The thing that kills me is that I know some very vocal people calling for regulation or banning of forward facing sonar, but those same people will be the first to yell at me about "freedom", "free markets", and "capitalism" when I want regulations put in place to save the lives, or make life better for, other human beings.

I did not get to target muskies from the early 2000s to the mid 2010s very much. I was in high school and college, and just starting a career, getting married, etc. Should I be mad at all the people who crushed it on Vermilion during that time because they "caught too many fish"? Where was the regulation of side imaging and double tens that helped catch rates increase? At least I'm told that those two things drastically changed the game.

Here's a side imaging video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTq1Tmwr4ko 

Should we also ban this tactic? I would assume people agree this is increasing catch rates, yes? And I know the response will be something like: "it's different, you can't actually see the fish moving" or something along those lines. But if the result is the same, and that fish is caught, how different is it really? 

I'll take a look at the historical example of prohibition. We passed a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT to get rid of alcohol (which, by the way, was actually probably a good idea based on the research that shows alcohol consumption is very much not good for humans). Spoiler Alert: it did not go well. How's the "war on drugs" going?

But I do agree with people, that progress for progress' sake is not always good. More is not always better. But we live in a world that rewards those things monetarily, unfortunately, and our culture is obsessed with status and money.

I'd be happy to see reasonable regulations put in place, but I honestly have no idea how that would be enforceable. Like I've stated previously, I love live sonar for trolling and boat position. It is incredibly helpful to know what's in front of me instead of behind me. I am better with my boat position because of it. I can find the trolling depth of any bait I run with relative ease now. Those two things alone are worth it for me. And those two things have helped me catch fish. I have never once pulled up to a spot and used live sonar to watch my bait in front of a fish. Personally, that's not something I'm interested in.

But if someone else wants to do that, and abides by limits and regulations, than who am I to tell them they can't? I know Vermilion is being used as an example. Stocked dropped off dramatically, catch rates increased, and now I consistently hear about how tough it is. But would it still be that tough if there had been more steady stocking for the entire time and there wasn't a decade stretch of people absolutely crushing it on that lake? What if instead of a great 10 years, we had a good 30 years? Again, I didn't get to personally experience any of that, so I'm just going by things that I have read about the "golden era" of MN musky fishing.