Technology Impact

[Bud Kennedy]

I wanted to voice my humble opinion as it relates to technology applications in our sport and in other sports for that matter.  I have come to the conclusion that technology by itself does not make you better but it may make you more successful.  Some may say if you are a successful angler, you must be better.  It has been my experience that this may not be true it may simply mean you are better at understanding the application of the technology.

Now we can rely on electronics to locate where the fish are located that will help us select the right tools to actually catch a few.  Just how many times have you had your electronic screens full of fish targets but try as you mite you can't get a bite.  To finally achieve the bite you still have to explore other ways to entice them to bite your lure.  On one side the electronics helped you find them but your angling skills had to come into play to close the deal.  Now you have to consider.  Would you have tried all of those methods if you did not know the fish were actually at that specific location.  I contend that most likely you would have moved on after throwing everything you own at that spot.  With the electronics you can be a lot more selective in your methods.  In this case the technology made you successful but maybe not better.

Then there are the realities of trolling motor technology.  The new motors can keep you on a specific spot and even help you auto navigate a specific pattern like a ditch or an underwater road bed.  While that is cool and certainly an advantage it did not make you better at boat positioning it just made you more successful.

I don't think I even need to mention the technology that now exists with your other tackle resources like, rods, reels, line.  Just a whole ton of advantages that up until a few years ago did not really exist for the everyday angler.  Now everyone has access to these products that help them to be more successful but maybe not better.

Technology will continue to advance and we will all be the better for it although many won't be able to afford the probable increase in cost.  I realize it is a pay to play world and that is kinda sad but it is reality.  I don't begrudge anyone who can implement the new technologies but you still have to sit back and ask yourself are you better or just more successful.  Or is better or successful the same thing.  Oh well I will just have to be happy with my $5K boat and motor, my twelve years old electronics and my stash of rods and reels that for the most part are certainly not high end not really application specific.  Too bad for me. I guess until then I will just have to continue hunting for bass in all the best places based on environmental factors that all the decades on the water have taught me.  Nope, I am not better and I am not all that successful but I sure in heck enjoy the hunt.

[BassmanRudy]

Great post Bud. How you are fishing I guess determines what you "need" to go.

For ex- I don't think personally you can compete on a "Pro" level without livescope but also don't think you need to spend the whole tourney just chasing fish around either. But to be honest dropping it down and "seeing" fish around I wanted to fish would be so encouraging. Then if they still don't bite can stay or go.

I'm more a fan of the "smaller" technology when it comes to-
Sharper hooks
Better lure finishes/toughness
Rods that weigh less/balanced well
Line upgrades- thinner/tougher/more sensitive.

I've prob caught more fish on a 6'3" vendetta spinning rod using a wacky rig or shaky head but I also love having all the options for punching or big cranks too.

It's a fabulous fishing world and keeps on getting better!!!!!!

[Eric-Maine]

My first regional tournament was on Bugs Island Reservoir (Kerr) in 1989 ish. 12 volt Johnson TM, Lowrance X5, a chart book with 600 miles or so of shoreline that all looked the same to me. We used Norman DD 22s to search for brush piles and survey ribbon to mark trees to triangulate so to find piles later. As I recall, I spent the week lost much of the time, having to go out to channel markers to determine where on the lake I was.
It would be cool to go back someday with mapping, GPS and spot lock.
I don't fish that much differently now, especially here in Maine, but I would spend a lot less time lost when away on new big water.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

[Bigbass201]

For me it seems to cut time down looking for specific things or wasting time on nonproductive water.  Really hasn't helped catch any more fish but made me more productive with my fishing time.

[topdsm0138]

I've stated this before, me personally, I'm not a "big tech guy" BUT if you are someone like a guide or tournament fisherman, then go for it.

Sent from undisclosed location. -Tiller Mafia

[D.W. Verts]

Don't like none of it. But my opinion means zilch. It is what it is and it's here to STAY.

I've been doing this a long time. But the tech stuff and high prices have put a poor MO basser out of business. A year ago I was very close to ordering a new boat. First off, I couldn't get a price on what I wanted, and still really never did. It would have taken some serious person-to-person with the salesman, 'cuz none of the three I talked to "got it". As a experienced boat salesman myself (20 years of it) I know how important it is to find and fit the customers needs. for these guys that meant a 21 footer with a deuce and-a-half, or bust.

What I wanted was a 20' hull. I wanted a 200 hp motor ("I don't think I can get one with a 200" was what the Bass Cat dealer told me). Seriously. I even tried to price it with the old-school V-6 instead of the XS motor. Folks acted like I was nuts ("that's just a pontoon motor" said one salesman). Holy cow.

