The FFS discussion has been beat to death. But what I'm not hearing a lot of people talking about is why some of the vets of the sport aren't still catching fish like they were.....

Some are for sure, but it seems like guys like Christie, Hackney, Feider, Zaldain, even Palanuik aren't catching them like they used to. I saw Palanuik out trying to FFS around on T. Bend, when he's been so successful just fishing, trying to find little spots or patterns that others didn't. Hackney and Swindle seem to stick to his strengths pretty well, for whatever reason though they haven't been catching them great the last year or so.

It doesn't seem like overall tournament weights are getting that much higher, the weights they used to catch and win with three or four years ago would still be just as solid today.

Are these guys so freaked out by FFS that they're changing the way they fish and going away from their strengths?

I have been wondering the same thing...

Someone else had a believable explanation, imho, the other day on another thread. My paraphrased understanding of what was posted- When you have a hundred very talented anglers fishing a lake without FFS, a decent number of them are going to develop a good pattern and adjust over four days to bring in a good weight (comparable to what won this past weekend- maybe more, maybe less). But when 10/15/20 of the 100 are the only ones trying to pattern a 180,000+ acre lake it is less likely that one or more of those few will land on a winning pattern. It's just statistics really.

Fishing is such a mental game. I think when new stuff comes out(baits/technology/etc) people will start doing things they're uncomfortable with because they feel like they might miss out on fish.

It's easy to get worried about fish you feel like you can't catch, and forget about the fish you can catch doing what you've been doing.

Right, I totally agree with the odds of someone winning with a certain technique if 80-90% of the field is using that technique. Makes perfect sense.

But I guess I was more curious about these veteran anglers' recent performance vs. their own historical performance, regardless of technique. It just seems like they've forgot what got them to where they are. Adapting is one thing, but it seems some may be trying to change their entire repertoire??

Hope to see some of them have a good week @ Fork.

It's only been 1 tournament... Apparently the fish were a little behind schedule... Everyone take a deep breath it'll all work itself out... Dan

It used to be in the old days like Hackney and Christie and swindle on Toledo bend, they could have been leading with 14# after day one catches. It was just considered a tough day on the lake. Now somebody finds other fish not previously targeted and prove it wasn’t a tough bite they were all just sucking at finding fish. They now come in with 27# and show you they were biting after all.

You going to tell me Cherry would have won on Roberts if ffs was where we are today, not a chance. He would have been beat by 50#’s. He got on a shad spawn bite early and was pretty much over by 10-11, and then everyone was doing the same. Other than a few for a short period of time even ventured out into deep water.

Times a changing

Zaldain and Palanuik are both very capable with FFS. Palanuik even won an event using it a few years ago. They both are learning to adapt and to stay competitive, instead of making hater crying videos in their trucks after missing the cut.


FFS is like being married to a woman for a long time. If you chose to ignore it, then some young buck will come along and tune it up for you and then she gone! lol

Yes. Its the Tim Tebow/Jim Furyk paradox, change your technique to survive but it might end up making you worse. Tebow changes his throwing technique because everyone told him to and it ruined his game, Furyk refused to change even though everyone told him he would never make it with that swing, he proved them wrong.

I may be full of it but it seems like offshore fish have changed since FFS and getting chased around. It could be that the fish that these other guys relied on moving up have vacated the prime areas due to being targeted before they got there.

I bet you are correct. If I recall you have a pretty strong track record of knowing what yiu are doing fishing wise.

Yeah, I might be jumping the gun on it....only one week into the season.

And I like that theory leethefishking

Seth Fieder mentioned it the other day on a podcast. the rocks and boulders he spent his career fishing are empty now. you would think the opposite. you would think they would have less pressure with everyone scoping the abyss... but not the case.

One of the talking heads on the bassmaster broadcast said the older vets know how to live scope. He said the issue they had was breaking the habit and/or overpowering the history and confidence they have catching fish shallow. When a young guy things about where to fish, he's had more success with FFS given their relative short experience. The older vets have had some success with FFS but more so fishing shallow. So the calculation in their minds is weighted differently.

If whatever the fisherman thinks isnt a positive, its a negative.