Tangled Up!

[jdmidwest]

I just had an email for the new Garmin 16" color TV screen for a boat.  This pic really caught my eye.  So much crap in his boat, he has to fish from the driver seat and the only open space to land one is off to the side of the cockpit.  But he looks happy....

[Al Agnew]

I don't know why the tournament organizations don't just set up virtual tournaments.  Set all these young techies up in a big arena with all their electronics in front of them and it all being videoed on big screens, and let them go to town staring at their screens and playing a tournament video game.  Because that's about all this is.  But hey, these companies are meeting a demand for gadgetry.  If you got the money...

 

[fishinwrench]

One of the organizations is implementing a rule beginning in 2026 where the anglers are not allowed to use FFS until the 5th keeper is in the livewell.   

After that it can be used to cull.  

Sounds like the best rule change so far, but I know exactly how it will be played on THIS lake...... They'll run wave-breaks for 5 quick little Kentucky's, then go spotlighting. 🙄

[WestCentralFisher]

I don't have any real informed opinion on these systems, but it definitely goes to show how different people's mindsets are about fishing and what the point of it is.

I'm pretty dead serious about fishing, to the point where I start to get restless this time of year if 4-5 days go by without doing it. But it's always been clear to me that at it's core, it's just a really excellent excuse to spend lots of time outside in pretty places and to decompress from all the usual silliness of life. I don't really see how I'd do that looking at a screen all day.

Of course, we all have our things. The other day, I went for a long hike in a really pretty place, and it occurred to me when I was done that I was not anywhere near as relaxed or calm as I ought to be. Why? Because I was looking at a mapping app (OnX) on my phone half the time. It was a new place, and it's not the worst idea to have a decent idea where I'm going, but it occurred to me that a product that was supposed to enhance my ability to enjoy myself in the outdoors was actively hindering my ability to do so. Next time, I'm looking at the map once before I leave, marking my vehicle, and then only looking again if things start to really go sideways. 

It's really none of my business, but I do have to wonder how often people using all this stuff come back from a day of fishing just as wound up as when they started, and wonder why that is. 

I also wonder how much worse a bad skunk would feel if you could see all the fish you weren't catching on your TV. I imagine it would be kinda like a bad day trout fishing on a really glassy spring creek. But at least in that situation, you're looking at a pretty creek while not catching fish, rather than the TV. 

[jdmidwest]

I would be wound up even tighter with all of that crap in the boat and nowhere to land a fish with out getting tangled up.  My river boat is pretty clean around the edges so I don't snag anything when reeling in one.

That boat would have a hard time getting on plane and would catch the wind like a sail with all of those flat tv screens popping up out of it.