Forward Facing Sonar First Impressions
Over the past few years Forward Facing Sonar (FFS) has been all the rage. This piece of technology has been very divisive in the fishing community, especially in tournament circles with many tournaments being won by anglers utilizing it. I recently picked up a
Garmin 93sv along with a
Panoptix transducer and got into the game. Here are my first impressions of this style of fishing.
Before I used my FFS for the first time, I did a little bit of research on how to utilize the sonar. I learned how to adjust the settings to personalize it for my eyes, and I watched Bassmaster tournaments where they simultaneously show a split screen of the anglers fishing and their FFS screen. I also picked up a few lures that have been designed specifically for use with FFS including the
Berkley Krej,
Finisher, and
hover rigs.
As it turned out, these fish were very difficult to catch. Once I would locate a fish on the sonar I’d make a cast directly in its path. The majority of the time these fish would follow my lures but never actually commit. Eventually, I located a pod of 3 fish swimming together, I made a cast to them with my jerkbait, and hooked up with my first FFS fish. It was a 17” cutbow, and I felt like I had just achieved my first medal in a video game!
I then spent the next few hours panning around with my livescope searching for fish to cast to. The pattern of locating fish, casting to them, and watching them follow the lure without committing was quite frustrating. I adjusted baits, colors, speed, etc but I could not get those fish to go. By the end of the day, I had landed a couple trout and a single walleye. It is hard to know how well I would have done without my FFS that day. All the fish were caught in areas one would normally fish even without the sonar (points and transition areas) so I could have reasonably done just as well without it.
Since that first day on the water, I’ve gotten out a couple more times and am improving my utilization of FFS. I learned after my first trip out that I cannot simply rely on my sonar. I even got a headache after staring at my screen all day during that trip! The next time I got out, I made quicker adjustments to my presentations after once again seeing fish follow my lures without committing. To me that has been the biggest personal change in my angling approach. Instead of covering more water looking for active fish with a few key baits, I now find myself swapping presentations a lot more before moving areas.
Before I got this technology for myself, I was on the fence about whether this was a good thing for fishing. Many people paint FFS as a way to automatically catch every fish that pops up on your screen. I’m here to tell you that it’s not that easy. In my opinion this is just a new tool to use for fishing, and you cannot throw away all the other things you’ve learned in your fishing journey thus far. Continue to use your brain in your pursuit of fish and add this as a tool to your arsenal if you so choose. Tight lines everyone!