What happened to tournament bass fishing?

Hi and welcome to Texas Fish and Game Unfiltered. My name is Kevin Burke and this is Episode 2.

Today we're talking about something that's been eating at me for a while: what the hell happened to tournament bass fishing?

I grew up idolizing guys like Kevin VanDam, Rick Clunn, Greg Hackney, Mike Iaconelli, and Gerald Swindle. These guys were chess players on the water. They studied weather patterns, water temperature, moon phases, seasonal movements. They'd spend hours figuring out if bass were in pre-spawn, spawn, or post-spawn mode. They understood structure, cover, and how bass behavior changed with conditions.

It was a thinking man's sport.

Now? It's basically turned into playing a video game.

Forward-facing sonar — LiveScope, ActiveTarget, whatever you want to call it — has turned bass fishing into watching fish on a screen and casting at them like you're playing a simulator in your living room.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some old guy yelling at clouds. I'm 37. Technology has always been part of fishing. But there's a line between using technology to find fish and using technology to watch fish in real-time while you throw baits at them until one bites.

Today I'm going to talk about what made bass fishing great, how we got here, and whether forward-facing sonar is innovation — or if it's killing the sport.

And yeah, this is an opinion piece. But it's based on what I'm seeing, what the pros are saying, and what's happening to the next generation of anglers.

Let's dive in.

The Golden Era — When Bass Fishing Was Chess, Not Call of Duty

Let's talk about what made bass fishing legendary.

Guys like Kevin VanDam didn't just go fishing — they did detective work. KVD would show up to a tournament lake and spend days figuring out patterns. What's the water temperature? What stage of spawn are the bass in? Are they shallow or deep? What's the baitfish doing? What's the dominant forage? Is there current? What's the wind doing?

Then he'd figure out if bass were relating to points, flats, grass lines, docks, or laydowns. He'd dial in depth, structure, and presentation speed. By tournament day, he had a pattern — a repeatable strategy based on bass behavior.

That's what separated the legends from the weekend warriors. They understood the fish, not just where they were.

Rick Clunn took it even deeper. The guy would talk about being "in tune" with the lake. He studied bass biology, read scientific papers, and combined intuition with knowledge. He'd make decisions based on gut feelings that were really just years of pattern recognition built up over a lifetime on the water.

When Clunn won tournaments, it was because he understood bass behavior better than everyone else. He'd find fish nobody else could find because he thought differently.

Roland Martin didn't just fish — he taught. His TV show wasn't just sponsorship plugs. It was education. He'd explain why he was fishing a spinnerbait along a grassline in June. He'd walk through his thought process out loud.

That's what built the sport. Guys like Martin created a generation of anglers who wanted to understand bass fishing, not just catch fish.

All these legends had one thing in common: they had to figure it out. They couldn't see the fish. They had to use their knowledge of bass behavior, seasonal patterns, and environmental factors to predict where fish would be and how they'd react.

That's what made it a sport. That's what made it skillful.

I fished in college and got beat regularly by guys who simply had more knowledge. Andrew Upshaw and Ryan Watkins kicked everyone's tail all the time. My good friend David Cosner — may he rest in peace — had a special gift for knowing what to throw and when.

Now let's talk about what changed.

The Technology Creep — From Flashers to Fish Finders to Fish Watchers

Technology has always been part of fishing. Let's be clear about that.

It started with flashers and paper graph depth finders that helped guys find structure. You could see bottom contours, identify drops, find brush piles and rock piles. But you still couldn't see individual fish in real-time. You'd mark something, make a cast, and hope you were right.

Then came traditional sonar — arches and blobs. You'd see fish suspended at 15 feet or relating to a ledge. You'd know they were there. But you still had to figure out how to catch them.

Then came Side Imaging and Down Imaging in the 2000s. This was a game-changer for mapping. You could scan huge areas, find structure, identify isolated cover, and mark waypoints. But again — you weren't watching fish swim around. You were using technology to find places fish might be. You still had to know bass behavior to know if those places would hold fish during that season, time of day, and weather conditions.

All of that was fine. It helped you locate structure and fish more efficiently. But it didn't eliminate the skill gap. The best anglers still outfished everyone else because they understood patterns and presentation.

Then came forward-facing sonar.

What Forward-Facing Sonar Actually Does

Forward-facing sonar like LiveScope uses sonar beams that shoot out in front of your boat — unlike traditional sonar that only shows what's already passed under the hull. You're not looking at a static image. You're watching a live feed of what's happening underwater up to 200 feet away.

You can see individual bass suspended in open water. You can see how they react when your bait gets close. You can see when they follow your lure, when they turn away, and when they bite.

It's like playing a fishing video game. You are literally watching fish on a screen and casting at them.

Here's a typical tournament scenario now: a pro idles along a ledge with LiveScope scanning forward. He sees a fish suspended at 22 feet. He drops a swimbait down, watches the fish on the screen, and works it until the fish reacts. If the fish follows but doesn't bite, he changes baits and tries again. If the fish swims away, he moves to the next one. Rinse and repeat.

You don't need to understand seasonal patterns anymore — just drive around scanning until you see fish. You don't need to read water or structure — the fish tell you where they are. You don't need to figure out what they're eating — just throw stuff at them until something works. You can watch them reject your bait and immediately switch presentations.

The skill isn't in understanding bass behavior anymore. The skill is in operating the electronics and having the right equipment.

