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For this fisherman, the open water 2026 fishing season is winding down. This past season was a good one. Fishing in many places is still very good. And, like most things, fishing continues to change. Many of the changes are for the better, and, like almost anything, some are questionable.
Due to aggressive fisheries management, in many bodies of water there are more and bigger fish. And conversations continue among anglers and authorities about fine-tuning the rules of fishing. Seasons and catch limits are a couple topics receiving much attention.
Access to fishing information, both where to go and how to catch'em once you get there, is very abundant. Almost too abundant in some cases. It seems like some people who fish are more interested in getting attention than they are about sharing good fishing information. However, much information in the various forms of media is very helpful.
And then there's equipment. The rods, reels, boats, motors, lures and whatever else fisher-people use in their efforts to catch more fish is so much more abundant than it used to be.
Considering all the equipment that anglers have available to them, sonar, specifically Forward Facing Sonar(FFS) has become kind of a hot-button issue. Understandably so. FFS has changed the way some anglers fish. Some will say "that's good", others will say it's "not so good." Here's one take on FFS.
Today's youth are interested in video games. Some will say that FFS gets more youngsters interested in fishing because it's kind of like a video game. I have a couple of youngsters in my life that take me fishing with them some of the time. This summer they went fishing with two different friends whose dads had a boat. One boat had FFS, the other didn't. The kids said they enjoyed watching the FFS screen, and they liked to know that when they were casting, they were casting to a fish. And they caught some of those fish. But they said that they thought they enjoyed fishing the "old-fashioned way" even more. They liked to keep busy casting, even when they weren't sure they were casting to a fish. They also enjoyed watching the birds and wildlife more than they liked watching the FFS screen. When they weren't fishing from a boat, they were fishing and catching from a dock. I found that interesting and refreshing.
I understand why tournament anglers and some fishing guides prefer to fish with FFS. I also understand why some anglers don't want FFS to be part of their fishing. The thing about fishing that we all need to understand is that fishing can be exactly what we want it to be. If catching the most fish or the biggest fish is your goal, FFS might be for you. But if your objective when you go fishing is to catch some fish but also enjoy spending time with someone that you enjoy spending time with, FFS might not be in your future. Or if you enjoy the total experience of fishing, things like sun-up and sun-down, deer, ducks, or whatever on the shoreline, or just being outside while chasing and catching some fish, you also might not need FFS. And that's the thing that appeals to so many people about fishing. We can make it what we want it to be. A fairly simple thing, or an in-depth undertaking. If you enjoy fishing the way that you fish, you're doing it the right way.