I respect Randy for having a big enough set to stand up and voice his Opinion!

I just bought a lvs34 transducer and unit. Hopefully it’s as good as you claim.

Agreed. Atleast with sideimaging or DS, 2d you have to cast around say if you locate a sunken piece of cover. It isn't like shooting fish in a barrel. I hate the technology it really has made a unneeded divide among anglers as well. But you don't have to let it cut out the fun and a good day enjoying the water

I checked out a fishing report for Dale Hollow last week that literally said the fishing is great and everything is being caught by using ffs in certain areas. It's destroying the crappie and walleye populations everywhere.

The fact that this is still such a big topic years later shows its a problem.

I totally agree, like I've said before, if you want to fish well then fish, if you want to play video games stay home in front of your tv, real fishermen don't need to cheat !!! Thank you for the great work and video Randy 👍

Im glad someone is saying this. Im a beginner angler and this live scope just takes the sport out of it.

Thanks, I needed this perspective. I have a fishing friend who has perfected his Livescope skills and brags about 50 fish days everytime he goes fishing. Fishing with him a couple times, I have seen him staring at his video screen while setting the hook. I have fished 3 continents, caught sunfish and 70 pound amberjack, from tiny mountain streams to the ragging seas off Punta Cana. I've spent a million$ on fishing over my 7 decades as an angler. Forking over another couple thousand on Livescope technology has me choosing between playing a video game on water or enjoying all that fishing has given me never knowing when, where, or what might snug on my line. Thanks

Right on! Thanks for standing up, keep at it. Thank you.

The fish being caught in the guts, ditches and drains this time of year used to use those areas to feed up before they go to the bank and spawn. Now they are being caught before they have the opportunity to fed up and go spawn. Over the course of 3-5 years that will impact any lake in the country.

In Mississippi on the big 3 guides are now regularly booking 2 trips a day. They did in the past but now catching limits both trips. How long can any fishery sustain that ? And you can bet the MEAT hunters are filling coolers more than once a day. Now people always tell me they caught their limit.

Sounds like if you want to win money you need livescope. If not cry about it and win nothing.

Not even 2 mins into this video and I'm 100 percent with you Randy. It is killing bass fishing, pro level and also for fishermen like myself. You have my vote any time. Stand strong Randy we are with you

"element of the unknown".... amen brother.... one of the greatest parts of why we love fishing... each day is a new adventure... keep up the good work

Thanks Randy for your insight. As a 64 yr old that has watched this sport since the start (incl you), this topic needs to be discussed. As I have enjoyed many years of bass fishing, I also see NO good reason for this type of technology to sustain the future of bass fishing. I see and hear the same results from most if not all tournaments; all about "forward look see". If this is the start, where do we end up drawing the line? We are teaching an entire generation of "waypointers" and "forward look see'ers" with nothing more than instant gratification as the ONLY goal. As a Board of Directors member for a BASS Nation program and actively running a HS/Jr tournament program; I hear the same thing on a consistent basis, "put your trolling motor down, scan, pickup if they don't show". Plus there is a large contingent that simply cannot afford the technology to begin with which IMO significantly tilts the playing field in favor of those that can AFFORD IT. I also will not watch any bass tournament coverage, no matter what org, that involves watching some guy look at a screen all day and proceed to tell me his expert opinion about bass fishing. As you stated and in the words of Joe Pesci from Casino, "its always about the dollars".

I can remember when tournament wins felt like something amazing happened

I have livescope Randy and you beat me in this first BFL on Tablerock. You caught 4 and I had zero! I do believe it's having a negative impact, but nothing compared to all these relentless tournaments. Tablerock is literally being destroyed as we speak and I blame a lot of it on all these tournaments.

It's true that seeing fish on livescope doesn't mean catching them. But with livescope you are able to try to catch individual fish that you wouldn't try to catch without it. Call it sharpshooting if you will. With livescope you can also see the fish react to lure in realtime and respond to it and it is a powerful tool.

I totally respect you Randy. I've followed you most of your career. I remember seeing you back in the 80's with long hair and I thought that dude is cool. I have 6 grandkids that all fish. Living on the west coast they have caught blue fin tuna to 200 lbs. halibut, yellow tail, big rock fish, Large and smallmouth bass and trout. Plus pan fish and catfish. My 15 year old is ready to start fishing local Bass tournaments. I just bought a new Ranger Z20R with Lowrance Electronics and Active Target with a ghost trolling motor. I used the Active Target a couple of times just to see what its all about. My question to you is how do I keep my grandkids from wanting to use Forward facing sonar when all these younger people seam to be? They know I am old school and they respect that and love it, but, am I going to hold him back in the tournament world if i don't let him scope on my boat? You are awesome Randy and thanks for all you do for our sport.

