Like a lot of bass anglers, I was interested to read the other day that the Bassmaster Elite Series Rules Committee has amended the regulations for anglers fishing in the upcoming Bassmaster Classic and Elite Series, making it clear that only a single lure can be used during practice and tournament competition.   

The move is in obvious response to Paul Elias' stunning victory at the recent 2011 FLW event on Lake Guntersville, when he literally walked away from the rest of the field, thanks to the fact he was the only angler using the until-then, unknown Alabama Rig, for the entire tournament.   

 Since Elias won the event, it is fair to say that demand for the umbrella rig has shot through the roof.  Indeed, a friend who recently returned from a trip to Guntersville reported that, "every angler I saw was throwing an Alabama Rig."  



The move by the Bassmaster folks has certainly sparked plenty of healthy debate, and no shortage of e-mails, asking what I thought of the rule change.  

So, let me carefully put my toe into the water and offer a few thoughts.  

First, if the one-rod, one-line, one-lure rule is supported by the majority of anglers fishing the Bassmaster Elite series, as it seems to be, then that is the way it should be.   It is absolutely no different, in my mind, from the rule the Bassmaster folks have on the books restricting tournament anglers from using the main motor to assist in manipulating the bait.  

So, in addition to not being able to "troll", anglers are also now restricted from throwing tandem fluke-rigs or two top water frogs as previously has been the case.   

Ditto, using a jig instead of a weight to anchor a drop-shot rig.  

Which brings us to the question of ethics and whether or not the Alabama - and similar rigs - should be banned outright.  

The easiest way to answer that question, I think, is to ask yourself this: "If banning the Alabama rig is the solution, what is the problem?"  

Based on Elias' showing at Guntersville, many anglers are suggesting it is a matter of conservation.  That the rig is so effective, there won't be any fish left in the lakes.  

When I read and heard that argument, I couldn't help thinking back, far too many years than I wanted, to when the first buzzbaits appeared on the scene.  It was impossible back then not to catch fish throwing the crazy things.  But, then the action, as so often happens, waned.  

So many anglers threw so many buzzbaits that the fish were bombarded and became conditioned to them.  And while buzzbaits remain a good option when conditions are "right", I have to scratch my head to recall a recent major tournament that was won by an angler throwing a buzzbait.  

 Ditto, Sluggos.  

I'll never forget when Sluggo's first appeared and Bob and Wayne Izumi and I had them a year or so in advance of most other anglers.   Bob and I were practicing for a big event back then, following several other boats down a shoreline.  No matter where we threw those silly Sluggos, a bass scooted from out of nowhere, grabbed onto the soft plastic bait and would not let go of it.   

 It was silly.  

A year or so later, I went down and fished the Bassmaster Top 100 event on Minnesota's Lake Minnetonka and lead the co-angler side on Day 1 and 2, eventually finishing third.  I practiced for that event one day with buddy and Connecticut bass pro Terry Backsay.  Terry had made a big name for himself in his rookie season, making it to the Bassmaster Classic and placing high in nearly every event he fished, throwing Sluggos almost exclusively.  

I'll never forget going down one row of docks on Minnetonka in practice, throwing Sluggos, and it was brutal because the bass wouldn't let go of Terry's and my bait.  We'd pitch the soft plastic lure into a boat slip, let it settle to the bottom, tighten up on the line and there would be a bass hanging onto it more times than not.  We had our hooks bent back so we didn't stick any of the fish in practice, and many times we'd drag the bass right to the side of the boat before  it finally let go.  Several times, the fish swallowed the baits!  

Yet, Sluggo's too, quickly became passé.   

Indeed, when was the last time a major tournament was won by an angler throwing a Sluggo?  It is still a great lure, but ......  

My sense is we're going to see the same thing happen with the Alabama rig, especially since so many anglers are going to be throwing the rigs this season.  Indeed, it will be fascinating to see how long it takes, before the shine starts to tarnish.  

Something else to think about:  in Ontario and most Canadian provinces you're allowed to have four (4) hook points on your main line, a treble hook counting as one "hook point".  

This means it is legal for anglers to use "pickerel rigs" sporting four single hooks, each baited with a live minnow, leech, or nightcrawler.  So, what is it more "ethical" or "unethical" - four live baits dangling from a single line, or four soft plastic lures?  

Indeed, gun advocates are fond of suggesting that, "guns don't kill people, other people kill people".    And so it is with fishing lures.   

I mean, how can catching and releasing a bass on an Alabama rig be called "unethical", while catching and killing the fish on a lure sporting a single hook is somehow "right"?   

Hmmmm .......  

To cloud the "ethical issue" even further, the Bassmaster folks still use the outdated, "dry" weigh in method, as opposed to the "water weigh-in" system, that all credible science shows to be much more fish friendly.   

Indeed, the ground breaking research carried out by fish physiologists like Dr. Bruce Tufts of Queen's University clearly shows that taking fish out of water and weighing them in a dry basket to be extremely stressful, even lethal.  Yet, the dry system is the method Bassmaster continues to employ.  

Which means, you can't use an Alabama rig to catch a fish in the Bassmaster Classic or any of the Bassmaster Elite Series events that use the outdated, antiquated, dry basket weigh-in procedure.  But, you can use the Alabama rig in FLW events that employ the state-of-the-art, fish friendly, water weight in system.  

 Go figure.  

But, that is the problem with ethics.  They keep getting in the way!