Advancements in electronics have opened up a whole new world to bass anglers . The offshore game isn ’ t just about ledge fishing anymore .
By Tyler Brinks
PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON
Over the past decade-plus , fishing offshore has become a staple as bass anglers have learned to take advantage of rapidly advancing technology to slide away from the bank in their search for new fish . The proliferation of offshore knowledge ( and tech ) has made waves in all levels of tournament fishing , from local clubs to the top level of the sport .
Bass Pro Tour anglers Bryan Thrift and Dakota Ebare are two tour-level pros who can catch them at any depth , but if they had their druthers , they ’ d choose to head offshore instead of beating the bank .
Thrift is one of the most decorated professional anglers alive , and one of his keys to success throughout his career has been fishing isolated offshore targets like brush piles ( which is how he won the 2019 Forrest Wood Cup at Lake Hamilton ). Thrift ’ s approach at the majority of tournaments he fishes is to find hidden pieces of cover away from the bank with his electronics and dissect them with a surgeon ’ s precision .
Ebare grew up fishing shallow water in southern Louisiana and became infatuated with offshore fishing because it was foreign to him . When he first ventured outside of his home region , it was all he wanted to do , and he ’ s since become one of the best offshore anglers on the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit and Bass Pro Tour .
Thrift and Ebare have vastly different approaches , but they follow some of the same rules and guidelines for utilizing technology to mine offshore “ gold .”
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