Video game fishing

In 2017, right here at Cherokee Lake, we coined the term “video game fishing” after practically the entire field of Bassmaster Elite Series anglers were doing just that during the derby. 

It was February, and the smallmouth were offshore relating to very specific isolated rocks on the bottom. Boat positioning and casting angles were key, and the only way to put all the pieces of the puzzle together was using the front deck mounted electronics. Those have come a long way in three years. 

And here we are again. Andy Crawford discovered Brandon Palaniuk doing it yesterday; now he’s on Matt Robinson, who is keeping one eye focused on the screen and the other on his line. 

Could smallmouth become the front runner at the weigh-in today? If so, you can bet video fishing got them to the scales. 

In the photo, Robinson is holding up three fingers to signal the number of keepers in his livewell.