THEN I said I wanted a Foretrex instead of the jump high go fast Ultrex. You'd have thought I had said something bad about their momma.

And for the depthfinder, I was pricing the boats with two 10" Garmins, on front and one back. NOT ONE SALESMAN could figure out how to do that.

Anyway, when I found out that a 20' Phoenix with the "brother-out-law" deal was going to be $76,000-ish (and I'm still not sure what all I was getting for the price) and THEN I found out that if I wasn't going to get forward-looking and heat-seeking radar love that I would have a hard time booking guide clients (one of the reasons I was justifying getting a new rig to myself was that I was going to go back to guiding, whatever) I said to HELL with it.

I'm pretty happy with my 15' tin boat. I catch a lot of bass out of it. While it has it's limitations it does have a PowerPole (well, not really, it's a manual shallow water anchor) and a Garmin 7" graph that I almost exclusively have used for water temp (go figure- a $400 water temp gauge, Lord help me).

But that's me. I don't do tech well. I believe that I could still hold my own, even at my advancing and broke-down age (I know Bud, I'm still a kid) if we all ran 17 footers with 150's, a sur-temp, and two flashers. I would prefer a 24V trolling motor maybe tho'. Does that make me a hypocrite?

Dale

[Wizard]

If you didn't make that boat deal, then never go into politics. Only a politician would spend more money on getting a job than the job would pay.
Of course, a $76,000 boat for a part time guide job is magnitudes better than $3,000,000-for a $125,000 politician's gig.

Wizard

[coldfront]

For me it seems to cut time down looking for specific things or wasting time on nonproductive water.  Really hasn't helped catch any more fish but made me more productive with my fishing time.

i'll weigh in as a 'non-competitor'.  learned to fish from the bank.  a VERY stable platform.
had choices (as we all do) when buying my boat.  what to get?  how much to spend?  where were the limits (what could I justify)?

I made my choices (spot lock, side imaging, 360 imaging) for tech.  the deciding factors were around how I like to fish, what I found myself MOST OFTEN wanting to be able to do.  those were:
1.  hold position in current to work specific spots.  have that stable position from which to fish.  (don't have talons/powerpoles 'cause I'm usually not in water where that makes sense and I DON'T bedfish 'knowingly' where I might need to sit and 'work/pester' a fish for up to or more than an hour)

2.  see what's under the water (grass clumps, specific grass species, timber, rocks, ledges) and UNDERSTAND where/how to position to fish them.  not just 'chucking/winding' and 'feeling' my way through it.


I get it.  many folks came up doing exactly these things.  and yes, it made you all better anglers.  that being said:  these electronics now allow that learning curve to be greatly shortened for anyone who can afford the tech.  (can say same thing for all these great 'anti-backlash' reels)

livescope now allows an angler to in real time, see fish behavior, reactions ... and yes locations.  those suspended fish that all the old=school guys would never waste their time on?  they, as it turns out, CAN be caught.  from a 'game-changer' perspective, livescope I think has made suspended fish much more targetable, accessible to angers in much the same way that GPS/side imaging, HD mapping has made off-shore angling/fish more targetable/accessible.

being able to see 'real images' of underwater components brings a HIGH level of fun/enjoyment to me in my time on the water.  since I'm not competing, just 'poking around' it's like one big exploration trip every time I go out there.  sometimes I even stop and fish spots.

and I'll add one more aspect:  big open lakes that really are rivers... I can fish 2 foot or less or I can go out and try to figure out those knuckleheads that hang out in 25 - 35 foot or more...  that's just the TN river.  just over the 'hill' a bit are deep highland reservoirs  100 feet or even 300 feet or more.  deep, clear.  spotted bass meccas.  better electronics help really eliminate water a lot more efficiently.  Of course I could just drop the boat in and start working around the shoreline.  will catch plenty of fish doing that.

and I really wouldn't need half of what I have in my boat.  but there's a huge FUN FACTOR in doing what I do as a recreational angler bent on chasing PBs and de-stressing. 

[big g]

Don't like none of it. But my opinion means zilch. It is what it is and it's here to STAY.

I've been doing this a long time. But the tech stuff and high prices have put a poor MO basser out of business. A year ago I was very close to ordering a new boat. First off, I couldn't get a price on what I wanted, and still really never did. It would have taken some serious person-to-person with the salesman, 'cuz none of the three I talked to "got it". As a experienced boat salesman myself (20 years of it) I know how important it is to find and fit the customers needs. for these guys that meant a 21 footer with a deuce and-a-half, or bust.

What I wanted was a 20' hull. I wanted a 200 hp motor ("I don't think I can get one with a 200" was what the Bass Cat dealer told me). Seriously. I even tried to price it with the old-school V-6 instead of the XS motor. Folks acted like I was nuts ("that's just a pontoon motor" said one salesman). Holy cow.

