Technological advances in fishing continue | News, Sports, Jobs

A few years ago, my generation pioneered video technology that undoubtedly benefits hundreds of thousands of anglers on their boats today.

We were avid players of Pong, then Pac-Man and Space Invaders, then Super Mario Bros. and Tetris. Our generation helped usher in the age of video games while enjoying the cutting edge technology of the time, even though we went to school in an era when slide rules ruled and Texas Instruments calculators were banned from math classes.

Today, wherever we look, smartphones, laptops and other devices are helping us think, learn, eat, shop and communicate with each other.

Technology is everywhere, and it's having a huge impact on fishing.

On Thursday morning, under the scorching sun and frosty heat of glass-smooth Mosquito Lake, I witnessed what many would interpret as a video game version of bass fishing.

To say this new technology has been impactful is an understatement. In conditions that bass anglers would once find difficult — extremely hot and slippery calm — my fishing buddy Tyler Walk and I caught more than 15 largemouth bass, each fish located thanks to technology that might have been considered science fiction just a few years ago.

Technological advances over the past decade have brought sophisticated fish-locating sonar to the market, coupled with highly accurate GPS-based positioning devices, so that anglers who can afford the new equipment are mounting them on the bow or console of their boats and significantly increasing their fishing success.

Tyler, who is approaching his 25th birthday, is from a generation that was playing video games around the time my generation was trying to learn their ABCs, and he identifies with the information displayed in a complex array of colorful pixels, including on the wide screen of the Garmin forward-facing sonar unit mounted on the bow of his bass tracker.

We fired up the Garmin and Tyler’s Utrex trolling motor early Thursday morning, and just after 6 a.m. Tyler anchored the boat in 12 feet of stump-strewn shallow water.

“They're here,” he said, “and we're going to get them.”

And then we “caught fish.” After about a dozen casts, Tyler reeled in a 2-pound fish. I joined him a few minutes later. We caught our limit of bass just 20 minutes after leaving the pier, and over the next few hours we caught our limit of five fish, all weighing nearly 15 pounds.

Our mission was to use Tyler's knowledge of forward-facing sonar to win Thursday's bass tournament. We came up a few pounds short, but I drove home impressed with my friend's ability to make good decisions about tactics and presentations based on the information displayed on the bow-mounted screen of his Bass Tracker. His Garmin unit not only showed me bottom configuration and bottom depth — information that sonar has provided anglers for decades — but also how far from the boat the cover and fish were located.

With that information at a glance, anglers can determine the exact angle to cast, how far to throw, and even see the lure as it drops through the water to the fish and how it reacts.

Once he knows where the fish are, Tyler can set the Spot Lock feature on his Ultrex trolling motor to automatically lock the boat in the desired location.

It's useful because you can actually see in real time how the fish are biting the bait – if they see the lure and turn away, you know something's wrong and can adjust accordingly.

Proponents are hailing forward-facing sonar and GPS as the future of fishing. But some say the new technology takes the mystery out of fishing. Others say the technology gives too much of an advantage to anglers. And still others say the new tools are too expensive, putting them out of reach for those who can't afford them.

It's safe to say that this technology is here to stay, and will undoubtedly continue to improve in the future. For younger anglers buying new equipment to enjoy fishing, it's a part of everyday life, and for those of us older folks looking to learn new tricks, it's no doubt a great help.

Jack Wolitz is the author of over 1,800 newspaper columns, over 300 magazine features and the book “The Common Angler,” published in 2021. Email Jack at [email protected].

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