MLF Is Forward Facing: The Battle Between Instinct and Innovation

Bass fishing is no longer just about the fish. It’s a battle between skill and technology, between purists and progress. With REDCREST 2025 looming, Major League Fishing is setting the standard for what comes next.

MLF has “capped” technology to deliver an exciting format during REDCREST 2025 | Photo by Jason George

Welcome to the New Age of Angling

The Precision Sonar Lock Box, featuring a secure lock and easy application, designed to enforce MLF’s 2025 forward-facing sonar rules. | MLF

Once upon a time, fishing was about instinct. You read the water, felt the wind, and trusted the gut. The best anglers were part hunter, philosopher, and lunatic, chasing ghosts beneath the surface with nothing but a rod and an idea.

That time is dead.

This is the era of digital warfare. Where fish don't just swim in the depths; they appear in high-definition, traced by forward-facing sonar like enemy targets on a battlefield screen. Where lakes are no longer wild, unpredictable things but mapped, charted, and decoded in real-time by GPS waypoints and artificial intelligence. And no league has embraced this evolution or fought to contain it like Major League Fishing.

With REDCREST 2025, the MLF Bass Pro Tour championship looming, the question isn't whether technology has changed professional fishing. That's settled. The question is: has it changed too much, or not enough?

The Tech Arms Race

U.S.-based design, engineering, manufacturing and technical support. From their home base in Eufaula, AL, Humminbird helps anglers make the most of every minute on the water. | Humminbird

Anglers today are less backwoods warriors and more scientists with fiberglass hulls. The game has evolved, and the weapons of choice are now precision-calibrated instruments of efficiency:

• Forward-Facing Sonar (FFS): No more casting into the abyss. This technology lets anglers track bass in real time, watch them react to a lure, and decide in milliseconds whether to stay or move. It's a sniper scope for the deep.
• GPS Mapping & Waypoints: The lake is a chessboard; every cast is a calculated move. Pros can mark every brush pile, every transition, every sunken stump. No more hoping, no more wandering. Just execution.
• MLF SCORETRACKER®: The ultimate mind game. Live updates. Real-time leaderboards. Every angler knows precisely where they stand, who's catching, who's choking. It's not just a fishing tournament, it's psychological combat.

Some call it progress. Some call it the death of the soul. But no one is looking away.

SCORETRACKER®: The Constant Reminder Of Where You Stand

Justin Cooper says "SCORETRACKER helps me in my decision making throughout the day." | Photo by RMatsuura | Courtesy of MLF

What is SCORETRACKER®?

SCORETRACKER is Major League Fishing's live leaderboard system used on the Bass Pro Tour (BPT). Unlike traditional tournaments, which typically weigh only an angler’s five largest fish, the BPT format counts every scorable fish caught. Each angler is accompanied by an MLF Competition Official who immediately weighs each fish onboard the boat for instant catch, weigh, and release. The official then inputs these weights directly into SCORETRACKER in real-time.

No one talks about it much, but professional fishing isn't just physical. It's mental. And SCORETRACKER® is the devil whispering in every angler's ear.

For some, it's fuel. The kind of high-stakes pressure that forces you to adapt, to push harder, to make the big call when it matters. For others? It's a death spiral. You see your name sinking, watch the leaderboard turn red, and feel the weight of failure creeping in before the day is even done. Panic sets in. You fish too fast, too reckless. The lake smells of weakness.

SCORETRACKER adds transparency and immediacy similar to traditional sports, making it truly competitive. | Courtesy of MLF

SCORETRACKER shows your hand—it's a live, ongoing update of the tournament standings. Because your competitors always know exactly where you stand, it creates a strategic chess match. This makes it the purest form of competitive fishing. You see immediately what's happening on the water, like when someone locates a productive school of fish, forcing you to adapt your strategy instantly based on current conditions—just as athletes do in every other sport.

Jacob Wheeler

With every tick of the clock, the question gets louder: Who has the nerve?

At REDCREST, the battle won't just be against the fish; it will be against the screen, the standings, and the creeping paranoia of watching your shot slip away.

Drawing the Line: The Battle for Fishing's Soul

Photo by TBrinks | Courtesy of MLF

The war over forward-facing sonar has reached its boiling point, and MLF has slammed its fist on the table. No more hiding behind screens. No more watching fish react in real-time like some underwater video game. 

In select events, the technology is banned outright, forcing anglers to return to the raw, messy art of fishing the way it was before wires, transducers, and digital wizardry took over.

Major League Fishing's Changes to the 2025 Bass Pro Tour have been well received.

