Luke Palmer first got live sonar about the same time he started competing in the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2019, but it wasn’t on his bass boat. He put it on his aluminum boat that he used to fish smaller waters in Oklahoma because many anglers in his area were using it as a tool for catching crappie. It wasn’t long before he began discovering bass fishing applications and learning more about how to use it, and within a couple of years he added the technology on his bass boat, knowing it could be extremely helpful on Northern smallmouth lakes.

That began a learning journey that continues today, and live sonar now has been an important part of Palmer’s tournament bass strategy for several years. Palmer is considered one of the pioneers with forward-facing sonar applications in part because of his 2023 win on the Santee Cooper Lakes, when he used his Humminbird MEGA Live to locate bass that were holding on cypress trees and to make his presentations precise. He actually had used the same technology to aid in a 4th-place finish the previous year at Santee Cooper, but the win and the live cameras in his boat really exposed how he was using live sonar to fish shallow, pitching a YUM Wooly Bug.

The opportunity to see fish in a broad area in real time provides well-documented advantages for finding bass and coaxing strikes for anglers who understand how to use this technology. The same capacity allows for significant learning about bass locations and behavior, much of which can be applied to a broad range of bass fishing situations. We spoke with Palmer about key things he has learned from watching bass on live sonar.
Positioning Lessons
bass fishing with live sonar

The most striking thing Palmer has learned about fish positioning is that traditional ideas about how fish posture themselves and behave on sunny days vs. cloudy days is essentially opposite how the bass act. The widespread belief has always been that bass move higher in the water column and get more mobile and aggressive on cloudy days and grip the bottom on sunny days, but Palmer has observed that fish are far more apt to be higher up and more active when visibility is better on sunny days.

Other ideas have been validated. For example, bass anglers have long suspected that significant numbers of bass suspend over deeper water around baitfish schools during the winter. That used to be hard to confirm, and finding and catching those fish was even harder. With forward facing sonar that tendency has been confirmed, and anglers like Pamer are able to locate those fish and target them efficiently.

Watching fish on forward facing sonar has also confirmed other traditional wisdom for Palmer. Bass indeed follow creek channels like roadways and hold over hard-bottom spots, and even suspended fish often will be directly over key structural areas. They also work their way up creek arms and lake basins in the spring and move up flats as they prepare to spawn.

That said, there are loner fish that don’t run with the pack, which previously would have been nearly impossible to find and catch. Palmer equates these fish with those with big loner bucks that don’t necessarily roam with the herd. And like the big bucks, the loner bass sometimes are of a larger size class.
Feeding Behavior
Luke Palmer landing a winter bass

One important lesson that Palmer has learned about bass feeding behavior is that when they hold close to the bottom, a bait typically needs to run quite close to the fish to entice a strike. Fish holding on the bottom don’t tend to move significantly up and down in the water column. Suspended fish are much more apt to move up to grab a baitfish or lure.

Palmer has found no consistent rules regarding what prompts fish to respond favorably to lures of different types. Instead, having had the opportunity to watch fish and see their responses to retrieves of different speeds, aggressive rod snaps, subtle twitches, pauses and other variances has reinforced the need to mix things up and figure out how the bass want baits presented any given day.

“That can even change during a day,” Palmer said, also noting seven of 10 might want an aggressive action, while others may only respond to a more subtle presentation.

The key difference with live sonar is that it takes away much of the guessing. Anglers had already been able to note the presentations that prompted strikes, but if fish didn’t bite, there was no way of knowing for certain that fish were even seeing baits on many casts. With live sonar, Palmer can see which lures, colors and presentations cause fish to follow but stay back, which make them surge toward the bait, and which cause them to flee. It still requires intentional experimentation, observation and patterning skills, but the process can be far more efficient.
3 Top Live Sonar Lures
BOOYAH Flash Point

BOOYAH Flash Point – When Palmer is fishing over structure, whether that’s a channel edge, a point, a roadbed or something else, he likes a BOOYAH Flash Point Jerkbait. Designed for fishing with Forward Facing Sonar, the Flash Point sends back a strong return, making it easy to track, and its suspending posture and dance are ideal for coaxing strikes. Palmer lets the fish dictate the sharpness of his rod snaps and the lengths of pauses, but his default cadence is a jerk-jerk-pause.

YUM FF Sonar Minnow – Palmer’s bait of choice for casting to fish that are suspended over deep water is a YUM FF Sonar Minnow, which comes in 3-, 4- and 5-inch sizes, fished on a Great Lakes Finesse Sneaky Swmbait Head. He’ll almost always have a couple of sizes rigged and will try casts with each to gauge the fish’s preferences. He generally casts to fish, lets his bait sink almost to them, and then works it 1 to 1 1/2 feet above the fish.

Great Lakes Finesse Drop Minnow – When the water is extra clear and the bass get fussy, Palmer knows he can coax strikes with a GLF Drop Minnow in a shad color, fished on a GLF Stealth Ball Head Jig. Palmer especially likes the sleek and subtle Drop Minnow when he can get directly above fish and present his bait vertically, typically adding minimal action with his rod.