It looks innocent enough...
Just when the fishing forums were finally starting to quite down. When the last word on the Nate Wellman incident truly WAS the last word. Along comes Paul Elias, cracking the century mark down at the Guntersville FLW event in what was expected to be a lightweight deal.
Of course, it’s not so much that he won with that much weight, leading the event wire-to-wire, but rather how he did it that has the message boards all fired up again. They might be talking about this one for a while, too.
Paul, along with several other top finishers, were all throwing an Alabama rig. If you haven’t seen it, it’s basically a smaller, throwable version of an umbrella rig used for stripers. Check out some of the comments from the FLW reports:
- “This Alabama rig I’m throwing is crazy,†Elias said. “A lot more guys were throwing it today than were the first two days. It’s obvious by the weights. A bait comes along every now and then that makes a lot of sense that the fish haven’t seen. That’s what is happening here and it’s incredible.â€
- Jay Yelas: “It’s so rare that something new like this comes along and makes such an impact. It’s been like magic this week. You never know what other innovations might come off of this. You’re throwing five baits at a time, but who is to say it couldn’t be more. This thing will be a staple in the tackle box before too long.â€
Before you rush out and buy a couple of these things, (and from the sounds of it, lots of guys already have), you need to check your local fisheries regulations to see just how you can and can not rigs these things. Many states have various rules and regulations that have been based on science and statistics that regulate certain fishery aspects in an effort to control and/or spread harvest. Paul utilized the setup with a full 5 swimbait attachment, all with hooks in them. In many states though, fishery regulations restrict how many baits or hooks can be attached to a single line. Just a quick check showed that as Paul rigged and threw it, it would probably be illegal in MI, IN, TN, CA, OH, and KS.
What you’ll have to do in those and many other states is to use only hookless “attractor” baits on the majority of the arms, with a single hook equipped bait on the main arm and probably dropped back from the bunch. That’s how most of the striper guys do it.
So who plans on trying one, what state are you from, and are you restricted on the amount of hooks per line you’re allowed to fish? I can say in Indiana, you’ll definitely have to modify and restrict your setup.
7 Comments
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Chad Keogh
October 24, 2011 at 8:18 am
I plan on getting one and trying it out. We have a one lure per line reg in BC, Canada, but I’ll just remove the multiple snaps and replace them with split rings and EWG hooks. That would, in effect, make the “rig” one lure.
They have no reg against multiple hooks, just multiple lures. I’d have one line, with one rig at the end.
Jared
October 24, 2011 at 9:34 am
360 bait…ahh i see, now how many are you putting up for give a aways?!
Clem
October 24, 2011 at 10:08 am
IMO, this is one lure.
It just has different attachments.
This is the same as a double- or triple-fluke rig, or using a jig for a drop shot or Carolina-rig weight, or putting a Frontrunner in front of a crankbait or topwater bait.
Rich Arnold
October 24, 2011 at 10:53 am
Being a Lake Guntersville local and having multiple tourneys there each year, I guess I better get me a few of these if I want to compete with the sticks around here! The funny thing is a buddy at work showed the Alabama Rig to me back in late July and I shook my head at him and told him good luck. Now I am wishing that I had purchased three or four…especially if Guntersville is drawn for our club’s classic next weekend!
Dwain
October 24, 2011 at 12:47 pm
In states it’s legal, more power to them. I’m certainly going to try it here (AR) there is a power plant lake that I think this thing might be deadly on this winter!
Rich
October 24, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Add MN to the list, where you only get one hook and I think WI you can only go to 3
Terry Battisti
October 24, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Funny this should finally surface. I am amazed it surfaced in a Tour-level event, though. We’ve been doing this with swimbaits in California for years. The first time I was introduced to it was in 1999 fishing with Jerry Rago. He had long used it for catching stripers at Willow Beach and lake Silverwood but found he was catching a lot of LMB on it too. So, when he switched over from Stripes to LMB, he took the rig to the local SoCal lakes and was cleaning up. As Brian noted, though, in Cal you can ONLY use a total of three hooks – so you had to rig teasers without hooks.
Did it work? Well, I netted a 9- and 12-lb fish caught at the same time by Jerry that day. The deal is he was using 12-inch swimbaits – not the “little” ones Paul was throwing. 🙂
TB