Bass Pro Tour rule changes have been a big hit amongst anglers and fans. | Courtesy of MLF

What are the forward facing sonar changes to the Bass Pro Tour for 2025?

​In 2025, Major League Fishing (MLF) implemented several changes to using forward-facing sonar (FFS) in the Bass Pro Tour.

Limited Usage Period: Anglers can use forward-facing and 360-degree sonar technology during only one of the three daily competition periods. They must declare their chosen period for using this technology before it begins. ​

Transducer Restrictions: Each boat is limited to a maximum of two forward-facing or 360-degree sonar transducers in any combination. ​

Screen Height Limitations: Bow-mounted screens cannot extend more than 18 inches above the front deck's surface when the boat is on plane, and console-mounted screens are restricted to a maximum height of 16 inches above the steering column.

The decision has divided the sport like a jagged rip through an old fishing net. Some call it a return to purity, a long-overdue move to level the playing field and bring back the primal battle between man and fish. Others see it as a step backward, an artificial handicap, a refusal to embrace evolution. No matter where you stand, the reality is the same: the game has changed.

Jacob Wheeler Takes The Lead In The Knockout Round At Lake Conroe | Photo by RMatsuura | Courtesy of MLF

Jacob Wheeler has placed in the top seven during each of the three stages of the 2025 Bass Pro Tour season. When asked about the new Bass Pro Tour format, Wheeler states, "Personally I really love it. It’s all about showing the diversity of the techniques that play. All of us anglers have a different style and I believe this change helps show that."

Early results are in, and they tell a hell of a story. Without sonar, anglers are forced to do what their predecessors did: read the water, feel the structure, and track the fish without a digital safety net. The results? Closer finishes. More upsets. A sense of unpredictability that had been missing from a sport increasingly dictated by technology.

Justin Cooper Incredible 93-pound 4-ounce performance | Photo by PMoore | Courtesy of MLF

I love the new format for 2025. I feel it fits me as an angler. I love utilizing my Garmin Livescope but I grew up and started my professional career without it by fishing on instincts and my natural abilities. So it’s awesome to get to utilize both this “new age” of tournament bass fishing, and the old school way of just putting the trolling motor down and fish what is in front of you.

Justin Cooper

As REDCREST 2025 looms, the tension thickens. Will these restrictions sharpen the instincts of the best in the game, or will they spark an uprising for the return of unrestricted technology? The future of competitive bass fishing hangs in the balance and no matter which way the scales tip, MLF is driving the conversation.

REDCREST 2025: The Crossroads Between Man and Machine

REDCREST 2025 is around the corner. The event isn't just another tournament. REDCREST represents a high-stakes battleground where instincts meet technology. Three stages in, the debate is louder than ever. 

MLF Bass Pro Tour angler, Jacob Wheeler grabs another bass caught | MLF | G. Dixon

Is Major League Fishing preserving the soul of the sport, or is it merely slowing down the inevitable march of progress?

The rule to limit forward-facing sonar to a single period introduces an entirely different angle for the 2025 fishing season. Now that we are three events in, the evidence is clear. No longer can an angler lean entirely on a sonar screen, waiting for a fish to appear like a digital apparition. Now, they have to focus without visual cues. 

Anglers must now understand weather and subtle fish changes and rely on instincts, not just pixels. Instincts are back in play, and with them, the chaos that makes fishing worth watching.

iKon Boats

And that's the point the change brings. Unpredictability, high-pressure decision-making. Finishes so tight you can taste the sweat on the leaderboard. The thrill of the unknown is what keeps this sport alive. As REDCREST unfolds, MLF's grand experiment continues. The line between skill and science is razor-thin, and this league is walking it like a man staring down a knife's edge.

The debate won't end here. But make no mistake, MLF sets the standard for what's next. The sport will evolve. It has to. The question is, will you be around to watch it unfold? I know I will, I look forward to seeing you at REDCREST!

How to Watch and Attend REDCREST

REDCREST 2025 April 3-6 Huntsville, Alabama | Courtesy of MLF

How to watch REDCREST 2025 online?

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on each day of competition (April 3-6) from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. MLFNOW! is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

When and on which network will the television coverage of MLF’s Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2025 at Lake Guntersville premiere?

Television coverage of MLF’s Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2025 Presented by MillerTech Energy at Lake Guntersville will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 5 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on Saturday, July 19. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel and Vice TV.

When and where is the MLF Outdoor Expo for 2025?

The free, family-friendly REDCREST Outdoor Expo  will also take place throughout the weekend, April 4-6 at the Von Braun Center, located at 700 Monroe St. SW, in Huntsville.