Why Are Fans Pushing Back from Professional Bass Fishing?

I was a bass and flw member for decades the last 4 year I gave up on it all… pros use to fish out of an 18ft , 150hp boat for $100,000. It has been on a giant decline since they started eliminating co anglers on circuits and you cant compete without thousands of dollars on electronics

Bass tournaments should be banned by state fish and wildlife agencies both at the professional and amateur levels. This is from someone who used to fish them.

Forward facing sonar has a place in my opinion. That place is in instructional settings, whether it is a private lesson or a video, because no one is going to learn a fishing technique that does not produce fish demonstrably. It behooves instructors to show that their techniques work, so in these settings I believe that this electronic capability is appropriate. They find the fish and demonstrate that their techniques work by catching them. As far as normal bass fishing goes I believe that persons using forward facing sonar should be limited to catch and release only, as the advantage gained by the use of this equipment is so large that it is easier to catch larger numbers of fish that can deplete the fish population. I also believe that finding the fish is a huge part of the competition in a tournament setting, so in my view I do not think that it should be allowed in tournaments. My personal preference is to hunt the fish without electronics, and then make presentations in the spots I have chosen through my instincts and experience. I do not use electronics at all (though I own some I have used in the past, and no longer use) and only catch and release. For the record, I am retired and spend a lot of time fishing. I love it. I am in it for the sport and enjoyment, and my only concerns are the enjoyment of the activity and the future of the sport so that it can be enjoyed by and for generations to come.

Steve. I believe it’s become a rich man sport. I fished in the 90s where there was a change to reach the pro’s and become one. Now it’s totally out of reach for the very day bass angler.

NO ONE ENJOYS WATCHING IT…

I used to watch every professional tournament start to finish. I watched all videos of their practices. I didn’t miss a second. Now, if the tournament has FFS, I don’t turn it on. I don’t even check the tournament rankings. Nothing, I’m done with it. Keep FFS if you want, I’m not going to argue with anyone, but you won’t get anything from me. I had every tournament on my calendar. I looked forward to every single one. Not anymore. It’s ruined.

On the surface, many of the things you mention SEEM like really big important issues. However, as someone who used to watch Bassmasters in the 80s vs now, the real difference I see is social media which tends to blow everything out of proportion in order to get engagement because the algorithm created by YT rewards engagement, not content. The other thing you need to research is demographics. What are the demographics of people who are unhappy about the areas you mention? FFS is a simple example . Those who hate it, regardless of whether they actually have a reasoned position, are overwhelmingly the 'over 50 and over 60' crowd where as the younger fans who have literally never known a time in their lives where the word 'cell phone' or 'internet' or 'social media' was NOT an actual word, have no issue with this and other new tech. As a matter of basic social dynamics, older generations of humans are in general always more resistant to change than younger ones and most entities that do NOT evolve over time don't survive. Change is INEVITABLE in everything and you either embrace or get left behind.
Always remember this: even if you are on the right track, if you're standing still you'll eventually get run over. Randy Blauket is the poster child for this .. he constantly rages about wishing we all would just returns things to like they were in the 1980s which is just a complete fantasy view of the world.
One of my best professors during my first masters degree said something that has always stuck with me and has stood me in great stead during my professional and personal lives . She said at the end of each course she taught when she handed out the mandatory student critiques that she didn't care what any student wrote about her since she never read them because they were meaningless. They were meaningless because just because you were a student did not mean you understood ANYTHING about what made a good instructor.
As you pointed out, fans are all over the map in what they like and don't like, with much of their positions being diametrically opposed to each other wrt creating interesting content to watch. 99% of them have no professional background in creating interesting content, they just know what the like based on their own prejudices, just like student who know what kind of tech her they like, regardless of whether said teacher is actually any good. The old adage 'you can't please everyone' also comes force ably to mind.
It would be interesting to see what the actual unbiased numbers are for fans watching events vs was it was back in the '80s? One data point I have noticed is that when you see shots of the 'crowd' during daily weigh ins it looks about the same as I remember when I saw weigh ins in the '80s …

The live format is not as good as the old edited style show. Watching someone fish for 8hrs sucks and it doesn't matter if you're throwing a spinner baits or looking at livescope if you not catching fish it sucks Watching!

My brother fishes 40-50 times a year as a recreational bass fisherman in PA with a 4 gladly 12 hour a day job. He will not watch scoping . Yes he’s talking about the new lures etc and his 30-40 rods he has I see as ridiculous as i woukd rather just wade out in the Susquehanna River and crank bait n tackle water the small mouth with my couple rods n 10 lures . I will watch a non scoping tournament. I’m not watching a scooter chase a bass around a lake like a teenager chasing a girl. The fisherman today are not better . I think they should have a tournament where they all get 5 lures a day and see how it shakes out . That would be interesting…….

It’s funny everyone talking about staring at the back of guys heads. I thought the point of fishing was to catch fish. The ones complaining about livescope are the same ones that has probably never use it. It’s ridiculous. Where was all this BS when side image and down scan came out. It’s the exact same thing as livescope. It’s another tool in the toolbox. The only reason to watch fishing is to see them catching fish.

Great honest video. I don't tournament fish but I watch videos. My favorite in my 4 guys that fish the MLF. Mark Daniel Jr., Jacob Wheeler, Adrian Avena and Dustin Connell. These 4 guys put out great videos. So entertaining.

I hate 5 fish running around in a live well to the weigh in way more that FFS. Every fish counts, weigh and release is the greatest advancement in the sport in years. The fact is we are making more people but the lake count stays constant or declines. I love the sport, say what you will, but FFS has it's own skill set, I have watched some of the best plan to get healthy in their FFS period only to flop. Gill did so at Redcrest, and he is not chopped liver. I respect it all, I understand reservations about harm to the sport and fisheries, but come on live and let live and enjoy the life we have, God Bless.

I think many fans have become "Gen-Z-ized". With the free, all day streaming, they have forgotten that we used to have to wait at least a week for a detailed report on a Tx. Then it was a much anticipated, exciting summary of a every big Tx catches squeezed into 42-48 min air time. It was a presentation pumped up with by Bob Cobb's narration. We are spoiled and want more excitement than watching somone look at their sonar. We have forgotten tha they have been staring at sonar looking for fish for 30 yrs, but just not watched it on TV, unless we were a co-angler. We have forgotten a good full day of Tx fishing may only be 6 or 7 good bites. We get the streamimg for free and won't tolerate having to pay to watch of pay for a more exciting production. i.e. we've become spoiled brats complaining about having only chocolate icecream, and whining why we can't have a free choice of strawberry or orange sherbert on demand.