Science of the Strike

Episode 29 is a deep dive on sonar: the technology that has, depending on who you ask, either revolutionized bass fishing or ruined it. We start at the beginning: what sonar actually is, how sound behaves underwater, and why a transducer firing pings into the water column can tell you anything useful at all. From there, we work through the generations: 2D, down imaging, side imaging, and the forward-facing systems that have rewritten tournament fishing in about five years. We get into the physics of cone angles, frequency, and resolution, why a fish looks like an arch on one screen and a dot on another, and what the water column is really showing you once you learn to read it. We talk about the controversy too, because you can’t do a sonar episode in 2026 without it: what forward-facing has done to the pro circuits, what the research says about catch rates and fish behavior around constant insonification, and where the sport goes from here. Whether you run a flasher or a full Livescope rig, this one gives you the science underneath the screen.

Episode 28 brings the Experience vs. Science miniseries back with a guest who needs no introduction: Jordan Lee. Two-time Bassmaster Classic champion, one of the most decorated young anglers of his generation, and a guy whose instincts have been battle-tested at the highest level of the sport. We put those instincts up against the literature. We get into grass fishing, how Jordan reads it, what he keys on, and where the research on vegetation-oriented bass either backs him up or complicates the picture. We dig into scent: what science actually says about a largemouth's chemoreception, whether attractants do what the bottle claims, and how a pro who's won millions decides whether to bother. We talk wind—the most misunderstood variable in bass fishing—and how Jordan's on-water read compares to what the studies show about baitfish displacement, light penetration, and feeding windows. This is the format at its best: an angler operating on pure feel, a couple of hosts operating on peer review, and a conversation that lands somewhere more useful than either camp gets on its own.

Episode 27 is a deep dive on aquatic vegetation — specifically, grass — and why it might be the single most underappreciated variable in a bass fishery. We walk through the main players anglers actually encounter: hydrilla, milfoil, coontail, eelgrass, pondweed, and the rest, what each one looks like, how it grows, and why bass relate to them differently. Then we get into the research on what grass actually does to a system. The studies are striking: fisheries with healthy submerged vegetation consistently produce more bass, bigger bass, and better year-classes, and when the grass disappears — whether from grass carp, herbicide, or a drawdown — the fishery follows it down. We talk about the mechanisms: cover for fry, ambush structure for adults, oxygen production, water clarity, and the way vegetation reorganizes the entire food web from the bottom up. By the end, you'll never look at a grass line the same way. It's not just a place to throw a frog. It's the reason the fish are there at all.

Episode 26 closes out year one. Twenty-five episodes in the books, and rather than let the milestone pass with a montage and a thank-you, we did what the show is supposed to do: we went back through every episode, pulled the highlights worth revisiting, and cited what we consider the primary article behind each one. Consider it a table of contents for the first year of Science of the Strike — a running record of what we learned, what surprised us, what held up, and where the literature pointed us next. If you're new to the show, this is the fastest way to get caught up. If you've been here since episode one, this is the reference episode: one place to find the studies, the sources, and the moments that mattered. Year two starts after this. We're glad you're here for it.

Episode 25 continues our Prey Mini-Series with a deep look at blueback herring, which are arguably the single most disruptive baitfish in modern American bass fishing. We get into what bluebacks actually are, how they ended up in lakes hundreds of miles from saltwater, and what they've done to every fishery that hosts them. We talk about the behavioral rewrite they cause: bass abandoning structure and becoming more pelagic. We cover the herring spawn, what triggers it, where it happens, and why bass key on it like nothing else. Finally, we get into the trade-offs: yes, herring grow big fish, but the rest of the food web pays the bill. When it comes to advancing yourself as a largemouth bass angler, if you understand the prey, you'll understand the predator.