THEN I said I wanted a Foretrex instead of the jump high go fast Ultrex. You'd have thought I had said something bad about their momma.

And for the depthfinder, I was pricing the boats with two 10" Garmins, on front and one back. NOT ONE SALESMAN could figure out how to do that.

Anyway, when I found out that a 20' Phoenix with the "brother-out-law" deal was going to be $76,000-ish (and I'm still not sure what all I was getting for the price) and THEN I found out that if I wasn't going to get forward-looking and heat-seeking radar love that I would have a hard time booking guide clients (one of the reasons I was justifying getting a new rig to myself was that I was going to go back to guiding, whatever) I said to HELL with it.

I'm pretty happy with my 15' tin boat. I catch a lot of bass out of it. While it has it's limitations it does have a PowerPole (well, not really, it's a manual shallow water anchor) and a Garmin 7" graph that I almost exclusively have used for water temp (go figure- a $400 water temp gauge, Lord help me).

But that's me. I don't do tech well. I believe that I could still hold my own, even at my advancing and broke-down age (I know Bud, I'm still a kid) if we all ran 17 footers with 150's, a sur-temp, and two flashers. I would prefer a 24V trolling motor maybe tho'. Does that make me a hypocrite?

Dale

Dale I'm with you.  This technology is just a big distraction.  Focusing on a screen all day will just have me missing clues like a moving stem of weed, or a gulp noise in the back of a cove, signs of happy water within casting distance.  My eyes can't be concentrating on a screen and getting clues from Mother Nature.  Just old school I guess, I even turn off all the electronics when I start fishing.  The pinging alerts the fish.

[Larry Francis]

I used to fish a lot of Tournaments in the 90's and early 2000's and yes, I had the big 20 ft Skeeter and 200 hp motor with all the toys.  Yes, if you are going to tournament fish then you need deep pockets and state of the art. No very few even come close to making this profitable in any way. So, you must truly love to fish the tournament for the adrenaline or rush or thrill of the occasional great performance. Not because you love to fish. What ruined me was people turning ugly because of the pressure. They will fight over spots, cut people off, and other disrespectful things. Then there are the cheaters, this is more at the local level because Pro's have too much to risk. I will not dwell on this, but it happens way more that most realize. Now things like Yak tournaments have spawned from this and even some electric only tournaments. I believe this will become more popular and you will even see more of this kind of tournaments. More affordable, More evenly kept on equipment, just more of a test of skill than money. I would like to see more tournaments that there is no prize money or even an entry fee, just fish for position. Money is what drives innovation, but it also is what corrupts it.

My biggest concern with the tech of today is a pressure put on the fish. I don't really know how much this hurts the fisheries and the population, but I am concerned that it does.

Just my 2 cents.

[coldfront]

My biggest concern with the tech of today is a pressure put on the fish. I don't really know how much this hurts the fisheries and the population, but I am concerned that it does.

technology advances/use have been helping us put a lot of pressure on fish.  I don't think it hurts the fisheries from a population perspective.  I do wonder, at times, if it might impact the population structure (numbers of larger fish vs smaller) ... but that would be potentially more of a fishcare issue than anything else.  maybe.

fish learn, get conditioned, adapt.  guys using livescope are already sharing that fish are just moving away from 'the ping'.

With GPS and all the technology, we now can find and stay on top of those offshore schools .. really 'mining them' as anglers.  with Livescope, when those fish move, an angler can now move with them.  in shallow water, bed fish I think are now getting wise to anglers as well in some places.  moving off classic spawn spots to areas where maybe they won't be as successful, but can pull off a spawn with LESS bother.


fish will get smarter.  fishing will get harder.  would help if we'd give the populations a break.. but that won't happen anytime soon.  but in terms of numbers, bio-mass?  they're still in there.

local guide here regularly posts up double-digit bass (Chickamauga).  He's catching them using live bait.  Us lure slingers are seeing bigger fish harder and harder to come by.  But they're still out there slurping big shad...

[FD]

For me it seems to cut time down looking for specific things or wasting time on nonproductive water.  Really hasn't helped catch any more fish but made me more productive with my fishing time.

i'll weigh in as a 'non-competitor'.  learned to fish from the bank.  a VERY stable platform.
had choices (as we all do) when buying my boat.  what to get?  how much to spend?  where were the limits (what could I justify)?

