There's no denying that forward-facing sonar has changed fishing and it took little time for lure companies to take notice and work on making baits that work better for fishing this way. Berkley is one brand that took the lead, with several "FFS Optimized" bait designs that show up great on your screen, with great actions that allow you to have many tricks to get those fish to bite. They started things off last year with the Power Switch and recently added the Finisher and Krej to the lineu
Major League Fishing pro Edwin Evers was involved with the design and prototype phase of each lure and has plenty of on-the-water experience with all of them. He shared his insights on how to fish these new baits.
FFS Optimized but not required
While these new baits make catching fish you see on your forward-facing sonar easy, Evers stressed that it's not the only time they work. They'll catch fish in many different situations, whether you are staring at a screen or not.
"These are just great baits in general and will work whether you are watching your electronics or fishing from the bank," he said. "All three are not limited to forward-facing sonar because the Krej is a phenomenal topwater bait and you can fish the Power Switch along the bottom just like a Ned Rig. The Finisher is a great schooling bait, whether you see them on your screen or see fish busting on the surface with your eyes. Any of them can also be fished right on the bank; say you are fishing by a bridge; you can jig them up and down around the columns and catch fish with all of these baits."
Fishing the Power Switch
The Power Switch is a baitfish imitating plastic with a molded lead section inside, and it comes in several sizes, from 1.75 inches up to 5 inches long and in weights from 1/16th up to 1 5/8th ounce. They are offered in many different versions, as there are many ways to fish them.
"It's a deal that you can use a lot of different ways, from fishing right along the bottom to in the middle of the water column," he said. "If you see one on your screen up a little higher and suspending, you can pop it a few times, get it right in front of the fish, and get it to dart around. All three of these lures are unique like that because you can instantly adjust your depth without having to make another cast."
Fishing The Finisher
Among the three new lures, the new Finisher may be Evers' favorite because of how well it has performed for him in two completely different fisheries and seasons.
"It was a huge part of my arsenal when I was pre-practicing for our first event of the season on Toledo Bend in Louisiana," he said. "Over the week I was there, I caught a lot of fish on it and it was my best bait because I could get so many of those bass to react. Last summer on Lake St. Clair in Michigan, I was hopping it and popping it around grass and the smallmouth were coming unglued on it."
The Finisher comes in three different sizes and excels at darting and dancing in the water column with unpredictable movements that trigger bass. It also shows up great on forward-facing sonar. "You can let it sink to any depth, and I wouldn't say you can fish it in one zone infinitely, but you can keep it in the strike zone for a very long time," said Evers. "It casts like a bullet, really all three of these baits do, and it's a bait that will get down to what you see on your screen very quickly. A lot of times when you see a fish and wait for a little bitty jighead to fall, by the time it gets there, the fish has swum 10 feet in the other direction, and you don't have that problem with the baits because they sink quickly."
Fishing The Krej
The Krej, "jerk" spelled backward, is just that, a jerk bait body with the bill turned upside down. It's a unique-looking bait that will do many things, including being a quick-falling bait that you can also fish right on the surface if you choose.
"For me, it's more of a warm water bait because it has such great action on the surface," he said. "But it's also a bait that gets down quickly and has a great shimmying action as it falls. You can fish it any depth and get right to fish you see on your screen, whether they are around standing timber, bridge pilings, or deep docks.
The three "FFS Optimized" baits from Berkley are just the beginning in what will surely be a host of new lures designed for forward-facing sonar. All three of these new offerings have already proven their worth and are sure to catch plenty more bass in the coming years.
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