The Bass Pro Tour is changing seasons this week. After a late-winter event in Texas to open the year, anglers will have to adjust their strategies for what appears to be a full-on spring showdown at Suzuki Marine Stage 2 Presented by YETI on Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes.
That means a shift not only in baits and techniques but, given the BPT’s new forward-facing sonar rules, how competitors plan to utilize their one period each day with the technology. As a result, Mercury pros Spencer Shuffield and Ott DeFoe, along with the rest of the field, have plenty to think about as they prepare for Florida.
Looking back at Conroe
Stage 1 at Lake Conroe became a nice mixture of forward-facing sonar for suspended bass offshore and some old-school power fishing in the grass. Both DeFoe and Shuffield split their catch doing both.
It quickly became apparent, though, that while adding some fish without forward-facing sonar helped, stacking up big weights during anglers’ one period a day with the technology was mandatory to contend. That didn’t come as a surprise to Shuffield, who had only fished one prior event on Conroe – a Toyota Texas Bass Classic more than a decade ago – but spent a few days there before it went off limits late last year.
“I went in December and barely left the ramp and saw bass and shad everywhere and knew immediately it was going to be dominated by forward-facing sonar,” he said. “Most of the quality fish were still out deep, and when they were out there suspended over the river channel around bait balls, it was the best way to catch them, and that’s what we saw at the event.”
DeFoe believes Conroe was likely the year’s last winter event – and maybe the final pre-spawn tournament, too.
“It was a wintertime event at the first of the event,” DeFoe recalled. “But, by the end of it, it was more like early prespawn in the back of Caney Creek. We were at the very beginning of that, so I think that’s why forward-facing sonar was so dominant. It’s too early to tell if every event will be like that or if Conroe was the outlier for our season.”
How FFS will play at the Harris Chain
DeFoe believes forward-facing sonar will still be critical moving forward but acknowledged that Lake Conroe was a perfect storm of timing and rules – something fans may not see again the rest of the season.
“One unique thing about Conroe is that we had a trailered launch, so you could get anywhere you wanted to (quickly) and spend the rest of the time using your 30-minute ride around to start looking for fish,” he said. “On the Harris Chain, with long runs and idles to different lakes, I don’t know if that will be possible. Also, at Conroe, you had to have a good forward-facing period to compete. It’s to be determined if that will be required at the Harris Chain or the rest of our tournaments.”
While the rules are the same, both anglers expect to see much different use of forward-facing sonar in the Sunshine State. It should still be a factor, but how anglers employ it – and how easy it is to catch fish with transducers turned off – will likely contrast with Stage 1.
One of the best in the game with Garmin LiveScope, Shuffield will still use it on the Harris Chain. But he anticipates spawning fish, rather than offshore bait-chasers, will be his primary target. Forward-facing sonar, especially in perspective mode, can still be used to target bed fish and those relating to shallow cover, and Shuffield plans to explore that during practice.
“I’ve never spent much time with forward-facing sonar in Florida, but I can see it being good if you can find some shell beds and throw a drop-shot, crankbait, or jerkbait by targeting the edges of grass,” he said. “The other thing that we may see is guys marking a bunch of fish they see on beds in practice and then go through, fishing for bass they can see on perspective mode and with their eyes.”
While spawning bass will surely be a factor, Shuffield is unsure if that will represent the winning approach. If he does commit to that game plan, he knows he better be efficient. No matter how the fish are caught, he believes it will take big weights to do well.
“It’s hard to catch fish quickly enough when fishing for spawners, and I think it’d be hard to keep up with guys who find a good stretch and just catch them going down the bank,” Shuffield said. “I don’t know if forward-facing sonar will be the dominant approach, as we saw at Conroe, because of how long it sometimes takes to fish for spawning bass. I’ve been watching the weather and feel like we’re going to hit the bulk of spawn right on the head, and it could get explosive down there because it’s already a high numbers place. Most of the fish should be up shallow and biting.”
Watch all the Stage 2 action live on MLFNOW! from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET Thursday through Sunday at MajorLeagueFishing.com, on the MLF mobile app, at MyOutdoorTV and on the Major League Fishing channel on Rumble.