I made my choices (spot lock, side imaging, 360 imaging) for tech.  the deciding factors were around how I like to fish, what I found myself MOST OFTEN wanting to be able to do.  those were:
1.  hold position in current to work specific spots.  have that stable position from which to fish.  (don't have talons/powerpoles 'cause I'm usually not in water where that makes sense and I DON'T bedfish 'knowingly' where I might need to sit and 'work/pester' a fish for up to or more than an hour)

2.  see what's under the water (grass clumps, specific grass species, timber, rocks, ledges) and UNDERSTAND where/how to position to fish them.  not just 'chucking/winding' and 'feeling' my way through it.


I get it.  many folks came up doing exactly these things.  and yes, it made you all better anglers.  that being said:  these electronics now allow that learning curve to be greatly shortened for anyone who can afford the tech.  (can say same thing for all these great 'anti-backlash' reels)

livescope now allows an angler to in real time, see fish behavior, reactions ... and yes locations.  those suspended fish that all the old=school guys would never waste their time on?  they, as it turns out, CAN be caught.  from a 'game-changer' perspective, livescope I think has made suspended fish much more targetable, accessible to angers in much the same way that GPS/side imaging, HD mapping has made off-shore angling/fish more targetable/accessible.

being able to see 'real images' of underwater components brings a HIGH level of fun/enjoyment to me in my time on the water.  since I'm not competing, just 'poking around' it's like one big exploration trip every time I go out there.  sometimes I even stop and fish spots.

and I'll add one more aspect:  big open lakes that really are rivers... I can fish 2 foot or less or I can go out and try to figure out those knuckleheads that hang out in 25 - 35 foot or more...  that's just the TN river.  just over the 'hill' a bit are deep highland reservoirs  100 feet or even 300 feet or more.  deep, clear.  spotted bass meccas.  better electronics help really eliminate water a lot more efficiently.  Of course I could just drop the boat in and start working around the shoreline.  will catch plenty of fish doing that.

and I really wouldn't need half of what I have in my boat.  but there's a huge FUN FACTOR in doing what I do as a recreational angler bent on chasing PBs and de-stressing. 

Yep!  I could not have said it better.

Sent from the very edge of civilization...where I belong

[topdsm0138]

"and I really wouldn't need half of what I have in my boat.  but there's a huge FUN FACTOR in doing what I do as a recreational angler bent on chasing PBs and de-stressing."

Coldfront, I agree on this one. Unless you're a Guide, or a Full time "Tourney", it's all just a hobby that we use to get away from it all and relax. Catching fish is just the bonus. Would you rather be out on the water and get "dinked or skunked", or would you rather be stuck behind a desk at work all day? Cheers!




Sent from undisclosed location. -Tiller Mafia

[Larry Francis]

I just read an article that was talking about coming this year new. They will have tech that will follow a certain fish and the GPS and trolling motor will be able to follow that fish as it moves. Talk about targeting big fish.  They also talked about a heads up style display that put you view screen in front of your face no matter how your head turns. So at some point we gotta say enough is enough. 

[Wizard]

Next will be Artificial Intelligence to fish for you. After that, you will be redundant and assimilated by the Borg.

Wizard

[BassmanRudy]

I just read an article that was talking about coming this year new. They will have tech that will follow a certain fish and the GPS and trolling motor will be able to follow that fish as it moves. Talk about targeting big fish.  They also talked about a heads up style display that put you view screen in front of your face no matter how your head turns. So at some point we gotta say enough is enough.

I'm sure "neck specialists" are in high demand right now for anglers who spend 10 hours a day staring down at a screen!!

A pair of glasses wifi'd to the graph and then heads up type display would be kinda easy as gamers already use em and still allow the angler to see normally.

Of course someone will troll the boat  over a spillway and sue...

[Smallie_Stalker]

I had an idea 6 or 7 years ago for VR headsets or smart glasses that could link to your graphs with a split view so you could also see normally. I guess I should have pitched the idea to someone.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[coldfront]

Of course someone will troll the boat  over a spillway and sue...

natural selection is a cold witch...

[BassmanRudy]

Of course someone will troll the boat  over a spillway and sue...

natural selection is a cold witch...

So she is! Would love to remove the warning labels/signs for a few weeks...

[Larry Francis]

Of course someone will troll the boat  over a spillway and sue...

natural selection is a cold witch...

So she is! Would love to remove the warning labels/signs for a few weeks...

THIS! And whle we are at it can we get back to packaging things so they can be reasonably easy to open ?

[Oldfart9999]

THIS! And whle we are at it can we get back to packaging things so they can be reasonably easy to open ?
[/quote]
That's why Buck makes that big folder for.
Before I sold my boat I had a pair 9 inch Hook 2s and a Terrova with spot lock, it's all I would want now if I had a boat. GPS keeps me from getting lost and back to spots another day. Spot  Loc helps me hold a spot without dropping an anchor and to run a trail just fishing. That's all I want.
Rodney