Has FFS changed the way you fish?

[Koz]

Let's put aside the controversy surrounding FFS and discuss what I think is an interesting topic - has it changed the way you fish?

 

It has for me, and some of that has been good and some of it has been bad.

 

On the good side, it helps me quickly eliminate unproductive water. I can pull up on a spot and see there is no or very little bait and no predators. It also helps me define and better target both fish and structure. Well, kind of. Depending upon the distance of the object you're still dealing with a sonar cone.

 

On the downside, I'm less patient out there. For example, on Sunday I set up near a ledge and saw lots of baitfish and a few bigger predators cruising. Although I didn't see that specific fish on FFS, I soon landed a 21" bass (probably 5.5 - 6 pounds as I didn't bring my scale).

 

This was a new lake to me so I moved off and tried some other areas, mostly looking for predators. I circled back towards that ledge, saw tons of baitfish but no predators, and moved on to another spot. I crossed that area again later in the day, saw two bass at the bottom of the ledge, made some casts with different baits, didn't get a bite, and moved on.

 

In the past without FFS and with traditional imaging I would have seen all of the baitfish and camped out on that spot knowing that at this time of year in these particular weather conditions the bass would eventually come cruising by. This is especially true since I had caught one in that immediate area earlier in the day.

 

Hindsight is 20-20 and I should have just camped out on that spot and waited for that one good bite every 45-60 minutes. But for me, FFS definitely causes me to be impatient and that's a habit I have to break. Sure, use it to eliminate unproductive water. But when I find a traditional bass spot holding lots of bait I need to forget about the dopamine hit of seeing the bass on Livesope. Chances are they will show up.

 

For me, the solution might be to find that ideal spot loaded with bait and just shut off FFS for 30 minutes and stop chasing shadows.

 

How about you?

[FryDog62]

Yes it has changed the way I fish - more than anything it helps me understand the water I'm on, especially if it's new water. Do I see fish, yes, but more often it's targeting the right kind of structure, cover, depth, etc. 

 

I've evolved over time (I've had FFS for 5 years now). The first year I was fixated on just finding fish and wasting too much time playing the video game of trying to get them to bite... and not leaving until they do. Now I'm more about identifying the right spots and hit 'em hard with the techniques that have worked best for me in the past in those conditions. 

[king fisher]

It hasn't changed the way I fish, because I can't afford it.  It has changed the way I think about my fishing.  Every time I go fishing and get skunked, I wish I had FFS.  Every time I crush them I brag about how I don't need FFS.

[buckmaster27012]

My use and the way i fish has change depending on the lake I'm fishing. I have found that it is more effective at some lakes than others. Lakes that have a lot of trash fish and when you scan with it you see stuff everywhere I find myself no relying on it. Maybe I'm just not in the right spot but put me on other lakes and I'll put 30-40 in the boat each day with it. 

[Ski]

Yes it has changed the way I fish.

I no longer own a boat and have since joined a local bass fishing club with 50 active members most being boaters. We fish @ least 1 tourney a month. This past year several boaters in this club have purchased FFS and I find I spend most of my time riding around as the boater keeps the trolling motor moving and staring @ his screen. When he finds something of interest he begins to fish, as I am 15 feet or more behind and can not cast to that target without casting to the front. I do not know what to say if anything. 

Example: While fishing our last tourney a school of fish came up busting  baitfish.

The boater naturally turned the boat towards them and began firing a lipless crank and proceeded to catch one after another while I had to watch because I did not want to throw over him or "past the console" He had a nice limit and I had 1 fish.

Rant is over, but still frustrating as I pay the entry fee.

 

[MN Fisher]

On 7/15/2024 at 8:38 PM, king fisher said:

It hasn't changed the way I fish, because I can't afford it.

That's my position exactly.

[Koz]

2 hours ago, Ski said:

Yes it has changed the way I fish.

I no longer own a boat and have since joined a local bass fishing club with 50 active members most being boaters. We fish @ least 1 tourney a month. This past year several boaters in this club have purchased FFS and I find I spend most of my time riding around as the boater keeps the trolling motor moving and staring @ his screen. When he finds something of interest he begins to fish, as I am 15 feet or more behind and can not cast to that target without casting to the front. I do not know what to say if anything. 

Example: While fishing our last tourney a school of fish came up busting a baitfish.

The boater naturally turned the boat towards them and began firing a lipless crank and proceeded to catch one after another while I had to watch because I did not want to throw over him or "past the console" He had a nice limit had I had 1 fish.

Rant is over, but still frustrating as I pay the entry fee.

 

This is why I quite the MLF events as a back seater. I'm scheduled to be a backseater in a Bassmaster Open event later this year, but I think I'm going to pass on that as well. I'm going to stick to kayak tournaments and choose my own destiny.

