people have more money, or more likely credit is easier to get therefore boats of all sizes are more accessible and attainable and so is better equipment
- school programs— lots of great fishing programs in schools.

There are Lots of factors-face it.
1. These "kids" are good. Hard to keep up as an older guy?  Yep. Myself included. 
2. Can these kids catch them old ways, yep lots of bass caught shallow on jigs/under docks. 
3. and a key point about personal accountability if you want to be successful w/the big boys:  Are older people naive enough to believe that suddenly LS came out and these "kids" just started fishing day 1?  I certainly hope not.  Im sure they had passion just like the rest of us. Spent hours in the boat w/dad/mom/grand — whoever. Really a bit tired of acting like these "kids" also didnt work their asses off.   Its not like a point in time where on 1 Jan 2022 LS came out and now everyone is a world beater.  No, give these people some credit for working their ass off. 

That said - am I concerned about population and harvesting? Crappie perhaps.  Not as much as tournament mortality on bass.  Remember many more people fishing. Everyone trying to be the next YouTube millionaire. You think they all care about the condition of live well?  Most do but if its a chance to win 10k if all they gotta do is make it back to the weigh in. F the fish once i go up on stage its on someone else!!!

many things to discuss so lets just not all blame it on FFS -- there is a much bigger holistic picture here containing many factors we should all think about. 

[J.W.]

Not sure how I feel about FFS.

Turning on FFS doesn't make the bass jump in the boat with you, there is a skill to using it to catch them, so I never really thought it needed to be banned. And then I saw those Century Belts getting passed out like popcorn at Fork... it does make it seem less prestigious.

And AR goggles, AI, etc... that is just a bridge too far for me. 

[Donald Garner]

Interesting topic here.  I look at FFS has another tool that has been invented for fisherman to use. I watched the Bassmaster's Elite tournaments on Toledo Bend and Lake Fork.  As long as they all have equal access to the equipment there isn't much to say about it. It's their choice whether or not to spent the $$$$ on the upgrade.

I'm Old School here but if I fish tournaments for a living then I'd would need to upgrade and educate myself on the new stuff.  If you don't then you get left behind.     

[J.W.]

There are Lots of factors-face it.
1. These "kids" are good. Hard to keep up as an older guy?  Yep. Myself included. 
2. Can these kids catch them old ways, yep lots of bass caught shallow on jigs/under docks. 
3. and a key point about personal accountability if you want to be successful w/the big boys:  Are older people naive enough to believe that suddenly LS came out and these "kids" just started fishing day 1?  I certainly hope not.  Im sure they had passion just like the rest of us. Spent hours in the boat w/dad/mom/grand — whoever. Really a bit tired of acting like these "kids" also didnt work their asses off.  Its not like a point in time where on 1 Jan 2022 LS came out and now everyone is a world beater.  No, give these people some credit for working their ass off.

nteresting topic here.  I look at FFS has another tool that has been invented for fisherman to use. I watched the Bassmaster's Elite tournaments on Toledo Bend and Lake Fork.  As long as they all have equal access to the equipment there isn't much to say about it. It's their choice whether or not to spent the $$$$ on the upgrade.

If I have to make my mind up, I think those posts above are where I stand, too.

I also think the controversy stems from the fact that everyone has a different threshold for traditionalism. You see the same thing in other sports. I like traditional archery, own several recurves, but no compound bows. That said, making cedar arrows is a pain, and I'm not against carbon arrows, which some people think is a sin for traditional bowhunting/archery. I am willing to bet that at some point you will see "no electronics" or "limited electronics" tournaments pop up at the local level, if they haven't already.

I also wouldn't be shocked if at some point, fishing went the same way as target shooting sports, with different "classes," like "opens," "limited," etc, with different levels of technology allowed.
   

[D.W. Verts]

I LOVE my stickbows and wood arrows (not cedar though, cedar sucks). However- CARBON is the base of all life or something like that. The argument could be made...

Dale

[loomisguy]

I think you will see some restrictions coming . I expect BASS will limit the total amount of inches on the screens and the number of transducers.
It's gotten away from them in a hurry. I hear folks talking about the amount of sponsorship money that Lowrance ,Humminbird and Garmin bring to the tour but if that's the case where is it ? They sure aren't raising the payouts.
And if they are making a killing how much are the tackle/rod manufacturers losing ? Heck all you need is a couple spinning rods and a 3 inch minnow.
Personally I wish we could go back to the 18ft/150 HP rule and nothing more than side imaging ,won't happen I know.
There's a bunch of guys who always were the backbone of the tour that are becoming irrelevant and that's a shame.

