RE: Sonar on FFS – I fish myself and have found the enjoyment of FFS first off but don't believe it's the best direction for the sport.
All sports for the most part have advanced technology's out there that the highest level aren't allowed to use. Look at the major leagues and wood bats, golf and the golf ball, drivers to name a few. Just because it's produced doesn't make it a shoe-in for the highest level.
RE: KVD stats poll – Roland had nine AOYs, 19 wins. Kevin has eight AOYs against a stronger field. However, the 26 tournament victories over the decades speaks of consistancy and focus. Also, the schedules expanded to more diverse fisheries, while Roland's were more geographically concentrated.
RE: Fishing with antique lures – Nice article. One correction, however. The famous Bass Oreno was manufactured by South Bend. not Heddon. Heddon made similarly designed plugs like the Basser and Lucky 13.
BassFan says: Thanks for that info, Mike.
RE: Balog on Saginaw Bay BPT – Fair play? If everyone is doing the same thing, it's fair ... 'nuff said.
RE: Balog on Saginaw Bay BTP – Joe, I really enjoy your articles, but I believe this one may be a little quick to give it all to the sonar guys based off one tournament. Had the wind not shifted and KVD's smallmouth spot not been blown out, we may have seen a very different ending. Would that mean that old-school would go back to dominating everything? Definitely not, anymore than technology will dominate everything going forward. Yes, it is a huge factor, especially in smallmouth tournaments. But 3rd place in AOY for the Bass Pro Tour was Ott Defoe, who by his own admission has not committed fully to the forward-facing sonar deal. Over on the Bassmaster Elite Series, the top two guys in AOY are both shallow-water, old-school flipping, frogging, topwater guys; as is the 4th. Sure, the remaining two tournaments over there set up well for the video game fishermen, but they will have a 40-point deficit to overcome in order to win the title.
I expect that when the dust settles there will be a balance struck between the technology and conventional angling. The tech will drive a lot of guys offshore and the Lanes and Defoes of the sport will find their fish less pressured. There are indications that bass may even be becoming sensitive to FFS in deep water and if so they will be even more so in shallow, where guys have been turning off their electronics for years to avoid spooking them. As the pressure increases offshore, more bass will move shallow to avoid said pressure, the same way they did the opposite decades ago.
I may be wrong. I hope I'm not and maybe you do too. But I think it may be too early to throw in the towel on good old-fashioned fishing just yet.
In 2017 at the Classic in Houston we met the nicest person in Houston. It was the wife of Matt Herren. She took myself and my wife in to the weigh-in on extra tickets she had. I saw her again at the Elite tournament at Lake St Clair on 7-26-23. She remembered us and gave me a T-shirt with Matt Herren on the back. Fan forever. Hope to find a way to the Classic this year in Oklahoma. Thanks for your kindness and the shirt.
RE: Fennel among Sports Business Journal honorees – Kathy is a classy professional who is a credit to the sport!
RE: Bassmaster High School Championship – Holy cow, 481 teams … with only 12 advancing to final day.
RE: Fennel among Sports Business Journal honorees – What a well-deserved honor for a very special lady. With two daughters of my own, they certainly have a person they can look up to. Congratulations, Kathy!
RE: Balog on BPT DQ – Honesty is the only policy.
RE: Balog on ICAST – Excellent article. I enjoy reading Joe’s perspectives on all thing outdoors.
RE: Shuffield's Cayuga DQ – For me, I don't like the Shuffield DQ by polygraph. I support polygraphs in tournaments where anglers are "unsupervised," it performs a vital function to at least try to keep things on the level. But in this instance, unless I am mistaken, there is a marshal in every boat. Why the need for a polygraph? The marshal should be working to keep things on the level. If the marshal didn't see the hook placement, he should ask to see it and if he doesn't show or throws it back, the marshal should advise him that fish will not count. What is the marshal in the boat, just a well-dressed friend?
I liken this to PGA tour pros who play a round with a tour official following and other players who sign his scorecard verifying their score. Then a viewer calls the studio after the round and says, "I saw a blade of grass move when he addressed the ball on hole 6." I mean, a sport can't exist like that. Polygraphs to me are not absolute, I don't think may of us understand the science of it or could say they are conclusively right or wrong. I would like the responsibility to lie solely with the angler and marshal (or angler and co-angler in other tournaments) and once the fish are weighed and everyone has signed off, it's done. Litigating an outcome after the fact just doesn't seem very beneficial.
RE: Shuffield's Cayuga DQ – Stopped following MLF after this tournament. It becomes harder to follow this organization with its very poor planning and enforcement of rules.
Duckett
Sprague
Wheeler/Lee AOY
The whole Cayuga event
The decades spent to legitimize organized tournament fishing is being undone year after year with MLF.
RE: Shuffield's Cayuga DQ – What about the other people who you know cheated in this event (and yes, cheated is the correct term)? Will there only be one lamb sacrificed and the others laugh and roam free?
RE: Balog's search for 'magic' – Thanks for sharing your perspective, Joe. It’s refreshing to hear someone who hasn’t forgotten the initial excitement, mystery, and discovery of fishing as a kid. No one in my family fished, so I had to figure it out pretty much on my own, which has given me great satisfaction along the way. I see some young anglers today who’ve never done any kind of fishing other than bass tournaments. With forward-facing sonar and the massive impact of the internet, the learning curve is cut so drastically it’s amazing. Information is all so specific, so immediate, and so laid out that I wonder if some of the joy of discovering and learning at a more organic pace doesn’t take a lot of the magic and mystery you mentioned away.
First of all, forward-facing sonar is here, so deal with it (me included). If you love it, great. If you hate it, great. However, it makes for some boring live coverage staring at the back of anglers all day with their heads down.
This seems to justify catch and immediate release fishing events.
RE: Cayuga Lake BPT – Now we need stats on the effects of the same bedding fish being caught over and over in a period of days ... or sometimes in the same day.
It should be noted here that the St. Lawrence River bass season is completely closed on the U.S. side from Dec. 1 to June 14, including for catch and release. I've seen social media posts from people who are unfortunately unaware of this and think it's open for catch and release.
RE: Cayuga Lake BPT event – Future bucket-list trip,, for sure. Upsetting though, to hear rumors that several fish were caught multiple times. Hope that's not true.
By David A. Brown Special To BassFan
Football fans recognize the term “red zone” as a reference to the 20-yard distance from the goal line. In northern
By B.A.S.S. Communications Staff
OSAGE BEACH, Mo. – No one was surprised that Kyle Patrick won the Bassmaster Open at Lake of the Ozarks. Except for
By Jonathan Manteuffel Special to BassFan
When the wind is from the east, that's when fishing is the least. When the wind is from the north, do not
