Denny Hamlin thinks forward-facing sonar has gone too far in professional bass fishing.
The NASCAR star, who has spent the past year diving headfirst into bass fishing after purchasing a boat last winter, says the technology may be helping pros catch more fish — but at the expense of some of the sport’s traditional skill.
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“I think the guys on the pro tour, it’s a little too much,” Hamlin told OutKick OutDoors. “It’s a little too much.”
Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Progressive Toyota, walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 2, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)
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Hamlin pointed to what he sees as a disappearing part of the game: finding fish without relying so heavily on electronics.
“I think that there’s a lost art form of going out there, doing the homework, finding the spots,” he said. “It’s probably better for TV that these guys are catching monster bass and, you know, 100-pound bags, but I can see where it’s probably getting a little overboard.”
And he doesn’t expect the technology arms race to slow down anytime soon.
“The technology is going to just keep getting more,” Hamlin said. “Eventually it’s going to become even easier.”
That debate has become one of the hottest topics in professional bass fishing, with both of the sport’s major circuits already taking steps to limit the influence of forward-facing sonar.
Watch Denny Hamlin’s full interview with OutKick OutDoors here:
For the 2026 Bassmaster Elite Series, B.A.S.S. allows forward-facing sonar at no more than five of the nine regular-season events. The organization went so far as to use coin flips to determine which stops would permit the technology, creating a mix of traditional and electronics-heavy tournaments throughout the schedule.
DENNY HAMLIN CHASES MONSTER LARGEMOUTH BASS IN TEXAS WITH BASSMASTER PRO CHRIS ZALDAIN
Major League Fishing has taken a different approach on the Bass Pro Tour.
Rather than banning forward-facing sonar at certain events, MLF limits anglers to using forward-facing and/or 360-degree sonar during just one of three 2.5-hour competition periods each day. Anglers must declare in advance which period they intend to use it, and the technology must be disabled during the other two. MLF also limits competitors to two forward-facing or 360-degree transducers.
In other words, Hamlin isn’t exactly alone in thinking the technology may need some guardrails.
But he’s also not pretending he doesn’t appreciate it. There are some obvious benefits, after all.
“For someone like me who’s a novice, it at least gets me in the game,” Hamlin said.
That pretty much sums up his relationship with fishing at this point. He’s still learning, still getting humbled and still very much hooked.
Hamlin has also been accelerating his learning curve with help from professional angler Chris Zaldain.
“When you can go out with a pro … it just allows me to watch him cast and watch him work a minnow or whatever it might be,” Hamlin said. “He definitely teaches me quite a bit, and I definitely have caught more fish now that I’ve got a little bit of that experience of watching how he does it.”
Denny Hamlin took a fishing trip to Texas with Bassmaster Elite pro Chris Zaldain. (Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images & USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
And after starting out exclusively in freshwater, Hamlin is already looking beyond bass.
“I’m in the middle of purchasing an offshore boat now,” he said, “so I’m sure I’ll get into that fishing here in the next year or so.”
The hobby has also become more than another competitive pursuit.
Hamlin called fishing “therapeutic” and said it has helped teach him patience — something he joked he could always use more of.
“It certainly is a great outlet for me,” he said. “A lot of my time used to be spent playing basketball, golf, things like that, and this one is certainly a lot easier on the body.”
Not that the competitive streak disappears once he gets on the water.
Asked whether he gets as competitive about fishing as he does racing, Hamlin laughed off the comparison — sort of.
“About racing, no,” he said. “But still, if I’ve got a co-angler on the deck, I’m looking to catch more and more weight.”
He also prefers to do it alone.
“Solo. Give me solo,” Hamlin said when asked whether fishing was more of a solitary escape or something he liked doing with family.
“You got kids, you can’t get the line out,” he said. “I’m retying something every two seconds. Like, I can’t even get my own line in the water.”
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 National Debt Relief Toyota, looks on in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 24, 2026, in Indianapolis, Ind. (Getty Images)
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Fishing may be a way for Hamlin to slow down, but he hasn’t exactly left his competitive instincts at the dock.
He said he could see himself entering fishing pro-ams eventually.
For now, though, it’s something that gets him outside, off his phone and away from the grind. Something we could all use.
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