[caddyjoe77]

and i will say, i can definitely get behind a reasonable limit on the number of FFS transducers one has. 

i think 2 at the front and one at the back -- which would be about equivilent to the number of transducers running before.

but my statement still stands about giving these guys credit -- Trey McKinney didnt just become a phenom because of FFS, nor did any of the top finishers. If you asked them about their earliest fishing memories lots would likely say they have memories of being young and how they got hooked early.  McKinney said that very hting about cedar lake as a young kid when his older brother took him out. 

 It is hard to learn new things quickly the older we get, but when we have the old guard stating they have to learn it (Ike and Mark Melendez are two that i can think of).  The old guard shouldnt be mad at the players, except the ones they look in the mirror at.  Perhaps BASS and MLF too for allowing it -- but at the end of the day I doubt they really give a crap as much as the person out there not properly taking care of bass for 10K and finding them dead the next morning at the ramp. 

[big g]

This ship has sailed without me a long time ago. Lol  I'm still trying to figure out how to post pics on here with my laptop.  I for sure would fall overboard staring at all these new fangled electronics instead of concentrating on my surroundings.  Swimming with the GATORS!

[D.W. Verts]

This ship has sailed without me a long time ago. Lol  I'm still trying to figure out how to post pics on here with my laptop.  I for sure would fall overboard staring at all these new fangled electronics instead of concentrating on my surroundings.  Swimming with the GATORS!

And those poor GATORS!

Dale

[caddyjoe77]

well, the "young guns" have spoken    sounds a lot like what was mentioned above:

[Donald Garner]

Joe, tks for sharing this with us.  It was enlightening to listen to what the guys had to say. 

[Wizard]

So, are pro anglers actually fishermen or just techies. I fished "Old School" for 65 years, had fun doing it and put a few dollars into my pocket. B.A.S.S used to talk about an average Joe living the Dream. On the Tour having fun, earning money and FULLFILLIMG his DREAM. High Tech gear belies that corporate slogan. WNERE IS THE FUN?

Wizard

[D.W. Verts]

Amen Mal...

Dale

[Donald Garner]

So, are pro anglers actually fishermen or just techies. I fished "Old School" for 65 years, had fun doing it and put a few dollars into my pocket. B.A.S.S used to talk about an average Joe living the Dream. On the Tour having fun, earning money and FULLFILLIMG his DREAM. High Tech gear belies that corporate slogan. WNERE IS THE FUN?

Wizard

Wiz,

I'm going to say Pro Anglers / all individuals that fish for bass are 'Still Fishermen'  You still have to have the Basic Understanding of > Where; Why; What the fish are doing.  I never fished at the National Level just the Military Bass Anglers Association there at Ft. Polk back in the 80's. For me that was a steep learning curve as I was a Non-Boater during that time.  I learned a lot from the different guys I fished with.  Everyone was different and had their own little secrets.

I think the fisherman that fish the Opens are Average Joes with the exception of the Former Elite Series Anglers that now fish there.  Those few guys are trying to get back into the Elites and have to requalify and win there in order for that to happen.

I can't speak about the High School Level or College Level fisherman cause I don't know any and don't follow their tournaments.  I can say that every kid in the Middle Schools and High Schools here in Belton all have iPads pads provided to them by Apple.  All of their classroom & homework is done on those iPads.  So every kid is now a techie and if they don't catch on etc. they get left behind so to speak.

Bass Fishing has been this way since I started it in 1973.  We went from the Green Box to FFS now.  Every piece of equipment we have for fishing has improved since we started this hobby.  We all up grade and buy the latest and greatest thing if we can afford it.  IF we tournament fish and don't keep up with the latest and greats well then we get left behind.

Again I'm very much Old School when it comes to Bass Fishing.  Heck I'm still learning how to fully understand my  electronics I have on my Stratos >  Lowrance Hook 7 units       

[Eric-Maine]

well, the "young guns" have spoken    sounds a lot like what was mentioned above:

Thanks for that. I had no idea that it was hours long when I started it but it sucked me in. Very enjoyable and informative. I will have to watch next week to hear the old guard.

My wife, reminded me the other day, of that time she paged me and I didin't leave the lake to find a pay phone. She is still mad apparently lol

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[caddyjoe77]

Here is a video from Wheeler -- saying that the FFS on the back is conditional and trying to provide a reality check as well.  Thought it was worth continuing this discussion with this:

[Eric-Maine]

Lot of scopers didn't make the cut. Koya and Schmitt each have 50k plus of technology

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