I want to start this out by saying that isn’t an indictment on forward-facing sonar. While FFS might be the most polarizing piece of technology to hit the fishing scene in years, it has its share of fans — and detractors. There are anglers that won’t touch it, and those that won’t leave the dock without it. Whatever your stance, I think it’s fair to say that we have learned more about fish behavior from this innovative piece of tech than anything else in recent history. And you still have to get them to bite once you find them.
But I think there are instances where we have gotten too reliant on technology. We just sort of sit back and let it take over for us. And that’s fine, to a degree. But our reliance on tech has maybe made us… a bit lazy.
All of the advances in GPS navigation have made it easier than ever to get from Point A to Point B — and that goes for the angling community as well. You can mark spots and return right to them, as if by magic. You can even plot a course to a hotspot you’ve never been to thanks to advances in mapping and crowd-sourced waypoints. Simply plug in your destination, and the screen guides you exactly where you need to go.
But does this shut off your brain to some degree? I often plug destinations into my car’s GPS so that it will show me the traffic up ahead, and reroute me in the event of an accident or the like. But that sometimes makes me pay less attention than I should, and I will miss turns on routes I should be able to drive blindfolded at this point.
The same thing can happen out on the water. If I’m following a set of waypoints back to a spot I’ve been to before, sometimes I completely miss what is happening out on the water around me. Staring at that LED screen can make me shut out the world around me, and I’ll miss clues that I should notice. I’m so tuned into the screen that I almost miss busting bait, or a hovering osprey. Absent that screen, I’m so much more tuned in.
And while the imported maps and crowd-sourced waypoints can cut down on fruitless casting, are you doing yourself a disservice by not exploring a new body of water on your own? For me, part of the fun in fishing involves poking around a new waterway. Sure, I probably won’t catch as many fish by going in blind, but I value the time spent putting around. I see more of the sights, and I think I learn more by putting the puzzle together on my own. And not to sound too pretentious, but I think each hookset is made just that much more sweet by all the ones that didn’t take place.
Some boats are even outfitted with autopilot systems, which let anglers rig up rods, eat a sandwich, or otherwise occupy their time while the boat does the driving for them. That’s great, most of the time. There have been more than a few examples of boats running up on the beach, getting stuck on a jetty, or becoming stuck on a sod bank. I think in most of those instances, that wouldn’t have happened if someone was actively steering the boat.
So, how much technology should you let into your personal fishing experience? It all depends. You can draw comparisons to the world of archery. You can spend thousands of dollars on a bow that shoots arrows at speeds approaching that of a centerfire rifle round, but there are still people that prefer to hunt with a longbow that they cut themselves. At the end of the day, both are still hunting, and both are valid. In the end, it all comes down to what you prefer.
Just don’t let technology do all your thinking for you, or take away from your enjoyment on the water.
