What's happening under the boat?

One of the more exciting elements of fishing is what we don’t know. It leaves us to speculate and to imagine what might be going on in an environment that is still very foreign to us. Beneath the surface of the water is another world that we try to understand in our quest to catch fish. After all this time, how much do we really know? Love it or hate it, forward facing sonar, or FFS as you’ll sometimes see it referred to, has revealed a lot about fish behavior that I personally never realized. Just how many fish take a look at the bait and never bite is enough to drive any angler crazy. It’s been happening since the first human wet a hook, I’m sure. 

Now, we have a glimpse of what really happens when we cast or drop a bait to a fishing spot. Sometimes, the fish eat the bait before it ever hits the bottom. Sometimes, they don’t even see the bait until it gets almost to the boat. Sometimes, they swim from 30 feet away to get it. Other times, they follow it for 100 feet and never bite.