I’m honestly curious why you are certain this is agreed upon? Half the boats at the launch have forward facing sonar installed on them. That’s a lot of money being spent on things people don’t want.

Agreed Randy, the mystery of fishing is gone with live scope.

Fishing’s Autotune. 🤦🏻‍♂️😂 Takes the pride out of it in my eyes, but the saddest part to me is being robbed of that amazing surprise feeling of getting a hit. When you’re literally watching it happen on a screen it really takes the magic out of it.

I agree 100%. I used to really enjoy everything about fishing. It used to be great to watch these guys dissect a lake and make the perfect cast under a dock. Now I tune in and everyone is staring at their screens without even making a cast. Then they tell us all when one is about to bite. The whole thing just sucks.

I totally agree with you. Electronics to simply read depth, water temperature, and find structure is becoming a thing of the past, even for recreational fisherman. I've stopped watching one of my favorite KZfaqrs(you know him) because he spends all of his time now fishing off shore with Livescope. It seems that gone are the days of reading the water, shorelines, wind direction, and all the other subtleties that made fishing such a challenge; and those that were good at it became the most successful. I fished with your friend Curtis and all he had was an old boat and a 3" black and white fish finder. Even though we did not have a great day on the water, I learned a lot about why we were fishing certain areas and what to look for. I have way too much electronics(not livescope or the most expensive) on my boat, and I spend more time trying to figure out what I'm seeing and how to interpret what I'm seeing, and not enough time just fishing. You know, there's a reason the term "you're on a fishing expedition" was coined. It's because you don't know what's out there until you throw out your bait!

In my area a lot of ice fisherman are using it, and they're putting a real beatdown on the fish.

We had the same problem in golf with technology. The guys that couldn’t move on were left behind. I do enjoy your content.

I’ll buy you one Randy so you can compete with everyone else !!

Our society is so driven by money and that will be our downfall. When it comes down to it I think tournament fishing has driven the advancement of technology. I’d like to see anglers practice with whatever they want and then fish the tournament with only 2d sonar. Now that would be fun to watch.

This might be the best video you ever made man

It’s how I feel about basically live-streaming the woods for deer you could never dream of finding or patterning. It’s pulling the natural out of the natural resources.

When I started fishing I studied and learned everything I could about bass. With live scope I almost don't have to know anything.

Thank you Randy! Appreciate you being a voice for all of us. I compete in a lot of local tournaments - ABA, BASS Nation, and TBF - and I absolutely agree and hope we can keep the integrity and natural essence of the sport alive. Enough with the damn technology advancement already...we're all gonna end up living in a freaking metaverse eventually at this point lol

Keep up the fight. I plan on starting to compete in kayak tournaments and I've already seen live scope on a few kayaks

Take a poll Randy. Contact Wired2Fish or another unbiased fishing page and see if they are willing to post a poll for anglers to participate in. If a larger percentage say they want it banned on an unbiased page then you’re probably on the right track. I don’t believe it would be that way but that is the only way to actually know who supports what.

Please keep up the fight Randy. We are with you.

Good video. Agree about livescope. Something needs to change

Thank you! It's killing walleye tourneys up north also!

I’d probably never figure out how to use it. I fished Red Man and BASS Invitationals when all we had were flashers and an occasional paper graph.

It's like infra-red scopes when you're deer hunting in terms of putting the advantage too far in the hunters hand

Keep it doin Randy! Hopefully one day we will see some changes banning this technology in tournaments. Also hopefully people will understand about the substainability of the fisheries and how ffs affects them fore it’s to late.

I agree with your assessment. I have been on the water and watched professionals stay glued to the screens. I don’t see a reset button, too much money involved.

I appreciate you fighting this. I ve heard guys say theyve done well because of livescope.

I almost bought one but my buddy has one and I out fish him all the time. He’s totally focused on it and not catching the shallow fish

I totally agree with you the livescope needs to be eliminated from tournaments. As someone who is in his early forties and has been fishing for 30 years I find it absurd what I see today out there. This livescope thing hundred-thousand-dollar bass boats with some kids that are around 25 years old or younger running these boats around there's no way that most of these individuals 25 years old or so can afford the $100,000 plus boats an electronics. What is even more striking is most of these individuals have only been fishing maybe five years. And now they're so-called Pros because they can use their fancy Electronics that most of them never paid for because of sponsorships or wealthy parents etc. Their electronics break down etc most of them give up on fishing for the day. They lack skill in fish habit, feeding patterns etc. It all about the money these days.

