Might be fun to catch a bass with a drone. Would that be legal?

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Well, the line of thought is near endless...

Your trusty drone would happily

Drop your lure into the perfect spot or to a feeding school of tuna.
Haul your bait offshore while fishing the beach or jetty.
Scout boat lanes or openings in dense timber.

And best of all...spy on the competition.

(An operating ceiling of 400' is well out of shotgun range.)

Why can't bed fishing stay the same?
Why do we have to have drones?
Stupid concept.

And it would be a submarine pretty quick.

It's illegal in Bassmaster. That's all I know of. Sounds like fun.

Is it more unethical than side/down imaging or spotlight scan?
Wouldn't be my cup of tea but to each their own.

Of course, in my case, it would be just one more part of my "bass fishing arsenal of a rig" to break down and cost me time and money. Lol

Interesting !!!
I'm sure it will be done.. Could be quite the advantage if it works..
Won't be long before you will start seeing MORE rules implemented in a lot of tournaments..JMO!

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Why do we allow sonar units to spy on a fish's location? Are sonars stupid? Are maps showing gps coordinates of past fishing spots stupid?

Airspace is public and open to drone flights most anywhere, up to 400'. ......The drone's camera also helps quickly find isolated patches of bass holding submerged grass or a submerged stump. You still have to make a good cast and wiggle the right lure in front of them.

I would watch a drone fishing show! Now I want one to go with the gopro.

Both tours banned it a few years ago because there were guys that were doing it, I think TPWD recently passed laws about banning the use of drones to hunt/fish, but can you still use them to scout?

I'm on my second DJI Phantom drone. The first one crashed in to the Atlantic Ocean near Duck Key. I have used it to scout the backs of canals for future duck hunting trips. The bird's eye view is excellent for scouting. It's pretty amazing just going straight up and seeing your surroundings from above.

I have not used it for fishing, but I'm not sure I see an ethical problem with using it to scout a shoreline for bedding bass. You might find a nice one back behind reeds or other obstructions that no one else could spot.

Drones with cameras are definitely a lot of fun!

I hope it never comes to this and doubt it will.

I might call it unsportsmanlike, not immoral, in the case where our opponent is the fish, we'd have too big of an advantage over it. Sport usually implies pitting one's skills against a worthy opponent.

And, if one were in a tournament, if only used by some competitors, some huge technological advantage would be the same. Heck, I am not even certain an underwater drone would be all that valuable so thinking generally here.

Most sports know technology edges forward, so the governing bodies regulate away material advantages: swimmers have constraints on swimming wear, golfers can't use square grooved club heads and certain golfballs, pitchers can't throw spitballs, football/most sports outlaw anabolic steroids and stimulants.

I heard an interview with Ike and KVD the other day and they both lamented all of the intrusions by technology, though they both have benefited by it, wishing it were rolled back to seeing who was the best fisherman, not who had the best stuff.

I'd like to see it go the other way: no electronics at all.

In my dreams.

Ha! Brad

Not interested, and some point there is no sport in it. Old School for sure, but just my opinion.