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 ?