Now that we’ve had time to digest the new technology rules for the 2025 Bassmaster Elite Series season, I can say it doesn’t matter to me because I’m going go fishing regardless. I can fish without forward-facing sonar, or I can fish with it.
When the rules were officially made public, there were mostly what I expected. That was really kind of my view on what I’d hoped we would do.
I didn’t want to completely get rid of forward-facing sonar because it does make going up north and fishing a heck of a lot more fun. You catch so many more fish using it because they roam so much.
It wasn’t a deal-breaker for me either way; I just wanted to know how to set my boat up for next year. You could say it was more practical than emotional for me.
Everything on my boat will stay almost the same. I was running only one live transducer anyway, and I wasn’t running the trolling motors on my Power-Poles. So the rule limiting transducers and trolling motors isn’t going to change anything for me.
I will say I’m glad we did away with the trolling motor brakes because you could make fish follow your bait for 2 miles, if you wanted. I think that was one of the main things for me.
I’m glad we’re going to one transducer, but the other big change for me is the screen size limitation. Some people may say that limiting screen size is not a big deal, but it really is.
We’re starting to get these screens that are so much taller at our console. It’s hard to see anyways, and then you put more obstruction in front of us at the height guys were getting it. That’s a major safety deal for me. It’s hard enough seeing over our trolling motors, much less a 22-inch screen sitting 10 inches above our trolling motor.
I haven’t really gotten into discussions with other anglers about the new rules. I’ve heard all their opinions in meetings and in the weigh-in lines, so I kind of know what the other guys think.
Ultimately, you still have to be able to find fish. Are they different fish we’re finding? Yes, but you still have to find them, and you have to catch them.
Just being completely candid here: I have LiveScope and I’m pretty good with it, but I didn’t make the 2025 Classic. I just had a terrible year. It wasn’t that I didn’t find them, it was just losing fish.
I think scheduling will definitely play a big role in how much impact forward-facing sonar has on our sport. If we start going to more of these shallow water places like Lake Okeechobee, the Sabine River and the Mississippi River, we’ll see more guys throwing a spinnerbait and flipping and pitching.
Forward-facing sonar can play in those extreme shallow water events, but it’s not going to be as big of a factor. But if we go to a spotted bass fishery or a smallmouth factory, forward-facing sonar is going to have a major impact.
Ultimately, this technology can be a factor in every single tournament we go to. Someone can catch a fish off of it.
Two years ago, at Santee Cooper Lakes, I caught them with LiveScope off of trees up shallow, and they didn’t notice it because Drew Cook won. The next year, they noticed because I was on Bassmaster LIVE for three days looking at my screen.
Ultimately, even with B.A.S.S. limiting us to one live transducer, one trolling motor and a total of 55 inches of screen, there will still be straight “LiveScopers,” but I think there will be a mixture of guys fishing now.
That’s how I’ve done it the last couple of years. I’m still fishing areas like I used to, but I also have a ‘scope on there to catch that fish or two that’s out there away from the bank.
Ultimately, I think it is a good thing to put limitations, not only to level the playing field, but also to show the normal angler that you don’t have to have $100,000 of equipment on your boat to catch a fish.
