What’s the Half Life of the AL Rig?

Here’s an interesting question prompted by an article by Frank Sargeant in The Huntsville, AL Times. Here’s what got me thinking:

I am of an age that allows me to remember (on a good day) the origin of the plastic worm, a lure that actually did wipe out entire bass populations in smaller lakes for a few years. The worm was so different and could be fished in so many different types of cover that it totally flummoxed the bass, and every fish that saw it, ate it. And in the years before catch-and-release, most of them got eaten in return.

Ditto with the first Rapalas brought here from Finland. And for the origin of the crankbait….

But with all these lures, anglers gradually discovered the success was self-limiting. As the bass got used to seeing the lures, ate them and had a bad experience – and then were released – they learned not to eat them again.

Now, and for the next several years barring regulation, all the millions of bass that have been living suspended around shad schools are going to be under attack, and are going to learn some hard lessons about the Alabama Rig and all the imitators that are sure to follow.

But state harvest laws will still limit the take, and tournament rules will still require all fish caught in competition to be released. The vast majority of anglers release most of the bass they catch, tourney or not.

Long term, there’s unlikely to be any measurable impact.

Good points. Agree?

In my experience fishing umbrella rigs for stripers, the stripers never get used to it. On the other hand, we eat most of ’em and we’re talking the ocean here: Those fish get fished for a lot, but I don’t think it’s quite the same as the bass hovering around honey holes that get banged over the head by bassers every weekend.

So to get back to the title of this post, here are the questions for you bassin’ heads:

1. How long will it take in the interwebz era for word and use of the Alabama Rig and its imitators (there for sure WILL be copycats) to go nationwide:

2. How long will it take for some bass (not all because the plastic worm still works) to get used to the Alabama Rig in some form or fashion, thus trimming its effectiveness? (Or not?)