The sport's two biggest tournament organisations have now taken formally opposite positions on forward-facing sonar, and the gap is about to be visible at every level of competition.
Major League Fishing announced on August 12 the biggest restructuring of the Phoenix Bass Fishing League since the boater/co-angler format arrived in 2000: anglers can fish solo or in teams, 20 divisions across five regions, five All-American Championships, a $120,000 rigged Phoenix for each winning team, and a REDCREST berth for the winning captain. One line in the announcement settles the technology question for the grassroots circuit - unrestricted forward-facing and 360-degree sonar in 2027.
"This is one of the biggest changes in the history of the Bass Fishing League," MLF co-founder and CEO Boyd Duckett said. "This latest evolution makes it easier to compete with a friend to share expenses, or fish solo to protect your hotspots, while offering more money, more championship opportunities and more reasons than ever to fish."
At the professional end, B.A.S.S. has tightened rather than loosened. Its current rule permits forward-facing sonar at five of nine regular-season Elite Series events and bans it entirely at the other four, practice included. A coin flip decided which was which.
"No single technology should define bass fishing," B.A.S.S. CEO Chase Anderson said. "This balanced approach keeps competition diverse, entertaining and true to the culture of our sport."
The push came from the anglers themselves, through the Angler Board of Professionals.
"This new rule is exactly what the majority of the ABP voted for," said Davy Hite, a former Bassmaster Classic champion. "It creates amazing opportunities for fans to watch different skills shine, and it ensures our next Angler of the Year will be the most versatile angler on the planet."
Australian Carl Jocumsen led through two rounds with 43-1 by concluding that smallmouth were the gamble without a screen. He committed instead to a 70-mile run each way to the shallow grass around Ticonderoga, targeting largemouth.
"Today almost went to exact plan," Jocumsen said after the second round. "I feel like potentially, there's more fish in my main area than I thought there was, which is a good thing."
He hedged all the same. "I always knew I needed a smallmouth element. It just helps you to not run out of areas. If you have smallmouth up your sleeve, you can just go fishing and catch a 4-plus pounder sort of anywhere you go."
How thoroughly the technology had taken over came through in a single line from Sam Hanggi, 29th at the cut: "I've never 2D'ed a bass before until this week."
None of this has cooled the underlying argument. It reignited in March when 22-year-old amateur Dylan Nutt won the Bassmaster Classic on the Tennessee River with 66 pounds, 13 ounces, taking $300,000 and a 2027 Elite Series berth while running LiveScope.
"You can't sit and shake a minnow at a bass you see 50 feet in front of you and then follow it down the bank for a quarter mile and see it reacting in live image, live time, and call it fishing," Blaukat said. "The whole magic of the Bassmaster Classic revolves around the mystery and mystique of the unknown."
Nutt's rebuttal is that the unit is a tool, not an answer.
"You don't just put a unit on your boat and automatically start catching more fish," he told Wired2Fish. "You have to know where the fish are going to be at that time of the year - where they're coming from, where they're going, their mood, their general behavior. It's a lot more difficult than people give it credit for."
He also thinks the advantage is decaying. "A few years ago, livescoping was like shooting fish in a barrel. It was like when the Chatterbait or A-rig first came out. But now every bass has seen a minnow-type bait and they're getting wise to it."
By his account, most of his Classic fish came from casting at cover he had located in practice rather than at individual bass on the screen.
There is a defensible logic to the divergence. The BFL is a $500-entry circuit built around accessibility, and current Bass Pro Tour, Pro Circuit, NPFL and Elite Series pros cannot enter it. B.A.S.S. is refereeing a season-long title.
