If 2023 wasn’t already, 2024 is going to be the year of forward-facing sonar in the bass fishing world.
If you’re not familiar, forward-facing sonar, or FFS, is a relatively new type of imaging technology designed to give bass anglers (or any anglers) a realtime look at the water in front of them. If differs from your traditional down and side imaging in that those both show you a snapshot of what has passed your boat (directly under or to each side), whereas FFS give you that picture of what is happening in the current moment.
In practical terms, you can spot a school of fish on your forward facing sonar, can throw a lure out in front of the boat, and literally watch the fish on your graph swim towards the lure in realtime. It’s quite controversial for a number of reasons, primarily that it has the ability to make fishing much easier with this video game-like screen in front of you, which can, and most likely will lead to even more fishing pressure. And it’s also expensive as hell (Garmin Livescope will run you over $3,000) which means if you want to have a shot at winning fishing tournaments, you’re gonna have to shell out even more money to be competitive.
Do you absolutely need to have it to win tournaments? No, of course not… but if other anglers are utilizing tools that you’re not, you’re setting yourself to be fishing at a disadvantage. Will bolting a FFS unit onto you boat immediately make you a great fisherman? Nope, definitely not… but once again, it’s a helpful tool that nearly all professional tournament anglers are using, and more importantly, winning with.
Whether it’s good for the sport of bass fishing or not is debatable, but the fact of the matter is that this technology is highly effective, and for now, here to stay… and lure companies have been quick to ride the wave. We’ve seen a number of techniques really shine this past year thanks in part to FFS… specifically hover strolling and/or mid-strolling (it has a lot of different names), but Berkley is the latest to release a 3-piece combo of what they’re calling forward-facing sonar optimized baits.
According to Berkley, these bait are:
“Scientifically optimized for forward-facing sonar. Our team took their deep rooted understanding of fish behavior and paired it with forward-facing science to deliver the Berkley Finisher, Krej, and Power Switch.
Three baits scientifically optimized to offer anglers a variety of ways to react to the fish activity they’re observing with forward-facing sonar.”
But here’s the thing… you don’t HAVE to have forward facing sonar to use these new baits. You can use whatever methods you are already utilizing to find fish, and then offer up a unique presentation. I think people hear something like “FFS optimized” and think these lures are only going to work with Livescope and that’s just not the case. I do most of my fishing out of a kayak (when I’m alone) and don’t run FFS on it.
So without further ado… let’s dive in…
Berkley Powerbait Power Switch
The Berkley Powerbait Power Switch is an extremely versatile, minnow-style bait that can be utilized a number of different ways whether it’s vertical jigging, hovering, snapping or twitching, and you can even bounce it along the bottom. Available on a variety of weights and colors, the multi-species lure comes pre-rigged with the weight inside, a razor-sharp Berkley Fusion19 hook and Berkley’s signature PowerBait flavor.
Buy Now: Berkley Powerbait Power Switch – $7.99 – $9.99
Berkley Krej
Krej is “jerk” spelled backwards and that should immediately clue you in to how this lure is supposed to work. Essentially a hard jerkbait with the bill flipped up, the new Berkley Krej is designed to be twitched like a standard jerkbait, only it will rise up through the water column with each movement, but then on the pause, it will shimmy backwards towards the intended target. Paired with FFS, you can work your lure up towards the surface like a fleeing baitfish, and then, you can back it up with a nice wobble toward the target for a completely different presentation.
I have to say, I’m pumped to give this one a try in the spring.
Buy Now: Berkley Krej FFS Jerkbait 100 – $14.99
Berkley Finisher
Another extremely versatile new FFS-optimizes lure from Berkley, the Finisher works like a glide bait, a jerkbait, and/or a mid-strolling rig all in one. Quick, hard flicks of the wrist will give you an erratic, darting action, or you impart more subtle movements for larger, sweeping glides. It can also be jigged vertically or worked in the middle of the water column. Available in 2-inch, 2.75-inch and 3.5-inch, and a whole ton of different color schemes, this is going to be a must have for any forward-facing sonar user.
Buy Now: Berkley Finisher 7 – $9.99
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