By Jeff Clabault of Forestdale Bait and Tackle
When it comes to using technology is it possible to go too far and thus alter the entire purpose behind what we are trying to accomplish? That is the question when it comes to the ultramodern tools available to fishermen today.
Electronic fish-finding devices have been around for many years and they have greatly increased the success rates enjoyed by anglers fishing in both fresh and salt water. Gone are the days when finding fish was a matter of relying on experience and skill alone. Now it is a simple matter of flipping a switch and waiting for a beep from your device.However, as we head further into the twenty-first century and the rate of advancement for these technologies increases, (and their availability makes them more widespread) the field may be tipping a bit too far.
The main innovation,or should I say culprit, is the side-scan sonar. These incredible machines can send out signals for hundreds of yards displaying what is out there and exactly where it is. If there are fish in the area, they WILL find them. Many anglers now head out with the plan being to simply drive the boat around until the machine tells them to stop and proceed to harvest…I mean catch…fish.
That brings us to the point of enough being too much. If your idea of success is putting as many fish as possible into the boat using any means out there the technology is certainly there to avail that goal. Folks that a few short years ago would have been hard pressed to catch fish that are elusive and difficult to catch like striped bass or snook are having far greater success now, to the point that bag limits may have to be adjusted to account for that reality. On the flip side, those same technologies have made experience and angling prowess almost irrelevant as the sonar is doing most of the work.( Granted, you still have to catch the fish, but it’s a big ocean and knowing precisely where fish are is a big head start! )
And whether a good thing or excess, when it comes to modern tools for fishermen the genie is most definitely out of the bottle. In the next decade or two there will likely be advances that make what we have now seem old school, further leveling the field and diminishing the importance of angling skill and time devoted to learning the area being fished.
As this evolution continues lets hope some room will remain for those using only the experience of having fished an area for many years to guide their actions, and finding success thanks to that hard work…no tools required. Progress and success are great, but when it comes to fishing the feeling of satisfaction that comes with catching that fish of a lifetime is often more about how the fish was caught than it is the fish itself.