B.A.S.S. RULES ON MULTI-LURE RIGS

Story by Matt Pangrac - Photos by Mark Jeffreys, Matt Pangrac and Dave Rush

Moore, OK – On Tuesday, B.A.S.S. released the highly anticipated ruling regarding the use of multi-lure rigs, most notably umbrella style rigs like The Alabama Rig, in the 2012 Bassmaster Classic and on the 2012 Bassmaster Elite Series.

According to the press release, effective February 1st, “No longer permitted are double soft jerkbait rigs, drop shot rigs with jigs used as weights, double topwater setups and other multi-lure rigs, such as ‘umbrella rigs.’”  To read the complete statement from B.A.S.S., CLICK HERE.

Following the announcement, The BASS ZONE contacted six Elite Series pros to get their take on the ruling including Paul Elias, Kevin VanDam, Mike McClelland, Steve Kennedy, Kelly Jordon, and Fred Roumbanis.

Here’s what each angler had to say about ruling:

Paul Elias
“Naturally, I’m very disappointed that B.A.S.S. would rule in this manner on The Alabama Rig.  I feel like we are turning this entire thing into a bunch of whiners, myself included.  After serving on several B.A.S.S. advisory boards throughout my career, I don’t hold a lot of regard for advisory boards because I feel like sponsors dictate the way anglers react to the given situation.

“If I’d been on the B.A.S.S. advisory board, I would have been pro Alabama Rig.  I’ll just say that I don’t think it would have been a unanimous vote to ban the rig by the board if some of the companies that advisory board members are sponsored by were in line to sell a million Alabama Rigs. 

“That being said, I think that this thing is a whole lot bigger than just the Bassmaster Elite Series.  I think that the general bass fishing public has spoken loud and clear by the number of Alabama Rigs that have been sold and will still be purchased.

“What Andy Poss (creator of The Alabama Rig) has done is opened up a whole new technique that has allowed a lot of people who enjoy going out fishing and catching fish the opportunity to do so.  It’s not only in the United States; it’s turning out to be all over the world where fishing is going on.  I think that it’s a technique that is going to be here to stay and I think that it has promoted the industry, put new numbers of people fishing, and been a total plus for bass fishing and fishing in general.

“I hear the argument about how it wouldn’t be good if all 100 anglers are out there throwing The Alabama Rig in an Elite Series tournament but I just don’t understand that rationale.  When we go to places during the spawn, it’s been proven several times that if you’re not looking at the fish you’re not going to do well in that tournament so all 100 guys are out there sight fishing. 

“The thing that bothers me is that if we’re Elite anglers and are so good, why aren’t we out there with barbless hooks and 2-pound-test line?  Where are we going to draw the line here on what should be fair game and what shouldn’t? 

"One of the anglers in the B.A.S.S. press release said ‘It doesn’t matter how you work it, the fish can’t help themselves,’ and I think that’s a very narrow minded statement from someone who calls themselves one of the 100 Elite anglers in the country.  That’s just hard to believe. 

"The main problem that I have with this decision is the fact that they did not allow the technique to be used for a full year by the elite anglers of the country to really find out if it’s everything that people are saying that it is. 

“I respect the other 99 anglers on the Elite Series but I’ve been put in a position where I have to rethink my choice of Tours next year because they basically slapped one of my major sponsors in the face.  In the end, it really isn’t going to affect my fishing on tour this year.  I’ve proven that I can catch 132-pounds, 8-ounces on one lure and I can catch 100+ pounds on a technique with five lures.  I’m pretty comfortable in my abilities and wherever they want to draw the line is fine with me and I’ll still compete against them."     

Kevin VanDam
“I have nothing against The Alabama Rig.  I just think that the rig opens up people’s eyes to a discrepancy in the rules about the number of baits you can use.  It’s not illegal, but neither is trolling or using live bait and we don’t allow that in tournaments.  

“The real question is where do you draw the line?  What’s sporting and what should be allowed in tournaments?  It goes beyond what you saw in the press release from B.A.S.S. because they got a lot of input from the Elite anglers and actually tried to poll everybody to see what they thought about it and got a lot of different opinions on it.

“The bottom line is that the anglers as a whole felt that this was the best choice.  I mean, should it be two lures, 10 lures, 15 lures?  Where do you set the number of lures that you can use?  The Alabama Rig isn’t a lure - it’s a harness to hold lures.   

“In my opinion, the only answer for the Bassmaster Elite Series, for professional tournaments, is to have one rod and one lure.  That was the intent of the rule originally.  It was just an oversight in the way that it was written in the beginning. 

“As professionals, I think that we should hold ourselves to a higher standard but I don’t have anything against the rig.  Other tournament organizations can do whatever they want and they’re still allowing it in the Bassmaster Opens and B.A.S.S. isn’t for it or against it. 

“They basically polled the anglers and the advisory committee and we looked at all the pros and cons and the pluses and negatives. When it was all said and done I think that everyone came to the conclusion that one bait and one rod at a time was the best choice for the Elite Series. 

“There were more people involved in the meetings than I’d ever seen from the organization across the board.  There was more thought put into this than any ruling that I’ve been a part of in my 20 some years of being involved.

“The Alabama Rig brought this to light but I think this topic would have eventually come up because tournament anglers are driven by innovation.  As soon as I saw The Alabama Rig, I was immediately thinking about multiple hook drop shot rigs for the Great Lakes to catch five smallmouth at a time. 

“I think that what this is about more than anything is to solve an issue before it becomes an issue and really try to hold ourselves to a higher standard because we are getting more and more pressure from the non-angling public anyways.

“If you read the press release, it seems like it’s the angler committee who made the choice.  Believe me, they got the input from all the different Elite Series guys, they polled people on it, there were a lot of people e-mailing tournament officials, and B.A.S.S. has gotten a lot of phone calls on it.  This wasn’t something that was a quick decision that just came up.  It’s been talked about for quite some time.”

