Not validated, but allegedly from Clark Wendlandt:
"My opinion about FFS. Here is the substance of a letter I just sent to B.A.S.S. Please feel free to share.
I am driving home from NY and writing this as a last ditch plea to have forward facing sonar (FFS) banned in B.A.S.S. professional level events. There is absolutely no place in professional bass fishing for it. Before I get to the substance of the letter. Let me say at the outset, that, first, I bleed B.A.S.S. Gold and Blue and believe B.A.S.S. is in the best position to be the long term steward of the sport.
I have followed the sport since Ray Scott founded it and truly believe that the current leadership at B.A.S.S. is the best from a standpoint of wanting the anglers, the organization, and the sport to succeed. And I do believe the management of B.A.S.S. has the best intentions with respect to this issue.
I want to reiterate and state as strongly as I can that it would be a mistake to continue to allow FFS in professional events. It threatens the integrity of what true bass fishing is. People follow sports because they are DIFFICULT. Though we have a passion for a sport, we can’t do it at the same level as the best can, so we appreciate it, watch it and want to follow it. We marvel at the skills of the participants and often dream about having the ability to do it at their level. In any sport, it takes a certain amount of God given talent, dedication and years of hard work.
Recently, a veteran angler who has had a good season stated that it took him 25 years to learn how to fish and compete at the highest level, but that it has taken him 5 months to learn how to compete at the same level, using FFS. Whereas, a new angler made the observation that FFS is introducing more people to the sport because it makes it “easier” to catch fish. We are the professionals. It should NOT be easy for us. The compelling nature of the sport is that it is hard. It’s what makes it intriguing. It’s the reason that people are driven to follow it and try and hone their craft to be better.
At the St. Lawrence tournament, the majority of the guys who did well fished on the lake. On Lake Ontario there is no current, so the fish cannot hide. The smallmouth are big. They show up as big beacons of light on FFS. Every single cast made on Lake Ontario by anyone fishing the event was a person casting AT a bass. I never made a cast that was not aimed at a 3 pound plus smallmouth bass. Let that sink in for a minute. In three days of fishing, I did not throw a cast unless it was at a big bass. What kind of sport is that? Where all you do is troll around until you see a fish, and you throw at it? I belabor the point because this is what seems like such a crime. I only have one transducer. It is on my trolling motor. I can’t use it idling, and I can literally SEE every single bass that can be caught within 260 feet of my boat. It is not hard to catch those bass. It’s easy. A 15 year old kid could easily do it with a few hours of tutelage. As bass wise up to our baits, there will be some decision making involved in which baits are most effective, but it is still just one technique, one way to fish that is competitive.
I did not have to draw on any of the knowledge I have acquired over 33 years of professional competition or the God-given instincts that have enabled me to do this for 33 years. I put my trolling motor in the water, saw fish and casted at them. Frankly, it’s not fun. It’s not exciting. But if I want to compete on the St. Lawrence River, I have to do it. I could have used the skills I’ve acquired and my instincts to fish in many different ways, but I would have had zero chance to win.
When I talk to other fishermen who are passionate about the sport, it is very easy to communicate these truths about FFS. Honestly, it seems extremely obvious that it is bad for the sport. I appreciate the fact that B.A.S.S. formed a committee to investigate the use of FFS. But, with all due respect, it is a flawed committee. On the entire committee, there is only one person who has devoted his entire professional life to Pro bass fishing and one or two others that have been in the sport for 20 plus years. You can’t really understand how this technology undermines the sport unless you do it at my level. True fishermen who have used it and understand it don’t think it’s good for the sport. That is whose input should matter. The pro fishing fan is someone who loves fishing, tries to tournament fish himself and is intrigued by how hard it is to go all over the country and catch bass consistently at every lake. That is our fan. I have not talked to one fan who is in favor of FFS for our events.
Pro bass fishing is the greatest sport because guys can come from every part of the country and everyone does it differently – Oklahoma muddy water anglers, Texas anglers who love fishing grass, a guy from Michigan who’s a power fishing guru, Canadians who can do it all, New Yorkers who are small mouth specialists, Florida anglers who specialize in shallow water with lots of cover. We all come together from all over the country (and beyond) to see who can figure it out. That is what is compelling.
FFS throws all that out – the history, the great anglers of the past, the anglers who have spent their entire lives trying to figure out how to catch bass - and turned it into something you can learn in 5 months. The sport has been reduced to being dominated by a few anglers who have committed to doing nothing but scope.
It seems so obvious to me. But what I must be missing is that it is only obvious if you’ve spent time in the boat and really seen it in action. It is so inherently different than anything that has ever happened in fishing. It's not even the same thing. It’s not old school v. new school. It’s Fishing v. Scoping. It’s fishing to try and figure out how and why to catch bass vs. putting your trolling motor in the water to see if there are any around, and if not, moving until you find them. It’s the uncompelling easy way vs. the very intriguing hard way. I spent the entire St. Lawrence Elite event scoping instead of fishing and, had a few things gone differently, I had a legitimate shot at winning. I also could have just fished for smallmouth using my understanding of bass behavior, my creativity, instincts, and the skills I have developed over 33 years of honing my craft. I assure you, the latter would have been much more fun, much more challenging, and much more compelling to fans. But I would not have had any shot at winning. Unless someone has actually been out on the water using this technology, fishing an event with it, seeing how it completely undermines confidence in any other method for catching fish, they can’t understand it.
There is only one person on the committee who to my knowledge has actually been out there, actually used it and actually seen what it can do in a tournament situation. If you had 10 fishermen on the committee and all 10 said FFS is good for the sport, I would throw my hands up and say – you win. Even the young anglers who are lobbying for FFS are not credible voices. They either don’t know anything else – have not ever had to travel across the country figuring out how to catch fish given the hundreds of variables inherent in a 9 tournament season spanning 8 months and multiple states, or they have experienced it at some point but have become “addicted” to FFS. As an angler, when you know there is only one way to catch the weights necessary to compete, that’s what you’ll do.
Please understand, limiting it will do NOTHING. I currently have only 1 transducer and I am using a 10 inch screen to scope, and for the last 2 events it’s all I did.
I was fired from Garmin before the season started because of the stance I have taken on FFS. I took no public stance, just lobbied behind the scenes to get rid of the threat to fishing. I was told that is why I was fired. Here’s the thing though, it’s what I believe is the right thing for the sport. Many anglers are still not taking a stance because they believe this will happen to them. Understandably, almost every angler looks at this issue from the view of how it affects them. At this point in my life and career, I’m not looking at this from the perspective of what’s best for my career, I truly believe I am looking at this only from the view of what is best for the sport. I have not been outspoken in public to this point, but the threat to the sport I love is too great.
The future of fishing is at stake here. FFS has no place in professional fishing events. With all due respect, banning it is the right thing to do and the only true answer.
Thank you for your consideration.
Clark Wendlandt"
.thumb.jpg.df52404fc648bc17a641a50eb4c9dac9.jpg)
.thumb.jpg.d431b5daa6ef35470410602b9be6f3ae.jpg)
