Should Livescope be banned in tournaments

I followed this last elite tournament at Santee Cooper. Bass moved up and were spawning on hard cover and in the pads. Watching the replays, there were guys sight fishing them "old school" and then there were guys down on the dirty end of the lake, pulling up and live scoping cypress trees in 2-5ft of water and then fishing for fish they could not see without the livescope, that were obviously spawning in the cypress knees around them. They'd sit on a tree for an hour or more, the same tree that, prior to livescope, they would normally flip 3-5 times and just move on to the next one. Even though they couldnt see, due to the water being like chocolate milk, they knew there were multiple females hanging around a bed, so they camped out and one guy was even telling the camera that there were 4 females spawning on a certain tree and all were all between 5 and 8 lbs. It is honestly turning into more of playing a video game that it is actually fishing. At what point does it become unsporting?

I think they should.

These guys banned the A-Rig and double-fluke rig, saying they were unsporting. Or, some of them did. Many of the ones who did are now with MLF.

But a powerful sonar unit that shows your ice-fishing jig on 6-pound line sinking to a fish AND you can see the fish react is not unsporting? It's just part of the deal, something that's cool? And you have 2-3 screens on your boat?

IMO that's bullchit.

I like the idea of seeing what's under the water. I like technology and all that. I think it's fascinating.

But they're hypocrites, solely because of the money. If the A-Rig generated the money that LiveScope did, they'd be allowed.

Most of the tournaments I have watched this year is just a guy staring down at his livescope. They will never get banned.. that jar has already been opened.

I agree. I too think they should be banned. But, I fully agree with Clem, it will never happen. Watch all the commercials on any fishing show, they are dominated by Lowrance, Hummingbird, Garmin. Way too much big sponsor money involved. If all A-rigs were manufactured by one single company and that one company gave $100's of thousands in sponsor money to BASS, they would probably have an A-rig only tournament, where that was the only bait you were allowed to throw. LOL. All about the money and yes, they are 100% hypocrites.

Yep. Totally agree.

Absolutely They should be banned!

Agree. Unsporting and should be banned from tourney fishing.

Sure I'll get trashed - but I think tournaments should be banned. Nothing but exploitation of a public resource.

I hate watching crappie fishing videos now because all they do is pull up and watch the Livescope as they put the minnow or jig in the fishes face. I enjoy the old school folks that have a cheap old depth finder and works to catch a few. Maybe that’s too much also. I guess it is what we are to now.

Exploitation of a public resource??? All fish are released back into the same lake they were caught out of. With advances in livewells and fish handling, fish mortality is at an all time low from tournaments. Now weekend anglers with non-insulated livewells, that may or may not have properly functioning aeration, keeping fish, etc are much more detrimental to the resource than tournaments, in my opinion.

Not trashing you and there's nothing wrong with someone keeping a mess of fish for a fish fry but step back and think about what you just said. If you were a 7 lb bass, would you rather be caught by a pro that will release you and has thousands of dollars at stake if he does not keep you alive and get you back in the water safely, or would you rather be caught by Joe Bob in his jon boat, with no livewell, that rarely catches a fish over a couple pounds, that will keep you and kill you just so he can drive you around town in his ice chest showing you off to his friends?

I am an old folk and, when I started bass fishing out of my first boat, I didn't have a depth finder. Even, in the 70's, when I started fishing tournaments, the only depth finder I had was a flasher. I believe the Livescope should be banned, as well as any other depth "machine" that enables an angler to "video" fish.

spot on.. Tourney anglers do their damage ive seen the carnage my self ( especially at g-ville). All parties are guilty.

lol. definetley expensive

😁^^^

I’m with you.

I want to see the most and biggest fish caught possible. Livescope, a rig, bed fishing let them do it all

If you gonna see it before you catch it...then the rule should be you can only land 1 fish

Poor ole fish ain't got a chance these days.

With all the money being spent to find fish nowadays, are tourney bags any bigger these days than they were 40 years ago?

See now, if you put an obvious camera on a 14' Bamboo pole and started poking around under docks it would look like cheating wouldn't it ?

Yes.

40 years ago, heck even 30-35 years ago, you could catch 12-14 pounds a day every day and probably make the Bassmaster Classic. A 20- or 25-pound bag was pretty sweet. I've heard, and talked with, Clunn about this. Back then the Classic was the biggest achievement, both getting into it and then winning it. Twelve or 14 a day, every day of the tournaments, probably would put you in the show.

After the early 1990s when Van Dam, Yelas and that era landed, the weights started increasing. Not gigantically, but enough to make that "catch 12 a day" deal be fairly irrelevant. Bed fishing became more of a thing. Newer techniques and equipment. It was a natural evolution.

Now, we're seeing KVD, Yelas, Ike and the others from the 90s, 2000s and 2010s being supplanted by the new crew and new equipment. Two guys caught more than 100 pounds at Santee. The talk about LiveScope aside ... catching 100 pounds with 20 bass still is pretty remarkable. Two guys did it in one tournament.

Take away LiveScope and we'll go back five years. They were catching 100 pound 4-day weights "back then." Heck, Van Dam caught 70 pounds or whatever it was in three days to win the 2011 Classic and was throwing back 5-pounders. I talked with him about that and he said he could tell how big it was by the way it bit and felt when he set the hook. Said it was one of his most amazing days ever. No scope-scan sonar or anything.