Our first tournament of the year was won by drop shot. Sit right on top of them, us non live scope guys didnt stand a chance.

They should allow live scope in 2 tournaments a year, the rest of the first half regular sonar.The whole second half of the season, no electronics at all, then you will see who can really fish.

Northern Indiana here and it absolutely is a must if you want to compete with the guys that just show up to the local tournaments, let along a bfl , it has taken the fun completely out of it , I agree with you sir it needs to be stopped at least on any tournament level.

You go man! I thought about buying one just to compete. But i really don’t want to use it. Might just quit tournaments.

Used to be all you had to have was a boat a rod a reel line and some baits to compete. Now if you can't afford ffs you have maybe 10% chance. Keep on keeping on Randy. We regular guys are so glad someone has the balls or brains to stand up against the machine.

My theory is hopefully the big bass that used to roam free get pressured so much with FFS that it drives them back to the bank where guys like me can benefit again 👍🏽

Totally agree, Randy as always!😊

I used to love fishing tournaments but the technology has taken all the fun out of it. Haven't fished competitive in years now.

I would be interested in seeing some tourneys where anglers can't use electronics for DI/SI and FFS just to see how the results would play out. Can an angler who uses FFS do as well in these types of tourneys?

Damn straight keep on keeping on .Can't wait for the day they start a none scope tournament

Agree that would be a good compromise . Use in practice but not on tourney day.

Agree! Thanks for speaking up!

i have livescope and still can't catch fish with it. I only catch when I ignore what's on the livescope screen and just fish like I normally would.

I agree with you totally Randy.

Livescope has no place in tournament fishing or have a separate division for it because most real anglers enjoy the surprise of a bite and the satisfaction you get when you finally put it together. Livescope to me is only for newbies that got more money than sense or people that just want to catch and not go fishing and experience the ups and downs and the surprises

I'm from Missouri, and I bank fish for bigguns. It's not easy always searching for bass. Using technology, you can't seem to be thankful and grateful after every catch if you can see it.

Livescope is like hunting they say but I say it's like hunting in a cow pasture with a thirty-ought-six and night vision the fish can't hide from you anymore because you know exactly where they are when you normally would not have even stopped two fish

100% correct sir👍it’s called fishing for a reason anything else is just catching

There's a reason tournaments are being won with livescope & that's that it's here to stay. I never tournament fish anymore but i sure wouldn't want to be without my livescope system. I crappie fish now & rarely ever bring any home like plenty other;s i know that do the same thing.

to be fair, If fisheries are being negatively impacted by livescope, the state DNRs can just put a limit on the numbers that fishermen can keep.

You're so right brother man these people with these livescopes they're messing up Are Missouri waters! It really pisses me off when I see that go down at Bagnol Damn!!

I don’t know. There is a lot of money in the sonar business. I’m guessing it’s the number one item that Garmin has sold the past few years. Imagine when side imaging and spot lock came out. People were probably freaking out about that too.

It is to brag about when you’ve been working towards that your whole life and finally achieve it

What benefit does a trolling motor, 2d fish locator, 250 hp motor, DC bait caster, tournament fishing, fun fishing or anything else bring to the sustainability of a fishery over the long term? You make some really good points against f sonar, but this one I don’t understand.

I watched round 1 of MLF Redcrest on my home lake today and was so disappointed watching pros not only using livescope off shore; but guys looking under docks with it while dock fishing. I am fishing the Cabela's Big Bass Tourney on this lake March 24-26 and stressed knowing the local hammers all have this technology. I will have to get lucky to cash in one of the hourly payouts. So unfair!

Why are you ok with mapping, side imaging, and down scan, they were all game changer like spot lock on a trolling motor, why not learn the new technology

As a newer fisherman, what technology is acceptable to use in your opinion? I see lots of technology on boats nowadays, not necessarily Live Scope but they are still using something.

Randy you missed one huge point, which is arguably the biggest issue. They say “just because you can see them doesn’t mean you can catch em” So if you are fishing without a livescope and you’re not seeing them, how in the hell are you supposed to get them to bite??? My point is They are educating and harassing the fish to a point where you rarely will get a bite unless you have a livescope and can repeatedly cast in front of the fish you’re seeing on the screen. Go try to catch a bass on lake fork or ivie with a jerkbait without livescope. It’s already become a dependency to compete in tournaments, it’ll probably become a dependency just to go catch a bass. Oh and theres a shelf life ticking away on the whole idea of letting the anglers vote on whether it should be allowed. Pretty soon that won’t work either because more guys are giving in and getting em and they’ll vote to protect their investment. If they don’t put a stop to it quickly I’m afraid it’ll be here to stay.

