KEITH CARSON: Embracing the FFS revolution

Like everyone else, I’ve spend the past couple of years working on my forward-facing sonar game. As we’ve seen in so many tournaments the last few years, it’s become the way to win, or at least to have a shot at winning, and I’m doing my best to branch out and stay competitive.

That’s what it’s come to in tournament bass fishing, and believe it or not, as a shallow-water guy from Florida, I like the change. I’ve enjoyed fishing this way when the time is right. I still have a lot to learn, and I’m not Jacob Wheeler or Drew Gill with it, but I can see the fish and catch them, and it’s been a lot of fun learning something new.

Shallow-water lessons are translating to FFS

I see a lot of similarities between fishing shallow, as I’ve done all my life, and what’s being done on the screen now. Some principles I’ve always lived by have helped speed up the learning curve.

One key I’ve noticed is lining up your cast. That’s so important with shallow targets and equally critical when I see a fish on my Lowrance ActiveTarget. All of my time spent bed fishing is also translating, as I can read the fish in many ways — knowing how they are moving and determining which fish is catchable based on how fast they are swimming. In many instances, it’s the same when you see them with your eyes as it is with your electronics.

Sight fishing is my favorite way to catch bass – it’s a part of who I am and how I made it to the Bass Pro Tour. Many of the skills I honed looking at bass with my eyes are still applicable when I see them on a screen. Paying attention to the direction the bass faces applies to sight fishing and forward-facing sonar. It’s the same with timing your casts based on where a fish is going; that’s a big deal with both casting to shallow cruisers and bait-chasers suspended over deep water, because you have to get the bait placed perfectly in front of them to have a chance of getting them to bite.

A whole new world

I enjoy fishing with forward-facing sonar because it opens up a whole new world and allows us to catch fish we never even knew about. It hit me when I was fishing on Lake Champlain, and I caught smallmouth suspended in 100 feet of water, which would have never been possible before this technology.

As a shallow-water guy at heart, this blew my mind. I consider deep water to be 8 or 10 feet. Back home in Florida, anything that’s 12 feet of water may as well be the ocean, so catching those fish on Champlain really opened my eyes to what’s possible.

With all of this new fishing, I’ve also enjoyed learning the new baits designed for fishing this way, like all of the new Berkley stuff. Aside from the typical jighead minnow and drop-shot rigs, the Berkley Finisher has been great for experimenting and catching those suspended bass. It’ll dart all over, and you can get it to do all sorts of things, and the fish can’t stand it.

Most of my experience with forward-facing sonar has been in deeper water, but I’m working on making it more relevant in the shallows, because it has potential. This is a big change in the fishing world, and instead of fighting it, I’m doing my best to embrace it and see what’s possible.