The ink barely dried on Chris Johnston’s Bassmaster Elite Angler of the Yr verify and already the low season is off to a contentious begin. Because the season concluded final month, the times following the Elite Sequence occasion on the St. Lawrence River had been filled with drama surrounding skilled anglers’ opinions on ahead dealing with sonar. Clark Wendlandt, one of many older anglers on tour, took to social media to sentence FFS, whereas Ben Milliken, who simply completed his rookie season, took his professional FFS opinions to the Baitman Dwell podcast. In each situations, the remark sections ran rampant with backlash and emotional opinions from different professional anglers.
To be frank, it was all a bit ugly to look at.
However in the event you take a step again, it’s straightforward to see that the skilled excursions had been working out of time to handle FFS expertise and make their stances clear on a problem that’s been dividing skilled and newbie anglers alike for years. So it wasn’t a lot of a shock when, on Wednesday, BASS lastly introduced new guidelines in regards to the expertise anglers can — and might’t — use in competitors.
BASS stopped in need of banning FFS from competitors, as a substitute opting to restrict the variety of transducers and whole inches of display allowed on boats. This compromise has managed to anger FFS proponents in addition to the anti-FSS crowd, who argues that these restrictions aren’t robust sufficient.
These rule modifications had been introduced on the heels of the Nationwide Skilled Fishing League’s assertion Monday that it could be banning FSS outright from observe and competitors. The tour is way smaller than BASS and fewer well-known, but it surely’s the primary professional event collection to institute an all-out ban on FSS.
Each these rule modifications will go into impact for the 2025 season. Right here’s what all this implies.
Bassmaster’s FFS Rule Modifications
To succeed in its resolution, BASS reviewed the findings of its personal expertise committee and event outcomes, in addition to the opinions of conservation companions, trade leaders, and each Elite Sequence professional. Right here’s what they decided.
One Transducer Rule
BASS will likely be limiting the variety of stay sonar transducers to 1, and that transducer should be mounted to the trolling motor on the bow of the boat. Anglers can not use a number of transducers to encompass their boat (beforehand there was no restrict) and it additionally outlaws merchandise just like the RailBlaza Dwell Pole 30 Fish-Finder Mount, which permits anglers to regulate their transducer individually from the trolling motor.
Most of 55 Inches of Display screen
BASS can even restrict rivals to a complete of 55 inches of display, together with bow and sprint head models. The group cited security issues as the principle motive for this resolution. Beforehand, anglers had been capable of run as many entrance graphs as they needed, a pattern that resulted in a number of huge screens on the bow of the boat. In some circumstances, anglers had been working so many massive screens that it was practically unattainable to see straight in entrance of the boat. (It ought to go with out saying, however not having the ability to see over your bow is a recipe for catastrophe.)
One Trolling Motor
BASS additionally added a rule that anglers could solely have one electrical motor mounted to their boats. Whereas utilizing a couple of trolling motor is rare, some professionals have been discovering alternative routes to fish by mounting trolling motors to their shallow water anchors, a setup often known as crappie brakes. These “brakes’”assist you to extra simply management the again finish of your boat, which may be useful when attempting to place for a solid or in the event you see a fish on FFS and must cease the boat in a rush to maintain the fish inside your transducer beam.
New Schedule
Lastly, BASS introduced it’s going to diversify its Elite Sequence schedule by including new lakes to its lineup and eliminating previous standbys. The group stated that “whereas stay sonar expertise will stay a constant device used on the very highest stage of aggressive bass fishing, expertise and a deep-seeded understanding of fish habits, motion and patterns can even be wanted for achievement transferring ahead on the fisheries scheduled.” This transformation seems to handle criticism that BASS was purposely deciding on lakes the place FFS techniques would reign supreme. Whatever the FFS controversy, I’m excited to look at new anglers break down new lakes as a substitute of reviewing the identical 15 to twenty lakes we’ve grown accustomed to seeing the final 5 years.
Rule Modifications Have Prompted Even Extra Outrage Amongst Followers
Followers have been clamoring for BASS to make a name on FFS for years. Now that the group truly has, nevertheless, many followers are nonetheless pissed off.
FFS proponents say BASS’ resolution was brash. It’s pointless to restrict expertise that each angler had the chance to be taught and leverage. It doesn’t matter how superior FFS will get so long as all rivals have entry to it.
In the meantime, anti-FFS followers additionally appear unhappy. The choice doesn’t go far sufficient to get rid of expertise that has modified your entire expertise of professional bass fishing.
I can admire each arguments. Personally, I’m happy with BASS’s resolution. As a fan — and a aggressive angler — watching professionals catch fish with all that limitless tech was not enjoyable. A part of that’s as a result of I don’t like watching somebody watch a display all day, but additionally as a result of it didn’t really feel like a stage enjoying subject to me: I may by no means afford to rig up my bass boat like that. Six graphs up entrance, 4 graphs on the console, a number of transducers hanging from each angle, and tack on crappie brakes? We had been witnessing using tens of hundreds of {dollars} in electronics to catch bass. Deep down I do know that type of gear isn’t obligatory, but it surely was starting to really feel like the one strategy to stay aggressive. Now, although, the prospect of pared-back tech within the 2025 Elite Sequence has me excited to tune in once more.
In the meantime, the Nationwide Skilled Fishing League’s resolution to utterly ban “stay forward-facing sonar” was extra decisive. The NPFL even took a preemptive stab on the BASS ruling by stating, “Limiting transducers or screens or solely permitting the expertise on sure days or hours are half measures that will quiet some opponents of the expertise, however they’re unlikely to cut back its influence.”
To me, the NPFL’s resolution was extra of a publicity stunt than something, and this FFS ban couldn’t have come at a greater time for the group. Though I’ve written earlier than about how professional excursions would by no means ban FFS, I wasn’t counting the NPFL amongst them. This basically unknown tour determined to make a reputation for itself by banning FFS in hopes of pulling a brand new crowd to look at their occasions. And it’s true that when this information broke, professional anglers and followers alike took to social media to unfold the phrase that “FFS has been banned!”
Now, to be honest to NPFL, the league has been capable of preserve lights on for a number of seasons now. However most of us professional bass fishing followers don’t actually take into account NPFL on the identical stage because the Bass Professional Tour and the Elite Sequence. Whereas anglers from the highest two excursions do typically drop in to fish the NPFL occasions, a lot of the large gamers aren’t involved with this decrease stage of competitors.
Closing Ideas on FFS Restrictions
Whereas the anti-FFS crowd has made its stance completely clear in remark sections, I don’t count on these followers to chop ties with their favourite professional excursions and flock to NPFL as a substitute. Nonetheless, I’m intrigued sufficient to maintain tabs on the tour subsequent 12 months, and I’m additionally curious to see the influence the FSS ban has on the tour and its anglers in the long term.
As anglers and followers await the ultimate phrase on FFS utilization and expertise limitations from the ultimate holdout — the Main League Fishing governing physique — it’s protected to say that it’s been fairly the entertaining low season to this point. MLF has not signaled if or when it’s going to change its FSS laws, however it will likely be attention-grabbing to see if these latest bulletins immediate them to make a name. I’m to see how these rule modifications influence viewership amongst fishing followers. However for now, we’ll wait and see if these modifications can shrink the indeniable divide that FFS has brought on inside our ranks.
