Whatever Happened To… The Paper Graph

ONCE UPON A time in a galaxy that now seems very far away, the only sonar technology available to bass fishermen were the spinning displays offered by flashers like Lowrance’s FISH LO-K-TOR and later Tom Mann’s Humminbird. They were not particularly expensive; excelled in shallow-water applications; delivered instant, real-time information; and, in the hands of truly experienced anglers, could make subtle distinctions between such things as bottom composition, submerged grass and the like. To those who battled through the learning process, flashers developed a very loyal following.

Then, in 1982, the sonar world was turned upside down. With the introduction of Lowrance’s X-15 paper graph, a moment that would alter the very topography of the sport, the way bass