I think a lot of people don't realize how difficult FFS is to use. I have fished with multiple FFS gurus including JJ. I know exactly what they are doing and how they do it. I have FFS on my boat and most days if I use it, I do WORSE than if I don't. Certainly, in terms of numbers.
1. You have to move to find fish. If you aren't ultra proficient with your trolling motor and boat control you wind up going so slow you never find fish or so fast you over run them when you do find them. Otherwise, you try and stop the boat by reversing the trolling motor and then can't relocate the fish you stopped for.
2. You have to be able to tell what you are looking at. For most people what they see on the screen, especially at first, it looks like the code from the matrix. Distinguishing a carp, a catfish, gar, or a tilapia from a bass is not easy. Even harder is determining size of the fish you are casting at. JJ could tell the size of a bass to within 1 lb when I was with him. Some lakes, including my home lake, are so full of trash fish everywhere you point the transducer there is a wall of fish. How do you tell the difference between a 5lb tilapia and a 5lb bass? It's not easy. I once asked JJ what he thought the biggest mistake people were making using FFS was and he said wasting time casting at 12lb carp. Another hot west texas lake that is putting out tons of DDs right now is so full of crappie, millions of them, that unless you have an ultra-trained eye its near impossible to distinguish a bass from all the static.
3. Once you find a fish you then have to be able to make the perfect cast at a fish that is likely moving from a boat that is likely being blown around in the wind.
4. Once you make that perfect cast you have to keep the fish and the lure in the small cone of the transducer to be able to see what's going on.
5. Once you've done all that you have to present the right lure (one you can actually see with FFS) to the fish.
6. Once you've selected the right lure you have to present it to the fish in the right way. Sometimes that's a steady retrieve 6 feet above them. Sometimes you've got to drop it right on their nose. The variations are limitless.
7. After all that, you've still got to get the fish to bite.
About the only time it's "easy" is when there are no trash fish, no wind, and they'll hit an A-rig. I do quite well in those situations which is about 2% of the time.
It's 10X harder than most people think.
