2012 may be The Year of the Dragon in the
Chinese calendar, but for bass anglers there is no question it is The
Year of the Alabama Rig.
Thanks to Paul Elias' stunning win at the 2011 FLW Tour event
on Lake Guntersville in November, it is just
about impossible to find one of the wire-armed umbrella rigs anywhere on the
continent. Heck, anywhere in the world.
Unless you've been living under a rock of late, you know
that the pre-tournament forecast for Guntersville was that the fishing was ultra-tough. Indeed, predictions were that a four day
50-pound total weight would put you squarely in the driver's seat to head home
with the $100,000 first place purse.
Elias, of course, caught almost 2/3rds of that weight (29-pounds,
3-ounces) on the first day of the tournament alone and won the event with a
stunning total weight of 102.8-pounds. He
could have slept in on Day four, enjoyed a leisurely brunch and still won the event,
thanks to the fact he was one of the few anglers throwing the weird contraption,
almost no one had heard about, up until that point in time.
Since then of course, Alabama Rigs have been flying off
store shelves faster than lifeboats off the Titanic - that is if you could find
one - and selling on E-Bay for outrageous sums of money. As much as $500 each.
So, it comes as no surprise that tackle manufacturers have
been scrambling ever since Elias' victory to make new and improved versions of
the Alabama Rig.
One of the niftiest I've seen is Charlie Ingram's new "Walker
Rig". Ingram is a professional bass
angler and host of the popular Fishing
University television
series. His new patent pending design is
touted to be a significant improvement on the rig Elias used at Guntersville
for several reasons.
"All of the current designs," said Rick Quade,
head honcho at Castaic Swimbaits who are distributing the rigs, "are made
for open water conditions. That limits their use to the relatively few times
bass school in open water, because they foul almost instantly if they touch cover.
And given their design, when you hang up
an Alabama
rig, you either lose it or spend lot of time trying to get it back."
According to Quade, the "Walker Rig" utilizes weights on two of the
arms to keep the rig stable, allowing you to walk through grass and brush.
"We tested the Walker Rig extensively," said
Quade, "and it is snag proof. Charlie will be featuring it on upcoming episodes
of the Fishing University."
Quade also told me that the Castaic folks will be receiving their first shipment
of Walker Rigs at the end of the month and they're currently taking advance orders.
"We're guaranteeing shipment by January 31st, or later
if the customer wants it," Quade said.
"By the way, the Walker
rigs will be available in two head colours: Tennessee Shad and White with
Silver Flake. Both are scaled patterned
heads with eyes. And we are also going
to be offering the traditional Alabama
rig in both three and five wire models."
The various rigs are available on the Castaic website www.castaicswimbait.com/ under
"rigs". Alternatively, you can
contact Rick Quade at richardquade@hotmail.com.
The second, new, spiffy Alabama rig I've seen and that will soon be
available to anglers is Guru Tackle's “The Rig”!
Canadian bass anglers, in particular are going to love this
one because it features four adjustable arms.
In Ontario
and most other Canadian provinces (be sure to check your local regulations)
anglers are allowed to have four "hooks points" on their main
line. A treble hook, by the way,
qualifies as one hook point. So the
balanced, four-armed "The Rig" meets all the legal requirements.
The other reason I am excited about "The Rig" is
because the two fellows behind it, Dave Chong and Bobby Guan, are great fishing
industry guys. Dave is also one of the
top tournament bass anglers in Canada
having won just about every major bass event there is to win. And Bobby Guan is best known for his premium Ultra
Tungsten line of terminal tackle. So
when industry leaders like these team up to fashion a new product you can be sure
it is worth the money.
Bobby and Dave tell me "The Rig" will be available
in limited quantities any day now, so you best get your order in quickly. The Rig is available in two different arm
lengths, a 5-inch model and a 7-inch
model, and sells for $9.99!
To order The Rig, as well as obtain dealer pricing and availability,
you can contact Dave by phone at 416-993-3477 or e-mail at
Dave@UltraTungsten.com