What This Is Doing to the Sport

The skill gap is disappearing. In the VanDam era, you could put a rookie and a legend on the same lake and the legend would crush him — because the legend understood bass behavior, patterns, and presentation better. Now put that same rookie on LiveScope and he can see the same fish as Kevin VanDam. The playing field is leveled, but not in a good way. The skill that took decades to develop is now replaced by a few thousand dollars worth of electronics.

The next generation isn't learning patterns. I know young anglers who have never fished without forward-facing sonar. They don't know how to read water. They don't understand pre-spawn versus post-spawn behavior. They don't know what a "summer pattern" even means. They just drive around looking at a screen until they find fish.

Fishing pressure is becoming unsustainable. Forward-facing sonar allows you to target the same fish repeatedly. In the old days, if you caught a bass off a point, you moved on. You didn't know if there were more there or if you should come back. Now you can watch that school of fish on your screen. You can sit there and catch them one by one, come back tomorrow, and target the exact same fish again. On public lakes with heavy pressure, that's a real problem.

It's boring as hell to watch. Remember Iaconelli catching his winning fish in the 2003 Bassmaster Classic, screaming "never give up"? That was compelling television. Now watch a modern tournament broadcast. It's guys staring at screens making 2-foot casts to fish they're watching on LiveScope. There's no story. No pattern. No chess match. Just "I found a school of fish on this ledge and I'm catching them." That's not what built this sport.

The cost barrier is real. A competitive forward-facing sonar setup runs $3,000 to $5,000. Then you need the right trolling motor with GPS anchoring. Then the right graph units. You're looking at $10,000-plus just in electronics before you buy a rod, reel, or a pack of hooks. Bass fishing used to be an everyman's sport. Now it's an arms race.

The Counterarguments — Let's Be Fair

I want to be fair here.

Technology has always advanced. We went from cane poles to graphite rods. From spincast to baitcasters. From monofilament to fluorocarbon. Technology is part of evolution.

But there's a difference between improving your equipment and fundamentally changing the game. Forward-facing sonar doesn't make you a better angler — it replaces the need to be a better angler.

The LiveScope defenders say you still need to know what bait to use and how to present it. That's fair. But that's like saying you need to know how to pull the trigger after someone points the deer out for you. Yeah, there's still a skill component — but you've removed the majority of the challenge.

I'm not blaming the anglers either. These guys are competing for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Of course they're going to use every legal tool available. I'm questioning whether the technology should be legal in competition at all.

What Should Happen

Ban forward-facing sonar in tournaments. Keep traditional sonar, Side Imaging, Down Imaging — all the tools that help you find structure and locate fish. But eliminate real-time fish-watching technology in competition.

And actually — this is starting to happen. In 2026, B.A.S.S. is banning forward-facing sonar in four of the nine regular-season Elite events. That's huge. That's B.A.S.S. saying they need to see what happens when anglers compete on skill and pattern knowledge again.

Will it become permanent? Will they expand it to all events? Hard to say. Garmin, Lowrance, and Humminbird are major sponsors and there's a lot of money involved. But the fact that B.A.S.S. is even testing this tells you everything you need to know about how controversial forward-facing sonar has become.

Create "No LiveScope" tournament circuits. Some regional circuits are already doing this, marketing themselves as pattern fishing tournaments where forward-facing sonar is banned. This could grow into a legitimate alternative circuit that rewards skill over equipment.

Limit it to practice days only. Allow forward-facing sonar during practice to locate fish and figure out what they're relating to. Ban it on tournament days. Force anglers to use their knowledge and memory instead of watching a screen all day.

Invest in education for young anglers. Fishing organizations, YouTube channels, and content creators need to focus on foundational skills — how to read water, understanding seasonal patterns, structure versus cover, bass behavior and biology. Make it cool to understand the why behind fishing, not just the where.

Self-regulation. This one's on us. Just because the technology exists doesn't mean we have to use it. I know guys who refuse to use forward-facing sonar because they want to preserve the challenge. They want to think, not just watch a screen. If enough people push back, the culture can shift.

Where I Land on This

Forward-facing sonar is legal, and I don't blame anyone for using it in tournament competition. If you're fishing for real money, use every legal advantage you've got.

But that doesn't mean it's good for the sport.

The things that made bass fishing great — the pattern game, the mental chess match, the deep understanding of bass behavior — are disappearing. We're creating a generation of anglers who can operate electronics but can't read water. They can catch fish on LiveScope but are lost without it.

I use Side Imaging. I use modern sonar. I use GPS and mapping. I'm not against all technology. But there's a line between using technology to be more efficient and using technology to replace skill entirely.

Forward-facing sonar crossed that line.

I want young anglers to learn how to figure out patterns. I want them to understand why bass are in certain places at certain times. I want them to be able to go to a new lake with just a depth finder and catch fish because they understand the species.

Kevin VanDam didn't become the greatest of all time because he had the best electronics. He became the greatest because he understood bass better than anyone else.

That's what we're losing. And I think it's worth fighting to preserve.

So back to the original question: what happened to bass fishing?

Technology happened. And we crossed a line from innovation to replacement.

If you love LiveScope and it helps you catch fish, great — I'm not telling you what to do. But let's be honest about what we're trading away in the process.

The fact that B.A.S.S. is banning forward-facing sonar in four tournaments tells you this debate is real and it matters.

I want to hear from you — do you use forward-facing sonar? Do you think it's killing the sport or just evolving it? Should tournaments ban it? Are young anglers learning patterns or just learning screens?

Find me on the Texas Fish and Game Network, where we're bringing Texas outdoorsmen together. Join us at texasfishandgamenetwork.com.

Thanks for listening to Texas Fish and Game Unfiltered. Until next time — get outdoors and find your peace.