Treading Water

I expect the 2025 Elite Series schedule to be released in the next few weeks, and in all likelihood the pros who’ve qualified or requalified won’t make another tour level cast for approximately six months. That’s a remarkably long offseason, enough time to make more than a few changes and get a lot done. Nevertheless, I suspect that many of the pros who’ve complained that they’re falling behind have no road map to get things back on track. They’ll “fish through it,” they say, which in modern times amounts to a non-plan.

I have no inside knowledge as to what’s going to happen with forward-facing sonar. Maybe it’ll be banned altogether. Maybe we’ll keep the status quo. I have a sneaking suspicion that the verdict with be somewhere in-between. Even if it’s banished, though, the guys who are dead set against it won’t just revert to the world-beaters they once were. The bar, I’m certain has been raised. There are no more “easy checks,” no more all-but-certain Classic qualifications. 

I don’t know whether the current crop of “scopers” can fish without it, but I suspect we’d be surprised that more than a few of them can – and can do it really well. And there are nine more coming in behind them. These kids, often products of the college fishing system, have been trained seemingly since birth to do nothing but fish. Even if they’re primarily scopers, they will likely pivot better than most of us ever could. On top of that, they understand the marketing game and the media game, and they seemingly have endless time to hone their skills. Even if they’re behind the curve right now, it won’t take more than a few months for them to narrow the gap.

And that’s why the days of weeks upon weeks of deer hunting, duck hunting, and sitting in a recliner are over for anglers who don’t want to get relegated – because despite a few youngsters’ lapses of judgment, and despite the fact that they may not be as well-rounded as the vets, the kids are getting after it every day. They’re hungry and in the vast majority of the cases they’re willing to put in the work.

So if things change the way you want them – and perhaps that will be for the best – there will be no more reasoning away shortcomings. Eventually treading water just gets you tired. Six months to figure things out. It’s the chance of a lifetime.