Bass angler couldn't use LiveScope, so he followed whitetail deer to find the fish instead, tell me about this news in (https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/bass-angler-couldnt-use-livescope-followed-whitetail-deer-find-fish-instead)
27-09-2026
The article reports on 22-year-old bass angler Kaden Buchmann, who won the Bassmaster Elite Qualifier tournament at Norfork Lake in Arkansas by using an unusual strategy to locate fish.
Key details from the report include:
Forward-facing sonar (such as Garmin LiveScope) was banned for this specific tournament. Without the technology to spot fish directly underwater, anglers had to rely on traditional instincts and find water that had not already been disturbed by the more than 130 competitors.
Buchmann’s solution was to watch the shoreline for whitetail deer. He reasoned that if deer were lingering near the water’s edge in a cove or pocket, it meant other boats had not recently passed through and spooked the wildlife or pressured the local bass.
On day one, Buchmann spotted more than 30 deerincluding a 9-point buckand targeted those quiet pockets, taking an immediate tournament lead with a five-fish bag weighing 16 pounds, 7 ounces. He repeated this approach throughout the event.
Beyond tracking the deer, Buchmann covered large stretches of Norfork Lake running from near the Missouri border down to Norfork Dam, targeting docks and shaded banks with topwater baits and skipping jigs.
Buchmann went wire-to-wire across the three-day competition, finishing with a total of 42 pounds, 7 ounces to win by 1 pound, 14 ounces. The victory earned him $71,317 and an invitation to the 2027 Bassmaster Classic.