Weights are up. Would be fun to crunch the numbers to see how much. Might not be astronmically but they're higher.

Like I said...poor ole fish ain't got a chance.

No excuse for not slaying them now.

Ban them

The magic and mystery of bass fishing has been lost to the new age sonar. I remember Tomm Mann back in the 70's catching ten bass that weighed over 100 lbs one day in Lake Eufaula fishing ledges , this new sonar wasn't available way back then when he shocked the bass fishing world...

Used to be we didn't know the size or the species but when we caught a big bass that we couldn't see it was super exciting . Still exciting, yes,, Now we have watch and catch sonar with fish taking shape and watching them attacking the lure..... dudes have even learned how to follow a bass they spooked or missed till it stops and sets up again using the live sonar.

I don't even have a sonar unit right now ,, my Lorance X85 finally burned out,,, I can't afford the new age sonar,, I'm looking at getting a Garmin striker right now... I'd settle for a Humminbird 360 set up , I can see all around me and throw to those targets. A Humminbird Live would be a nice addition if one day the money ever came into my hands...

IF any and all of it helps a fisherman to catch what hes after I'm for it...

I’m all for banning bass tournaments on public waters. They want to act like NASCAR then let them build their own fisheries to compete on and use whatever they want.

What do you think tournaments are doing or not doing? The guys that fish tournaments are going to be out there no matter what's going on

I’ve never heard a person who owns forward facing sonar say they should be banned. I still use 2d & maps but someday may take the plunge. I was fishing back in the winter on a lake where folks were beating the deep banks & not catching anything. I found them on bait on 2d in 50’ of water & caught several good fish. Did I feel like I was cheating? NO. Live & let live.

Any of you guys against them ever used one? The entire electeonics deal weather its live foreard facing, down imaging or side imaging is hard work. You dont just turn them on and find fish. You have to learn how to use them to find fish, they are not a cure all. I have had one for years and while it soes make certain types of fishing more efficient so does my trolling motor, boat, rod and reels, lures, weather, etc. No one thing is making fishing tougher or easier. I will say so many more people fish all week now that it has affected the fish more than any sonar has imo.

Everyone should just fish from the bank with cane poles and minners..

And they are still going to be fishing out of big fast boats and day in and day out, those same guys are still going to catch more and bigger fish than him.

Agree with everything Clem posted. I really want someone in this MLF format to start trolling. You can absolutely smoke em doing that. Either make it all legal or make it all illegal. Pains my sould to see some dude 'fishing' and staring down at his game console all day.

Agreed. You still have to learn how to use and interpret the images you are looking at. LS has made me realize how many fish I’m not catching.

i could have 5 of them and still not find a mess of crappie...

Mine has sure helped me catch crappie; bass, not so much. I have caught some that spotted on the screen and cast to him and caught him, but I have wasted hundreds of casts throwing at something that wouldn't bite and might not have even been a bass. The net effect may be negative for me.

I don't fish tournaments, so I don't care what rules they wanna use.

I own one and think they should be banned for all fishing. People are flat out raping the largest crappie in every body of water with them. If I wanted to play a video game, I'd go in my sons room.

Owned my share of big fast boats and caught more and bigger fish than lots of folks.

I believe that lots more fish die in bass tournaments than they want the public to believe. Go to any boat ramp in Guntersville after a weigh in and see for yourself. I’m guilty of it myself. I’ve seen numerous fish weighed in that were alive but were probably dead by the next day.

Being slammed around in a livewell for up to 5+ hours - of course a lot of them are going to die after being released. MLB's catch, weigh and release format is the only one that I can agree with when it comes to minimizing fish mortality as it pertains to tournament fishing.

Need to take them scopes off them rifles too!!

Yep and I ran dogs 40 years ago.

I thought we were talking about professionals and tournaments? If we were talking deer huntining tourneys, yep iron sights only. Tech is great and it def helps. But if these are the greatest fishermen, then they shouldnt need a scope of under water to find fish. If an everyday joe wans to use it to find crappie, big whoop. But what the pros are doing in tourneys aint “fishing”

Blue marlin tournaments are won in a similar fashion along the gulf coast. They use expensive side scans to locate blue marlin and then stick live blackfin or other live baits in the BM face to eat.

I vote to ban them too. I have nice electronics and it's really fun. I don't do tournaments and wish they banned tournaments. It's silly to me. Grown men gambling on a pissing contest ruins it for the public. Too crowded, killing fish just to brag and gamble at the public's expense.

Exactly, guys are gonna act like NASCAR drivers with or without tournaments. I too agree that electronics have went over board but I enjoy fishing tournaments enjoying the comradely and being competitive.

Livescope has taken all the fun out of crappie fishing on lakes like Grenada. As for tournaments, if it is a crappie tournament and you are not using Livescope, you are not competing anymore. Even the guides have been forced to switch to Livescope or go out of business for not keeping up with the guides who are. Apparently, a lot of people like it better. I like not knowing which bite might be that giant and watching for the bite, not knowing when or if it will happen.

Sorta the way I was headed. Each to his own but if your really good, your really good without all the “tech”

That sounds like something a Democrat would say

Yup

Yup

And 250+rods🤪

I catch most of my fish on crawfish and shad minnows. Can I sign up to fish tournaments