TRIDENT said:

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I would personally ban them in tournaments. I prefer that competition be based on knowledge, skill, luck and ability instead of technology.

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There is something to be said of skill with technology. Some anglers are just better with electronics than others.

I am a Texas Certified Weighmaster. Saltwater tourneys for sure have polygraphs.
And live bait vs artificial only divisions for example....
Divisions are well accepted in tourneys and would be the cleanest.
Weight bonuses for live release or weight penalties for dead fish has been going on forever.....could do similar....I would say 50% weight for FFS.... lol

Great input, thanks. And a novel idea.

Major league fishing already has tournaments like that, with the exception the anglers have forward facing sonar.

Having FFS doesn't mean you'll be able to catch them. The people saying it doesn't take skill to catch them on it more than likely have never used it. It's similar to any other technology in that you still need to have the skill to catch the fish regardless of whether you can see the fish on a screen or not. People have been trying to catch fish they see on electronics for decades, and just seeing them doesn't make them bite.

Also, the likelihood of the sponsors allowing the major tournament trails to ban their biggest money maker are almost nil.

I will say this much, if you're not using it you're at a big disadvantage. I put a HB Live on the bow last year and just added a Garmin a week ago. I also run a HB M360, side scan and down scan sonar. I'm still working on the skills needed to be successful with it. You still have to catch the fish, and that is much more difficult than most think with live sonar. There is still a very high skill level needed to catch fish consistently on different waters.

To me it's just another tool in the toolbox. Back in the days when most only ran flashers on their boats, I was running an X15 paper graph. I had a lot of offshore bass available that no one else fished. Those days are gone. I don't fight the new technology. If you don't adapt to it, you will get left behind.

I used to fish a large tank up in the panhandle that had crystal clear water. You could sight-fish in the shallower areas. I am talking 5 - 8 pound bass.

I can't tell you how many times I saw a big boy just sitting there or trolling around and put a lure right in front of him and failed to catch him. Oftentimes, some little dude would dart in and grab it first or big-boy just wasn't interested.

All that to say, knowing they are there and putting them in the boat are two very different things.

I would say allow it.

MLF is not quite like that. They do know what area or town they are traveling to and it's pretty easy, as an example, when they are told to head to College Station to know they are going to fish either Gibbons Creek or Summerville.
Plus they don't all have the same boat or gear or tackle as he was suggesting.

Explain more about your thoughts about the sponsors and "their biggest money maker".

Understand your point but all images in the past were not live and fish identification was really hit and miss.
One pro fisherman said it as a comparison to looking at a game camera image off your card vs looking at a live cell cam image.

Thanks for input. Understand the input from you guys will be used collectively as discussion for them being used in large money tourneys. Not to ban them from recreational use etc.

Again thanks for the effort in responding. Much obliged!

Good input. Thank you for responding.

I'm on the fence about this one. I don't fish many tournaments outside of saltwater and I only fish STAR and a few CCA tournaments, so I am probably not qualified to answer. I do talk to some local bass tourney guys at lunch and they are all frustrated with guys that come in from out of town, scope all the likely spots for a few days, and then win the money. The working guys don't have them time to do that much pre-fishing/pre-scoping. So it hampers them, even when they have the scope for the day/night of the event.

That said, these are small evening tournaments that only really get the outside fisherman pressure when the big bass pots get big after a few weeks of rollover. I can see prohibiting it at major cash tournaments, if you said it gave an unfair advantage, but I can also see the argument that it is just another extension of GPS/Google maps/Sonar, etc. Seems like a tough place to draw a distinction even though I do believe the LSS technology is leaps ahead of some of those others that were rather game changing at the time. It's a head scratcher to me. Sorry I can't be more help Gunny!

It's just what the Dr. ordered. Get outdoors to get away from it all only to look at a screen all day.

Another tool. Not sure how much help it would be unless you are targeting a kicker to round out a four fish bag. Seems like SI or 360 would be a better tool for the first four then use FFS to catch your kicker.

Thanks for your input sir. I really appreciate it. All comments are welcome.

I used to fish BASS and Redfish Cup. I hate that technology has gone this far. When Hummingbird was granted use of side scan, I made the comment that if it was designed for the military it has no use in bass fishing.

As I get older, i have a caveat and that is entertainment factor. If you are putting on a show and soliciting a bunch of paid endorsements then I can see wanting to land a bunch of big fish for the show.

But for any other reason, use it in practice- set your point- but cannot use during a tournament would be my vote. Im gonna make a bumper sticker "Read water, not screens"

Thank you for your response. Good stuff.
Bumper sticker idea is cool.