Sorry, I'm not going to the TFF BUT, I have a question for discussion concerning the state of fishing these days. I watch all the fishing shows on TV and have noticed a new "electronic" they use. I think it called a Garming Live View. It's a "sonar" "fish finder" which shows the actual fish you can target. You see it right on your $6,000 set-up. You basically dangle your lure right on the fish and watch the dang thing bite the lure and boom caught fish.

If, I'm not mistaken the pro fisherman can and are using these electronics to find and catch fish. This doesn't seem "right" to me. I thought these Pro Bass Gods were able to find fish without this electronic miracle.

As a recreational angler, I'm all for using one. I never catch anything

Has this caught on in the fishing forum world? Is this their new "High Fence" topic?

Please inform us on this topic.

The ones I'm familiar with is called the Live Scope and its biggest benefit is allowing you to see if there is actually fish ( and what kind and size ) are on the structure. IMO it's the equivalent to using a thermal scope to find and hunt big game.


I refuse to do it.


We had one guy who was new to our Mule Deer lease and went out in the pasture the first afternoon and killed a mediocre buck. I had been hunting hard for a week with nary a deer seen and he kills one on the first day. Well, beginners luck i guess. Next year same thing and the next day or day after his buddy kills one. Come to find out they were scanning the pasture with a Thermal. What a shytey way to hunt a deer.


At some point skill takes a back seat to technology in todays world.

This is going to be kinda one of those high fence hunting threads. Some will fish using those electronics and some won’t. Some will hunt high fence some won’t. There’s always going to be something easier by using them just like fencing in the animals.

The common name for it is FFS (Forward Facing Sonar). It has dominated the big bass scene in Texas the last few years as well as many tournaments. I couldnt care less about it, but some people (including tour pros) are calling it "cheating". I have never used it and probably never will unless the cost comes down into the few hundred dollar range. I fish just a handfull of lakes now days and know the seasonal patterns of those lakes and thats more valuable than any FFS. No I cant target a single fish using traditional sonar, but thats not what I am trying to do anyway.

So I take it you’re not a Pro Angler? Just a fisherman. If you have the money, and you really like to fish, you will never, ever, fish without one. It will not catch fish for you…if you don’t know how to fish. It’s a giant learning curve. It’s not like a deer in a 50 acre high fence. You will go out, fish all day, and catch 2. But, but, it will also help you to find fish, like scopes, binoculars, turkey calls, grunt calls, corn, wheat fields, a rifle vs a sling, etc.

Buzz,

Modern electronics can provide an incredibly good and detailed underwater view. Finding where fish are hanging out and knowing how to get them to bite don't always coincide.

Marc

FFS was developed by Garmin first and was used predominantly by crappie fishermen until a crappie guide from Oklahoma, Josh Jones, came down to Texas and absolutely went to town on big bass, catching 40something over 8 lbs. in just a couple weeks, including several in the teens. Basically, it opened the door for bass fishermen to target big bass that they could never target before: suspended in deep water. Mr. Jones (and a few others) got so good at it that he now gets $2000/day to take you out and show you how. It’s quite a bit tougher than the pros make it look.

My issue with it, is most times the hardest part of fishing is finding the fish. You could be fishing a brush pile that has 2 fish on it or 12 fish. Maybe a couple 2 lb fish or one that has a handful of 5-6 lb bass.

You now have a CCTV that will show you exactly what is sitting on the structure. Sure, you have to get them to bite but you eliminated the hardest part, finding the fish.

The crappie guys were using it to fish in standing timber where 1 tree out of 20 held fish. Now no more guesswork on to which trees holding the fish.

I’m going to fall short of saying I wish it were banned but I don’t think it’s a proper way to fish.

Buzz you’re not paying attention, old news

There’s only one Josh Jones. A person could go out with a gill net and electric shock and not do what he does. Just like anything else. Nowadays, gas, truck, days off, bait, tackle, a $50,000 to $90,000 boat, and going on a lake all day long, and catch a perch, now that’s a guy that’s either rich or has a lot of time on his hands. We could always go back to wandering in the wilderness with a single rock, (just one, two is illegal), barefoot, eating grasshoppers and lizards like Sitting Bull. I wonder what he would think of a 50 cal. machine gun.

It a new tool…just like I guarantee the haters use OnX or some other GPS tool. Our grandad’s probably thought that was cheating too…times change, you either change with it or whine and bitch.

It was actually Ben Milliken that put FFS on the map at OH Ivie. Josh just followed up and went complete attention [censored] with it.

How can you compare an aerial mapping tool or Global Positioning System to a Live scope that gives you real time video under water?

He would probably think The battle at Little Bighorn would have gone a different way.

But nobody hunts with a 50 cal machine gun

When fish finders first hit the scene some cried foul. If there’s any controversy about live Scope, it’s kind of the same thing.

Excellent tool for finding and detecting the positioning of fish but no matter what, that ain’t catching them.
Fish don’t feed or bite all the time and when they don’t want to, I don’t care if you’re Jacob Freakin Wheeler, you ain’t going to catch them.

Those things have been around for many years.Back when I spent most of my weekends fishing, I used them a lot. But, they won’t trigger a bite.

That’s kind of BS. It would be like having a thermal scanner looking all over your 300 acre lease and knowing where the deer are. It doesn’t kill them for you but you know where they are. They’re going to eat sometime.

It’s an electronic tool that helps the predator get prey. There are places that have more pressure now that never did because folks can now get there and back and especially in the dark.

I have Livescope in my boat, at bow and console. It has not turned a mediocre crappie fisherman (me) into a top crappie harvester. I think I caught as many fish before I got the electronics. And now I spend a bunch of time looking for fish on the screen and not actually fishing. Maybe the real hot shot fishermen can do wonderful stuff with it.

Now…I did go on a private lake with a pro bass fisherman (he wired my boat for all the electronics), and we used my boat. He put us on bass after bass. My wife was hauling them in and howling like a coyote. So, in the hands of a pro while on a private lake chock full of bass, did the Livescope make the difference? Or did he just know where the bass were, since he fished the lake all the time?

On the lakes we have fished a few times, I have a pretty good idea where to find the crappie, so I’ll go there and then use the Livescope. And then I watch those little scaled creatures reject my bait offerings. But sometimes they bite.

I’m selling the boat maybe. It’s on consignment. Wife got tired of fishing and frying fish. If it doesn’t sell, I’ll bring the boat home and take the neighbor fishing. I like the boat. Kind of hope it doesn’t sell…

You just said the same thing that I did.

I guess I shouldn't mention it's just about time I shine a dive light into a hole to make sure there's a yellow cat in there, reach in, and drag her out by her bottom lip.

livescope means hunting game animals with high end thermal or NV

hook/feather on Billy club works better. lot less cut when she rolls

I have the full set up, all garmin and see no difference in using ffs to fish than putting corn in a feeder to attract critters.

in both you are trying to increase your odds some, no guarantee of success in either case.

I tend to think that the ones complaining the loudest (I don't follow any of it) are probably like myself and "ffs challenged", still haven't figured mine out well enough.

Do whatever you enjoy, focus on that. Forget about what others are doing since you have zero control over it.