Keep it up Randy!!!

your talk-track is getting polished and very powerful. You need a bigger stage sir.

I think you are right, let it be used in practice and not in tournaments. That way if our fishery suffers because of ffs, no one can blame the tournaments. That is a win win compromise. 👍👍

I agree, i just bought a garmin livescope setup and boy is it crazy.. im seeing fish i would have never been able to fish for. Should be allowed in smaller local tournaments but once you get up to the big tourneys for serious money it should be illegal

I can appreciate both sides of the "Live" controversy. I lean more toward Randy's view on the subject though. Where it hits home for me is that I really like to fish the Big Bass Bash that is about to happen again at LOZ. I didn't fish it last October due to the "Live" thing and I won't be fishing it this April for the same reason. I don't think me not fishing it makes any difference, but I wonder if the entry numbers some any kind of decline. Thanks Randy for what you do!

Randy are you going to be at the Classic expo this year? I plan on asking the pros what they think about it if they had their choice to go back to no FFS if they’d take it.

Great points, Randy! I agree!

Randy I 100% agree with you please keep doing all you can to get live scope banned because you have Juice in this sport and I feel you are making progress please keep up the hard work!! LOVE YOUR CHANNEL RANDY

Josh Jones is a true hero!!! The magic of the sport is catching a 10lbs + fish!!!

If I'm not mistaken, most jurisdictions don't allow hunters to use drones while hunting. You could make a strong argument livescope is the underwater equivalent to a drone.

I completely agree! I fished the first Okie Division BFL and spent the entire tournament using FFS and it was the absolute most boring day of fishing in my life 🤦. Not only is it eliminated skills it's taking all the reasons I fish away from why I fish! I caught 100% of my bass using it and was even using it in 5ft of water very effectively!! I seen them and caught them, those guys that say it don't help you catch them are giving a lot of BS! Hopefully you can get this out there and get something done about it!

i had a minkota electric steer trolling motor and never got used to it. Now they have auto pilot and spot lock and gps and livescope. What a rig these guys have with sometimes 3 or 4 big screens! No I don't even bother with a depth finder and went back to a manual cable steer trolling motor.

I have it and still can’t catch ‘em lol but I’ve had it on my boat 2 years and probably only been on the water 4 times.

Get a jet boat and go fish rivers. I love river fishing and reading water that is too shallow for livescope most of the time. I have it and use it occasionally on some deep clear lakes but much prefer shallow fishing in rivers on my jet boat. It does save a lot of time in finding structure and fish when you don’t get to fish very often.

John Cox cashes a big check almost every tournament. If he can do it. Why. CAnt others.

You should do an interview with a co-angler that draws an LS boater and has to fish behind them. How do they handle it? Where do they fish? Do you throw to the front? be interesting to hear.

I am not a tournament fishermen but it seems to me that people that are have always had the use of the latest and greatest equipment.

When there was no live scope , you knew how was the best fisherman, know how ever finds the fish on live scope will win!

You should lead the good fight and rally up a tournament trail with ZERO electronics to make a truly even playing field! Let folks make a decision to choose which tournament trail they want to compete in! It will probably be a big hit lol. There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those who talk about it and those who actually do it. Put yourself in a category Randy.

I have a live scope, but I 100% agree. The additional fishing presser is starting to hurt the fish and fishing . As you said i use to try and compete.

Crappie population on Table Rock is being devastated.

The best way to deal with this is to get States on board with banning them. Force the tournament organizations hand. There are plenty of regulations on the books to ensure our fish populations are healthy. Just look at the number of Share Lunkers caught in the state of Texas since Forward Facing Sonar was introduced. This will have an adverse effect on bass numbers.

It's so funny to see all these guys fishing with there heads down looking at a screen,crazy to me,I'm an old man who loves to bass fish,the real way,but it's getting harder to catch them,fishing is a sport not a video screen,it's crazy.

Agree wholeheartedly!

Totally agree with you in all aspects

I've got a $300 Walmart special depth finder. I use it for, speed of travel water temp water depth find channel find structure Knowing those things, I then start searching for bass. Arches and blobs are not my concern

I agree. Randy, work with a big sponser and get an old school series started, Don't allow all this electronic up-graded crap. 2 d only, no a-rig style bait.

Personally I’d love to see tournaments not allow any electronics. You can use them in practice sessions, but that’s it. I’m not saying that’s what’s best but just what I’d be interested in.