[gim]

7 hours ago, Ski said:

Yes it has changed the way I fish.

I no longer own a boat and have since joined a local bass fishing club with 50 active members most being boaters. We fish @ least 1 tourney a month. This past year several boaters in this club have purchased FFS and I find I spend most of my time riding around as the boater keeps the trolling motor moving and staring @ his screen. When he finds something of interest he begins to fish, as I am 15 feet or more behind and can not cast to that target without casting to the front. I do not know what to say if anything. 

Example: While fishing our last tourney a school of fish came up busting a baitfish.

The boater naturally turned the boat towards them and began firing a lipless crank and proceeded to catch one after another while I had to watch because I did not want to throw over him or "past the console" He had a nice limit had I had 1 fish.

Rant is over, but still frustrating as I pay the entry fee.

 

 

I could definitely see this as being frustrating.

 

I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of the boat owner up front though too.  It's his boat, his graph, and he controls the bow mount.  I guess I'm not really sure how else this could be done to be honest.  At least you're respectful about it, that's a plus.

 

I don't tournament fish so I can't comment on your specific situation.

[Susky River Rat]

I don’t own it. It has changed how I have had to fish though. 

[Woody B]

I suppose it's changed some stuff.  As an angler I'd like to think I'm constantly evolving.  I do things differently than I did a couple years ago before I had FFS.  Some of my ways would have changed even if I didn't have FFS.  

[gulfcaptain]

Of course it changes the way you fish before you have it and after. It's my eyes underwater to identify weed edges,  rock, drop offs, timber, etc. Let's me fish baits before over brush I wouldn't have before due to excessive snags and loss of gear. See if what I'm throwing even generates a response and let's me break down an area quickly and decide if I wanna fish it or leave. I was good before I had it, now it's made me efficient and better with it. Now I did play the video game for the first few months and wasted a lot of time. Since having it since 2021, I have since just made it a piece of electronic equipment. One unit up front that is used as basically a depth sounder and quick scan of what's around me fishing structure or cover. I don't get hung up video fishing and in S. Cal, fish have become accustomed to the beam and swim away from it.

[gulfcaptain]

On 7/20/2024 at 7:54 AM, Koz said:

This is why I quite the MLF events as a back seater. I'm scheduled to be a backseater in a Bassmaster Open event later this year, but I think I'm going to pass on that as well. I'm going to stick to kayak tournaments and choose my own destiny.

I did that back in 2015. You never have control of what you're doing as a co in a bigger event via Open or MLF tournament. As a co you're in the hands of the guy in front good or bad. Nothing has changed with ffs on that aspect  except now you feel you're missing out on something if he's looking around with it. When I've had co's with me and I'm doing that, I let them know what I'm gonna do and suggest what they should trying.  But S.Cal lakes are a bit different,  you can fish the bank even if I'm looking in 25ft of water since we have such steep shorelines.

[Koz]

4 hours ago, gulfcaptain said:

I did that back in 2015. You never have control of what you're doing as a co in a bigger event via Open or MLF tournament. As a co you're in the hands of the guy in front good or bad. Nothing has changed with ffs on that aspect  except now you feel you're missing out on something if he's looking around with it. When I've had co's with me and I'm doing that, I let them know what I'm gonna do and suggest what they should trying.  But S.Cal lakes are a bit different,  you can fish the bank even if I'm looking in 25ft of water since we have such steep shorelines.

No, it’s much different. Now you have boaters weaving back and forth, doing 90 degree, 180 degree, and 360 degree turns with the trolling motor nearly wide open. As a backseater not only are you casting blind, but also you can’t drag a bait or work it because the boater is running over your line.

 

To me, that violates the rule of not giving the co-angler a chance to fish. Yesterday I actually submitted a rules clarification to MLF on this.

 

I like livescope and use it myself. But the boater should either be stopped and pan or at low speed and pan. The high speed meandering needs to stop.

[Team9nine]

Just a matter of time before co-anglers become a thing of the past at nearly all levels of the sport. They’re going to have to go back to giving them some kind of incentive to sign up  if they don’t regulate FFS more going forward. I think you’ll see the first shot fired in that direction by at least one of the big orgs next year.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

One of the wildest things I've seen recently was a co angler at the Okeechobee BASS Open earlier this year, the one where Scott Martin won.   

 

In one of Scott Martin's videos from the derby, he points out another boater's co angler's FFS unit on the back deck.   Got to give it up for that backseater, he was committed 😁   

[Tennessee Boy]

In the 90s, I fished a club where both anglers kept their own 5 fish limit for AOY but the tournament and prize money was a team competition.   If you want to win the tournament,  you had to win it with five fish or help your co angler catch his limit.

