Armed with forward-facing sonar, an angler is privy to a bass’ precise position, as well as its immediate response to the lure and presentation. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Samuel)
March 03, 2025
By David A. Brown
From the sidelines, one can hear all the hype around live sonar and view it merely as an electronic cast net. But that’s really not the case. This spell-binding technology equips and enables anglers like nothing ever seen before.
Yet, when it comes to catching fish, can any amount of electronic enlightenment really deliver “easy” consistently? Indeed, this relatively new technology, commonly called forward-facing sonar (FFS), is a game changer; however, it still isn’t a “gimme.”
“Forward-facing sonar gives you bait awareness,” says Bassmaster Elite pro Patrick Walters. “It lets you see a vertical stream in the water column to a desired range, typically within 100 feet, and gives you a detailed look at your bait’s position and at what else is in the water column. But it doesn’t tell you where the bass are, and it doesn’t make the fish bite. You still have to go find the fish. When you do, the technology allows you to see where they are in the water column and gauge their activity level.”
REAL-TIME SCRUTINY From Garmin’s pioneering Livescope to Humminbird’s MEGA Live to Lowrance’s Active Target and the new, budget-friendly Eagle Eye 9 Live, FFS’s popularity centers on one key benefit: real-time observation of gamefish and their forage. Anglers get to see their positioning and the way they relate to one another in high definition and real time. In addition, anglers can follow on their sonar screen the fish’s response to lures and presentations.
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Although live sonar is not a crystal ball or a magic wand, anglers employing it can now see fish where they never had been able to before. They can also see them doing things that have only recently come to light. From seasonal pattern variations to interested fish you wouldn’t expect to track your bait, this window into the bass’s world displays the playing field an angler faces better and faster than traditional sonar.
“Anglers and fisheries biologists had been working with our best educated guesses,” says Bassmaster Elite pro John Garrett. “FFS now gives us cold, hard facts on where bass live, what they do and what they eat. You learn so much, you can even recognize the fish’s mood. But it’s a lot of information to process.”
The jig-and-minnow combo is a killer option for targeting bass suspending somewhere between the mid and lower sections of the water column. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Samuel) INTEL AND APPLICATION Garrett is quick to stress that one must learn to interpret the clues provided by FFS in order to close the gap between seeing a fish and catching it. As Walters notes, consistency requires a blend of observation and angling acumen. He was one of the first to showcase live sonar’s astounding potential, setting the all-time record for the largest winning margin in the Bassmaster tour, winning the 2020 Elite event at Lake Fork, Texas, by 29 pounds 10 ounces. Keeping his eyes glued to his sonar screen, the South Carolina angler picked apart the lake’s standing timber and targeted bass suspending in the tree tops.
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“It used to take us 10 casts to hit a brush pile with a bait. You’d go, ‘OK, I finally found it,’ and then you’d lose the brush pile after a couple of casts. Now, you pull up, hit the brush pile in two casts and quickly tell if there’s anything there or not,” says Garrett.
The benefits of FFS don’t stop there. The ability to differentiate baitfish species—from threadfin gizzard shad to sunfish, white bass and more—by their size and density helps Garrett make better bait choices. And keeping his bait above snags and watching fish come from angles likely to create problems enable him to adjust to minimize frustrations.
“When going through standing timber, you have to consider the sun angle,” Garrett says. “You need to be looking at the shady side of whatever you’re fishing. FFS will show you that’s where the fish are going to be.”
Walters clarifies that FFS is only one tool in a requisite mix of many. Success hinges on your ability to translate mapping into prudent site selection, and read and interpret a multitude of sonar views, judge seasonal patterns and more.
Jerkbaits designed for FFS are most effective on bass hanging at 10 to 20 feet near baitfish schools. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Samuel) TUNED TACTICS While FFS’s real-time recon benefits practically any scenario, it’s not deemed as effective during the spawn, when anglers key on bedding bass. Nevertheless, Florida’s Scott Martin used FFS to best the rest of the field at a 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series tournament in the Harris Chain of Lakes by peeking into vegetation pockets to pinpoint bedding largemouths while remaining far enough to avoid spooking them. That same year, Oklahoma’s Luke Palmer won the Elite event at Santee-Cooper by staking out and using his Humminbird MEGA Live to spot spawners that moved up to the cypress trees. Based on the fish’s activity displayed, he identified their territorial sweet spots to pitch Texas-rigged creature baits.
One of FFS’s biggest revelations has been “roamer” bass found near, but not in, traditional hangouts. Checking grass lines, points and shallow cover running in and out of pockets and creeks was always a productive strategy for pre- and post-spawn bass. However, anglers venturing into the deeper, open waters adjacent to said typical travel lanes often find suspending fish now too.
“Even when you think most of the fish are on the shoreline, they’re not,” says Garrett. “About 75 percent of the bass in a lake don’t live on the shoreline, so you’re fishing for the bigger population of bass when you’re using FFS off the shore.”
Garrett explains that bass spend most of their life roaming, whether it’s down the shoreline from stick to stick or out in open water.
“When they’re on a piece of cover, they’re resting or using the shade. But when they’re roaming, they’re usually hunting down food,” he says. “And when bass suspend in the water column, they can easily adjust up and down with changes in water temperature, water quality, food and sunlight.”
Walters warns that shallow-water anglers can mire themselves by overanalyzing every stick and stump on the bank, when they could simply be covering water with an old-school, bank-burning approach. Palmer prefers a blended strategy.
“If I’m going down a bank, I’ll still have FFS on so I won’t miss a bonus fish out in deeper water,” he says.
When in search mode, Garrett uses a spinnerbait or something with drawing power to cover water, then goes back with a more bite-friendly jig or worm. But he always keeps navigational safety top of mind.
“Even when I’m fishing shallow, I want to look ahead of the boat so I won’t run aground or hit a stump,” he says.
Despite all its attributes, FFS is not effective everywhere. It doesn’t do well in especially stained water, in a heavy current or in dense grass beds—unless bass are utilizing isolated patches or holes in the vegetation.
“Stained water or a heavy current make bass hang on the bottom or hold tight against cover, so you won’t see them with FFS,” says Garrett.
When faced with a stained-water situation, he uses his sonar to find a piece of cover. When he encounters a heavy current, he looks for seams and watches for fish in the slack water.
SETTING ADJUSTMENTS The pros agree that anglers should be open to adjusting their FFS unit’s settings for varying scenarios. Even different creek arms on the same lake may require you to change your settings to get the right picture. Garrett likes his settings “hot,” as in really high power.
“The first thing I do is turn my color gain way up and the noise rejection down. I brighten up everything for a better return and dim down the noise, so it gives me a much clearer picture,” he says.
He also sets his transducer angle a couple of clicks higher than normal. This allows him to see smaller lures at their most noticeable point.
“You don’t really lose much of what’s on the bottom, but you gain a lot at the surface,” says Garrett. “And one of the best times to see your bait is when it hits the water.”
TOOLS FOR THE TASK Make the most of FFS with a top-notch supporting cast. Clockwise from bottom left: Lindy B-Max Jig, Strike King Homing Minnow, VMC Redline Series Tungsten Swimbait Jig, Z-Man Graph ShadZ, Booyah Flash Point, Sunline Almight Braid. With the rapid advancement and increasing popularity of forward-facing sonar, the past few years have seen a steady stream of lures and tackle designed to be used specifically with this technology.
Here are some of the top new introductions.
Booyah Flash Point Strike King Homing Minnow VMC Redline Series Tungsten Swimbait Jig Lindy B-Max Jigs Z-Man Graph ShadZ Sunline Almight Braid This article was featured in the February 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe
