Over the past three years, tournament participation has fallen off dramatically mainly due to forward-facing sonar (FFS). Organizations have made rule changes with the hope of bringing tournament anglers back. Some have eliminated FFS all together, while the Major League Fishing trails like the BFL’s and the Toyota Series have put a time limit (three hours) on how long FFS can be used on tournament day.

While there’s no pleasing all the anglers, some tournament trails are hoping that the changes they have made will encourage anglers to come back and fish. They’ve made compromises for both sides, those who are in favor of FFS and those who want it eliminated from the sport all together.

Some anglers feel this new technology has no place in pro tournament fishing. It’s a great tool for the weekend warrior and an awesome tool for scouting. But for tournament use, others feel it is damaging the integrity of the sport. It’s made touring pros out of average to below average anglers.

Where organizations believe they have lost co-anglers, it turns out the boater/pros are also walking away. Early registration for the upcoming BFL (Cowboy Division) on Sam Rayburn indicates that they have more co-anglers signed up than boater/pros. This is a big problem for the parent company, Major League Fishing.

So many factors are at play when it comes to getting anglers back. Economy, price of boats and too many tournament trails are creating problems, not to mention the FFS issues.

To use a political hot word for 2026, “affordability” is a big concern for a lot of anglers. One tournament director of a major fishing organization made the comment that anglers are not having “fun” anymore. This is very much a true statement!

I agree with this comment. The fun days of showing up at a particular body of water and competing with guys you respect and have good relationships with are gone.

We, as anglers, never really thought about anyone cheating. But with so many issues last year with rules violations and failed polygraph tests, it’s now the first thing that pops into our heads when we back our boats down the ramp.

COVID, I believe, has also played a hand in the drop-off of angler participation. Back during the pandemic, the structure of tournaments changed. Anglers who fished during this period know that tournament directors focused on making sure we kept our distance from each other due to COVID restrictions.

The rules for a weigh-in changed as you had to stay in your boat and bring your fish to the scales one at a time. No more gathering of anglers at the weigh tanks.

Once you weighed in, you were expected to leave immediately, and winning checks were often mailed. This took all the fun out of tournament fishing and eliminated the connection anglers had developed over the years.

But during this difficult time, it was truly a lifesaver and a boost to anglers’ morale because they were excited just to have bass tournaments. Anglers appreciated the efforts organizations and directors put forth just so anglers could compete. Connections and comradery are very important to bass anglers. That’s what makes it fun!

Hopefully 2026 will bring a new beginning and a resurgence of anglers coming back to fishing tournaments. My hat is off to all tournament organizations as they try and navigate the new technology with FFS while trying to please as many anglers as possible.

I’ve always said the worst job in the world would be trying to make bass fishermen happy.

Best wishes and tight lines to all anglers for the upcoming tournament season!

Mrs. Connie Sue Underwood Racine, age 73, of Dodson, Louisiana, passed away on Saturday, January 3, 2026, in Winnfield, Louisiana. She was born on Thursday, January 1, 1953, in Louisiana.

Mrs. Racine spent many years devoted to her work and her family. She was employed at Riverwood for over 20 years and was also employed at Brenda’s Chicken Inn. She was baptized at Sikes Baptist Church and held her faith close throughout her life. Connie found great joy in flower gardening and cherished every moment spent with her grandchildren and great grandchildren who were the light of her life.

She was preceded in death by her father, William Connie Underwood; her mother, Juanita Flowerree Underwood; her husband, Johnny Racine; and her brother, Stephen Tommy Underwood.

Those left to cherish her memory include her sons, Benne Stewart (Marites) of Winnfield, Louisiana, J.J. Racine (Katie), Tommy Racine, and Mickey Racine (Rebecca); along with numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

A private family visitation will be held at Southern Funeral Home on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, from 1:00 PM until 2:30 PM.

Funeral services will follow at 2:30 PM on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, at Southern Funeral Home, with Rev. Jack Miller officiating. Interment will take place at Wright Cemetery.

Expressions of sympathy and condolences may be shared with the family by visiting http://www.southernfuneralhome.com

Got a question that’s been nagging at you? Life’s big (or small) dilemmas—work woes, family feuds, resolutions that fizzled, or just figuring out how to adult without losing your mind?

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Beginnings are tricky, but here we are—fresh page, blinking cursor, and a head full of questions. I’m Ida B. Torn, a lifelong Southerner from Kenner, Louisiana, who’s spent years working in newsrooms, design studios, and public service. I’ve seen my share of life’s chaos and comedy—and learned that sometimes, folks just need straight answers and a little laughter along the way.

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When Joe was born in July of 1915, his grandfather announced, “This child is the future president of the nation.” At the time, Joe’s grandfather was the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, and Joe’s father was the president of the Columbia Trust Bank in Boston. From a young age, Joe’s father groomed him for a career in politics with the presidency as his ultimate goal for his son. Joe’s eight siblings were all held to high standards, but Joe was the favorite child. If Joe had his own goals in life, he never acted on them.

In 1933, Joe graduated from the prestigious Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, and won the Harvard trophy, one of the most coveted of athletic prizes which was awarded annually to the member of the football team who best combined scholarship and sportsmanship. Although Joe was not the first person to win the trophy, his was the first name engraved upon it. Rather than going straight into college, Joe was one of 20 youths selected from over 900 applicants “for a year’s trip around the world on a four-masted schooner.” Joe and his group visited every continent and almost every European country on their tour. While in Germany, Joe praised Adolph Hitler and his forced sterilization program in a letter to his father. He said Hitler’s program was doing “away with many of the disgusting specimens of men which inhabit this earth.”

In the fall of 1934, Joe entered Harvard College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree four years later. Joe then enrolled at Harvard Law School, the next logical step on his way to the presidency. With World War II looming on the horizon for Americans, Joe was among a group of Harvard students who formed the Harvard Committee Against Military Intervention in Europe and proclaimed, “Since, contrary to the assertions of the Committee for Militant Aid to Britain, there is every reason to believe that America is not now at war, it is incumbent upon us to consider the possibility of remaining at peace.”

War often brings opportunity. Despite his initial opposition to the war, Joe put his law studies on hold and enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve in June of 1944. Becoming a war hero would certainly help his political ambitions. The United States officially entered the war on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. As a pilot, Joe flew more than enough combat missions to allow him to return home. Fellow pilot Louis Papas said, “There was never an occasion for a mission that meant extra hazard that Joe did not volunteer. He had everybody’s unlimited admiration and respect for his courage, zeal, and willingness to undertake the most dangerous missions.” In August 1944, Joe volunteered to take part in Operation Aphrodite in which war-weary bombers were converted into radio-controlled missiles. The plan was that Joe and his co-pilot Wilford Willy would fly the “drone” bomber with over 21,000 pounds of explosives to an altitude of 2,000 feet at which point another airplane would gain complete radio control. Joe and Wilford would then arm the explosives and parachute out of the airplane over England. The crew in the second airplane would fly the radio-controlled bomber to its target. At 6:18 p.m. on August 12, Joe radioed, “Spade Flush,” the code phrase for the second airplane to take radio control of the drone. At 6:20, while Joe and Wilford awaited the signal to bail out, the bombs detonated prematurely.

Joe’s father’s dreams of his son becoming president ended with Joe’s death. Well, only for a short time. You see, had Joe not been killed during World War II, it is unlikely that his brother would have become president of the United States. Joe, Joseph Kennedy Jr., was the older brother of John F. Kennedy.

Sources:

Meriden Record, May 30, 1933, p.8.
Meriden Record, June 23, 1933, p.8.
The Boston Globe, July 20, 1934, p.3.
The Atlanta Constitution, December 18, 1940, p.28.
The Kansas City Times, August 15, 1944, p.3.
Meilan Solly, “The Top-Secret World War II Mission That Killed Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the Heir Apparent to the Political Dynasty,” Smithsonian Magazine, August 12, 2024, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-top-secret-world-war-ii-mission-that-killed-joseph-pkennedy-heir-apparent-political-dynasty-180984857/#:~:text=Joe%20Jr.’s%20time%20in,Kennedy%2C%20who%20had%20intellectual%20disabilities.

On January 7, 1610, an Italian mathematician named Galileo Galilei pointed his handmade telescope toward Jupiter and made an observation that would alter humanity’s understanding of the cosmos. What he saw that night—a trio of small, bright points near the planet—seemed innocuous at first. Yet those glowing dots would soon become evidence that Earth was not the center of the universe.

Galileo had been refining his telescope for months, improving its magnification from the early Dutch models. His January observations of Jupiter revealed something surprising: the points of light did not behave like distant stars. Over the next several nights, he watched them shift positions, sometimes appearing in different arrangements but always aligned closely with the planet.

By January 13, he identified a fourth object. He realized that the bodies orbited Jupiter itself. These were the four largest of Jupiter’s moons—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—now known as the Galilean satellites.

This observation posed a significant challenge to the prevailing geocentric model, which held that all celestial bodies revolved around Earth. If moons orbited Jupiter, then Earth was clearly not the universal center. Galileo recorded the event in detailed sketches, noting the inconsistent positions of the moons to demonstrate their orbital motion.

What makes the moment historically striking is not simply the astronomical discovery, but the immediate tension it created across academic and religious communities. Galileo’s findings reached scholars quickly, prompting intense debate. His telescopic observations disrupted centuries of established thought and contributed to the broader scientific movement that shifted Europe from medieval cosmology to modern astronomy.

Although the conflict often overshadows the science, the January 7 discovery represented a profound expansion of human perspective. For the first time, observers had direct evidence that celestial bodies could orbit something other than Earth, providing powerful support for the emerging heliocentric model.

Scientific institutions today continue to mark January 7 as one of the pivotal dates in astronomy. Galileo’s sketches remain preserved in archives, offering a glimpse into the night an early telescope revealed worlds orbiting another planet—one of history’s most remarkable moments of discovery.