Just one week after the 2025 Bassmaster Elite Series wrapped up on the Mississippi River, B.A.S.S. dropped a bombshell. The 2026 Elite Series will have new restrictions around forward-facing sonar (FFS), also known as live sonar. This comes after a tumultuous 2024 offseason where anglers and fans found themselves fighting over FFS on a regular basis.
According to the Bassmaster website, beginning in 2026 forward-facing live sonar will only be permitted in up to five of the nine regular-season Elite Series events. Which events allow the technology will be determined randomly. The remaining events will prohibit its use entirely, including during official practice. Restrictions implemented for the 2025 season, which limit anglers to one live sonar transducer and a maximum of 55 total screen inches, will remain in place. The 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour will allow FFS, since all qualifiers earned their spot under the 2025 rules.
The announcement made waves among fans and Elite anglers almost immediately. As pro anglers and media pages began to share the announcement, the comment sections exploded with a wide array of praise and disappointment. Some pro anglers like John Crews Jr., Lee Livesay, and Buddy Gross made simple posts announcing the rule change, but didn’t share their own thoughts on the matter. While others like Ben Milliken took to their channels making big statements about their feelings.
As for the fans, their comments are about what you would expect: some good, some bad, some downright aggressive, and some hopeful for the future. This post on the Serious Angler Podcast Instagram page shows a healthy mix of these thoughts and feelings. One fan commented, “What an absolute shame. I guess the next generation of fishermen will pivot to another series.” While another said, “Thank god. Ban it on the smallmouth tourneys.”
Bassmaster Leans Into the Debate
On top of all of the social chatter surrounding the announcement, the staff at Bassmaster took things up a notch on their website. They’ve created a live fan poll to collect opinions and thoughts, and they published two stories that cover both sides of the FFS aisle. This story talks about the younger Elite anglers being ready to silence the critics now that FFS won’t be in play during some of these events, while this story discusses how Elite series veterans that have been begging for FFS bans for years will finally have their moment of reckoning. What both stories have in common though, is that we’re going to be waiting quite a while to see how these changes actually affect the anglers.
This offseason will be filled with a lot of uncertainty in regard to how individual anglers will perform under these new rules. But, if you ask me, the young guns are still going to catch big bags, and the veterans will still find themselves in the hunt on day four at any given event. FFS has become such a hot button topic that everyone seems to easily forget just how good these anglers are, with or without it. The very best anglers will find ways to win, and I for one can’t wait to see how it all shakes out next season.
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