[TnRiver46]

I don’t have FFS, don’t even have a depth finder on the front of my boat

 

The only change it has brought to my fishing is I don’t fish on the bottom all the time like I used to. I’ve seen enough tournament footage to have some confidence keeping my bait off the bottom and it works, especially for winter SMB 

[gulfcaptain]

On 7/22/2024 at 6:29 PM, Koz said:

No, it’s much different. Now you have boaters weaving back and forth, doing 90 degree, 180 degree, and 360 degree turns with the trolling motor nearly wide open. As a backseater not only are you casting blind, but also you can’t drag a bait or work it because the boater is running over your line.

 

To me, that violates the rule of not giving the co-angler a chance to fish. Yesterday I actually submitted a rules clarification to MLF on this.

 

I like livescope and use it myself. But the boater should either be stopped and pan or at low speed and pan. The high speed meandering needs to stop.

And I would say those that make that kind of moves full speed  aren't very good at what they think they are trying to do or even understand their units. But bet they watched a lot of Utube and still have zero idea. 

[TnRiver46]

On 7/22/2024 at 9:29 PM, Koz said:

No, it’s much different. Now you have boaters weaving back and forth, doing 90 degree, 180 degree, and 360 degree turns with the trolling motor nearly wide open. As a backseater not only are you casting blind, but also you can’t drag a bait or work it because the boater is running over your line.

 

To me, that violates the rule of not giving the co-angler a chance to fish. Yesterday I actually submitted a rules clarification to MLF on this.

 

I like livescope and use it myself. But the boater should either be stopped and pan or at low speed and pan. The high speed meandering needs to stop.

They can put what they are seeing at the trolling motor on a console unit very easily so the back seater isn’t casting blind. My buddy does that for me when I’m in the back of his boat. I watch the scope for about 2 minutes and realize I have no clue what I’m looking at then go back to fishing like it’s 1994 again 😂 

 

he’s like “look at those fish! You see them??” And my reply is usually “it’s the TN river, been there 400 million years. Safe to assume it’s full of fish” haha

[Koz]

48 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

They can put what they are seeing at the trolling motor on a console unit very easily so the back seater isn’t casting blind. My buddy does that for me when I’m in the back of his boat. I watch the scope for about 2 minutes and realize I have no clue what I’m looking at then go back to fishing like it’s 1994 again 😂 

 

he’s like “look at those fish! You see them??” And my reply is usually “it’s the TN river, been there 400 million years. Safe to assume it’s full of fish” haha

The last MLF co-angler event I fished the boater either disconnected the console transducer or didn’t have it set up. Only the map was available. Judging character as I saw it, he probably disconnected it.

 

To make matters worse, the map orientation was keyed to the orientation of the boat. So with all of his zigging and zagging the map was flipping all over the place making it almost impossible to get a read on the contour lines.

[TnRiver46]

I can’t read a spinning map, some can’t read an north up map 

[gulfcaptain]

10 hours ago, Koz said:

The last MLF co-angler event I fished the boater either disconnected the console transducer or didn’t have it set up. Only the map was available. Judging character as I saw it, he probably disconnected it.

 

To make matters worse, the map orientation was keyed to the orientation of the boat. So with all of his zigging and zagging the map was flipping all over the place making it almost impossible to get a read on the contour lines.

There are times I have to turn my units or put them in sleep at the console for battery conservation.  And I've put my ffs screen on the back display before or give them the back sounder with a chart.  But if I'm fishing a certain pattern or bait and see something my co can captailize on, then I point it out. Now if I tell you to throw 40ft a certain direction. And you launch it 100ft off the side,  I can't help you with that......lol you can't wrap up every boater that has ffs with all of them. Some are better then others, some fish what is in front of them and some chase their tails. I am not wasting time chasing fish over and over that don't respond.  Move on and continue, or position the boat where I know fish are and can slow down and fish a bottom bait to target them since I know they are there. Which also lends me to let my co know where he can possibly catch fish as well. 

[DogBone_384]

No.  I'm not spending that kind of money for electronics.  I don't fish tournaments or lakes big enough for it to be useful.

[bowhunter63]

No I still beat the River to death,Wade or do what ever it takes to catch Smallies. But it does affect the way I watch pro fishing . Still catching em and loving every minute of it . The Great thing about Bassin really no wrong way to do it . What ever gets it done for ya 

[txchaser]

On 7/22/2024 at 11:20 PM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

One of the wildest things I've seen recently was a co angler at the Okeechobee BASS Open earlier this year, the one where Scott Martin won.   

 

In one of Scott Martin's videos from the derby, he points out another boater's co angler's FFS unit on the back deck.   Got to give it up for that backseater, he was committed 😁   

As in he brought a portable FFS setup for the back deck?