Forward Facing Sonar Works Great At Showing Potential But It Ends There

So a blank PMTT leaderboard = data? There were blank PMTT leaderboards long before FFS ever existed.

BigWerm wrote:

Didn’t lots of teams blank with FFS too? It would be interesting if they allow FFS, to do a longer term study of the tourneys pre and post FFS.

PMTT banned FFS so no teams using it. The year they banned it a team way ahead of the FFS curve mopped up one tournament. They struggled in 2 or 3 tournaments before that using the same setup, so it wasn’t a magic bullet at that time either. Only in the right situation.

Youbetcha wrote:

I think the one point is being missed with FFS in relation to muskies is the fact that people without much experience or the proper gear can target them a lot easier. They most likely dont know how to handle a fish of that caliber and could end up dropping a trophy class fish on hot boat carpet. I think that is where most musky guys are annoyed with it. Personally i dont really care a whole lot. Its a shrinking sport especially on the metro lakes.

Target or catch? And no offense but the “these guys don’t know how to handle a fish” mantra really bugs me

tswoboda wrote:

Target or catch? And no offense but the “these guys don’t know how to handle a fish” mantra really bugs me

I would say both. But again from a personal level I really dont care. Just what I have heard and read when this comes up.

Catching… sure. But heaven forbid someone new to muskie fishing actually have success

IDK about targeting though. I think the easiest way to start targeting muskies still belongs to longline trolling a bucktail or spinnerbait behind the pontoon on the evening lake lap lol. That or soaking a sucker. Doesn’t involve $3k+ in electronics at least

Trolling is so boring though

No argument from me there

I already shared most of my thoughts in the last FFS thread, but I will chime in on this one too since I keep seeing the same two weak arguments pop up:

#1: “What about GPS/DI/SI/trolling motors etc., didnt they help catch more fish? Should we ban those too?”

Yes, obviously each of those technologies help put more fish in the boat and very few people would support banning them. This line of thinking actually supports taking a closer look at tech in fishing. Combining all these technologies continues to put more pressure on our lakes and at some point there will need to be limits. As we can see even in this thread, there will be significant opposition to “banning” any tech that is mainstream, so it will be important to get ahead of future advances.

#2: “Finding fish on FFS doesnt mean they will bite”

Again, yes, obviously. Finding fish more efficiently leads to higher catch rates. FFS is a very powerful tool allowing anglers to find fish faster than previous technologies (in certain situations). Anyone who has watched a tournament lately knows the majority of anglers are absolutely glued to their screens, so to pretend its not a big advantage over old tech is ridiculous/laughable at this point.

To be fair, I do think there are more credible arguments pro-FFS that state something along the lines of “the point is fishing is to catch fish, so catching more fish is a good thing.” I can get on board with this one, I want to catch more fish too. I think the core question/issue relates to hooking mortality rates (especially for Muskies) and can our lakes handle higher catch rates at current stocking levels?

With all that said, I would be in full support of a $25 Muskie and/or Walleye stamp that went directly towards stocking.

nevermind

tswoboda wrote:

No argument from me there

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In regards to FFS and muskies, I have the crazy take that if you’re out in the open water basin without it, you’re fishing unethically.

Most fish aren’t down deep, but some are, especially as you get out of June. If you’re just trolling the 40 ft basin with a Headlock down 10-15′, nothing is stopping a charged up fish coming from 35 ft. However, if you’re using FFS and you’re educated on barotrauma, you aren’t casting at that fish 35 ft down. In fact, pretty much everyone I know just sets the max depth to 15 and ignores anything down deep.

I have fished this way, but my favorite is still casting bucktails in shallow. I usually have the FFS pole in while I do it and I get a heads up if something is hot on the bait halfway to the boat which is pretty cool. Especially since another 50% of those fish don’t come close enough to be seen by eye. Gives awesome data to know if a spot is good or not that I otherwise would not have had.

grubson wrote:

I get where the name comes from……

Not going to stoop to your level!!!