Going Against the Grain
Just as marine electronics have advanced exponentially in recent years , so have bass anglers ’ skills at using them , according to Ebare . This has caused him to rethink the way he practices for tournaments , and what he looks for when venturing offshore .
“ Everyone wants to get offshore now and use their electronics , and they ’ ve gotten pretty good at it because the tools we have now make it much easier to locate fish ,” he says . “ The big schools of fish get found right away and the anglers know how to catch them now . That tends to break up the schools quickly , and fish are getting more pressured and educated . I believe this has made offshore bass more nomadic and willing to change areas if they sense too much fishing pressure .”
Instead of searching for the mother lode or “ megaschools ” that everyone was looking for on the Tennessee River ledges and other offshore meccas in years past , Ebare now looks for smaller groups of fish and isolated areas .
“ The more popular offshore gets , the more it pays to go outside the box and find something that not everyone else is doing ,” Ebare adds . “ That ’ s true whether I ’ m fishing a ledge on the TVA lakes , fishing hard spots at Sam Rayburn or targeting deep timber on Lake Fork . I ’ m always looking for smaller groups of fish , pieces of isolated cover or places where there aren ’ t a lot of boats out fishing or scanning with their electronics .”
The Forward-Facing Sonar Revolution
It seems like just about every tournament trail across the country is now being impacted by the latest marine electronics technology to engulf the scene : forward-facing sonar . All of the three major manufacturers ( Lowrance , Garmin , Humminbird ) now have their versions , and the visibility of fish provided by live sonar has unquestionably altered the way some anglers fish .
“ I feel like the power of a single spot or waypoint has been diminished with forward-facing sonar because now it ’ s a live view and general areas are more important ,” Ebare explains . “ Now , you just put the trolling motor down and fish and look at what ’ s in front of you . It ’ s an incredible technology because you can see everything under the water , but it takes time to understand it all , and nothing replaces spending time using it .”
Ebare couldn ’ t begin to estimate the amount of time he ’ s spent looking at his Garmin Panoptix LiveScope , but he ’ s settled on what he considers the correct forward range and depth range for his fishing style .
“ I typically have my forward range set to between 75 and 100 feet at most , because that ’ s a pretty long cast unless you ’ re throwing a big crankbait or swimbait ,” he says . “ I don ’ t go out any further because you can ’ t reach them and it starts to make it harder to make out what you ’ re seeing .”
The depth range is an often-overlooked aspect when setting up forward-facing sonar . It can be left on automatic and the bottom will adjust based on the depth of the water the boat is sitting in . This can be helpful , but Ebare chooses to modify the depth range manually based on the depth .
“ If I ’ m fishing 15 feet or less , I ’ ll set the depth to 25 feet , and if I ’ m deeper , I ’ ll set the range about 10 feet deeper than the water I ’ m fishing ,” Ebare says . “ The reason is to keep it as consistent as possible so I get the best gauge on how big a
70 fish is . If the screen is blown up because the water is shallower , a 2-pounder will look like a whale . The adjustment will also fill up your screen and make it look more distorted , so keeping it consistent will lead to better clarity and allow you to gauge sizes better .”
Thrift utilizes Humminbird Mega Live . In addition to locating fish , one of the biggest benefits he sees is locating hardto-see structure .
“ Mega Live has changed how I fish for bass that I see on my screen , but something that isn ’ t talked about as much is how well it shows structure and cover ,” Thrift says . “ Smaller stuff and PVC fish habitats are hard to make out on side imaging . Finding those smaller things is one of the best aspects of forward-facing sonar . If you line it up , you know exactly how far you need to cast .”
Offshore ‘ miners ’ like Dakota Ebare use multiple tools to locate bass gold .
MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | JUNE-JULY 2022
PHOTO BY KYLE WOOD