Mike McClelland
“I think that B.A.S.S. has stated it about as well as it could be stated. The Elite Series does not allow a lot of things that other tournament circuits have allowed and I firmly believe in everything that was in the statement. 

“I want to be very clear about this – I wasn’t against The Alabama Rig.  I was against everything in the sport that we now know turning into multiple bait applications because I could have seen it not stopping with The Alabama Rig and many different techniques going down that path.

“I like that they have clearly stated that we can only use one bait at one time.  For a number of years, I actually thought that was the ruling until the first time that we fished Clarks Hill. I didn’t realize that we could even throw two baits at one time until a co-angler stepped into my boat with a double fluke rig.

“I think that it’s just a definition of a rule that was not clearly defined and it’s a phenomenal decision on the part of B.A.S.S.

“You have to be held to certain level of competition and you can compare it to a lot of things.  The NFL doesn’t allow receivers to put stick’um in their hands anymore to catch a football.  There are just certain things that take the sport out of any game.”

Steve Kennedy
“I’m just disappointed with the whole mentality that they have to ban something.  They had already set the precedence in the past with allowing multiple baits with the two flukes, a jig under a drop shot, and a Frontrunner in front of a Spook.

“I don’t see how this one is all of the sudden so bad that we have to ban it.  I’ve thrown it, my dad has thrown it, everyone I know has thrown it and nobody has hardly caught more than two fish at once around here.  It’s not the be-all end-all of fishing.  Multiple baits and multiple hooks has been going on since the beginning of fishing and I don’t see how this rig has changed everything all of the sudden.

“I thought this was the greatest thing that I’d ever seen because the excitement of everyone that I’ve talked to about it is unbelievable.

“Back when I was a kid they dammed up a lake and there was an explosion of bass like you’d never seen.  We’d go out there and tie on something with 10 jigs under a plunker and catch them 10 at a time.  It was fun.  I’ve been catching them with multiple bait rigs since I was 5-years-old.  Then there are other rigs that you haven’t seen and I don’t really want to talk about that I’ve used. 

“People are acting like it’s a whole new thing and it’s nothing new.  There’s a whole group of outsiders that have been using them for a long time.  There are just specific little windows in time where it applies and I don’t think this rig wouldn’t have been that big of deal. 

“I’ve never seen so much excitement over something.  I mean, when people started bed fishing nobody thought you could even catch fish off of beds.  Then we figured out that you could aggravate them into biting.  If you want to talk about a higher standard then we ought to leave those fish alone. 

“If I have to get approval now every time I want to rig up something different, then it all just starts to snowball.”

Kelly Jordon
“I’d mulled this over in my mind about what The Alabama Rig would mean for the sport and for tournament fishing but I hadn’t delved really deep into it.  In the past week or two, I got some calls from some of my fellow pro anglers who had some real concerns about it and they just wanted to let me know how they felt about it and wanted to know how I felt about it.

 “I started off with the opinion that it’s just another deal.  The reality is that when that bite is on you absolutely have to throw it in order to be competitive.  I really didn’t have much of a problem with it but I had some conversations with guys who had thought about it a whole lot and I reached the conclusion that I would support a ruling to keep it to one or two lures.

“I’m surprised that the ruling is so far reaching because you can’t even throw a double Fluke rig now and that’s something that I’ve done in the past at places like Lake Murray and Clarks Hill.  I guess that is a pretty consistent ruling and I don’t disagree with it.  One lure and one rod at a time is part of the gig and best for the competition and what we do.

“I know that some guys probably think that we should still be able to use The Alabama Rig and I’ll tell you what, it’s pretty fun to throw.  Some of the concerns that were raised were pretty valid about what it could do to the overall competition and the overall health of the fisheries.

“I’ve heard guys say that if you teach someone how to load, cock, and shoot a gun that they’re going to destroy stuff and some of the conversations that I’ve had with other anglers is that we’re showing people how to just trash the fisheries with this rig.  Some of the guys are really concerned.  There may be some truth to that but I don’t really know the answer.

“From the competition standpoint, the ruling makes sense.  The ruling isn’t saying that you should never throw an Alabama Rig or a double Fluke rig. This is just a ruling for Elite Series competition.

“In the beginning I didn’t have an opinion either way but by the end of several long conversations, I really do understand the ruling and I have to say that I don’t disagree with it at all.  It’s a tough ruling because I wouldn’t mind throwing it some a couple tournaments but as a whole, it’s a good thing.”

Fred Roumbanis
“I’m endorsing the Picasso School E Rig and I’m still going to do that because it’s fun to catch fish on the rig regardless and not everyone is fishing at the Elite Series level.  As long as we all have the same rules, then it keeps the competition fair. 

“From my experiences with the rig, it’s so dang easy to catch fish with it because it works that good.  I’m up for a challenge so I’m not disappointed by the rule change and I think that they made the right decision there.  It’s still fun to go out and catch fish and the rig has the potential to get people interested in bass fishing because you’re going to catch fish with it.

“I would hate to be on a stellar flipping bite where I thought I could get five or six bites and have a shot to win and then some guy is just out there randomly throwing an umbrella rig across points and killing them. 

“My opinion on that rig is that because of how well it works, you should just limit the number of hooks allowed on the lure.  I think allowing dummy baits on the rig would have been good enough.  That being said, at our level of competition I think that we should have strict rules.  One lure and one rod is what got me excited about bass fishing to begin with.  Those are the kind of rules that separate the Elite tournaments from the rest of the tournaments.” 

(Note: Part Two of the David Walker interview which was originally scheduled to run on Wednesday, January 18 will be published on Friday, January 20th)