Balog on FFS – The use of forward-facing sonar is a game-changer. It's really just an application of make-up applied to faltering fisheries. Bass and other species no longer have deep water or other sanctuaries that afford them protection. So now, the last vestiges of untouched bass are being brought to the weigh-in.
Here near Cayuga Lake where I live, the smallmouth fishery is repeatedly touted as being great. Anyone who lives near the lake or fishes it knows that it isn't. Round goby have demolished the smallmouth population. The small percentage of bass that survive long enough not to become goby food get large. That's it. Very few guides target smallmouth bass here. You don't see anybody guiding them on a regular basis. You see guides doing occasional trips when fish are vulnerable on beds. The pros who do well on them spend countless hours "scoping" the points and running miles and miles just to find a few.
Round goby decimate smallmouth populations. Oneida Lake's smallmouth population has dropped significantly in the past decade. They have an estimated 22,000 gobies there per square acre. Lake Erie still offers great bass fishing, but New York's Dept. of Environmental Conservation's annual netting shows a decline in bass numbers EVERY YEAR since gobies became abundant.
So yes, keep using the FFS and convincing everyone that our fisheries are amazing. The rest of us just shake our heads.
