Elites Ban A-Rig

[smbasser]

It has evened the playing field out and put everyone on the same level. Now some might argue this is unfair as it takes away from the elite’s ability to out fish the average guy. But I will contend that if they are truly so elite and fish catching gods then they should still be able to out fish JOE.

Everytime I hear someone say this levels the playing field I can't help but think about the guys that have spent countless hours on the water learning how to fish and putting there time in. I'm a salesmen and have busted my a$$ to get to where I am and would be very aggitated if some new guy came in and started at my level without putting the hard work in to move up

[skeeter]

Why don’t BASS tournaments allow live bait? My opinion on that is simple. NO SPONSOR MONEY! Big tournament anglers are nothing more than paid spokesmen for those who sponsor them. These are not the average angler they have made a career out of a sport that is supposed to be fun.

I'm not clear on who you're pissed at? The lure manufacturers or the tournament organizations, or both?

I am NOT against tournament fishing or tournament fisherman. I do think there are too many tournaments, and should be limited by the Corps or MDC according to the total number of boats on the

Lake per weekend.

Let me ask you this? What has been the long-term effect of tournaments on the bass population in Table Rock Lake? I don't know the answer, but I have seen dozens of dead fish on Sunday nights and Monday mornings.

Do we outlaw tournaments because of that?

What if was determined that tournament fisherman were primarily responsible for the spread of the zebra mollusk in Table Rock? (hasn't happened, but it could?)

You contradict yourself when you complain about bottom line mentality. How many tournaments would you fish if there were no money or prizes provided by the boat, motor and tackle industries? If not for them, there primarily would be club and charity tournaments with low payouts, and many of them wouldn't survive without sponsors!

Thanks fellas for posting your feelings and opinions on these oversized, far-too-numerous, Commercial Bass tournaments. Well written and I'm sure there are many others who are tired of this Commercial abuse of the public's natural resources to make a buck. Fun-type or Charity fund-raiser Bass Club derbies ? No problemo ! Best one I've heard of is the TR club that measures and maybe photographs the catch at boat-side and releases them. That avoids the Bass mortality those of us who live here and fish regularly observe after the weekends. Classic example is what Babler witnessed and posted about last Fall at some big money tournament weigh-in at Kimberling City where the few Bass caught were being held out of the water for far too long while the media talking-heads prattled on about nothing to fill their alloted time slot. The anglers should have known better but were required to hold those Bass out of the water as long as instructed to. Those promoters could care less about those fish and they were considered as simply a means to generate income. Just my two cents and I'm betting there are many others who feel the same but won't post. People are really getting fed up and the complaints and backlash are growing.

[Iclass]

Everytime I hear someone say this levels the playing field I can't help but think about the guys that have spent countless hours on the water learning how to fish and putting there time in. I'm a salesmen and have busted my a$$ to get to where I am and would be very aggitated if some new guy came in and started at my level without putting the hard work in to move up

It aint what you know, its who you know and thats life. Get pissed all you want, but you'll get over it, or find a new job.

[Feathers and Fins]

Everytime I hear someone say this levels the playing field I can't help but think about the guys that have spent countless hours on the water learning how to fish and putting there time in. I'm a salesmen and have busted my a$$ to get to where I am and would be very aggitated if some new guy came in and started at my level without putting the hard work in to move up

Many weekend warriors have put alot of time in to catch fish no diffrent then the "Pro's" so if it helps them so be. As to the salesmen aspect A large part of my job is sales and the only way to stay ahead of the compitition is to constantly improve the ability to make the sale... No diffrent then fishing people are constantly looking to improve the bite.

10 years ago you had to write an estimate take it to the office due the estimate produce a contract take it back to the client and get it signed.. Now I can have a satelite picture of your house in 30minutes with all the measurements. Have a detailed contract written off that and have the job under contract and scheduled to be started before I leave... What use to take 2 to 3 days I can now do in less than an hour on a simple job and 2 to 3 hours max on a complex job.

Lures, sonors, lines, reels etc have improved with technology just liek everything else.

[bobw]

I remember someone saying a few years back "Makes hero's out of Zero's" at that time they were refering to the Carolina Rig. Back when Central Pro Am was in its hey day, the amateur would set in the back of the boat, drag a rig and often times out fish the Pro. No skill required, just needed to know when you had a bite. I guess with the A Rig knowing when you have a bite isn't a problem? Hero's out of Zero's, sounds exactly like what the A Rig will do. BUT, I think we all know this isn't the magic bullet in bass fishing. There will be days and I think several of them, where the guy doing what he does best, what he has the most confidence in and using the skills and knowlege he has aquired over the years will prevail. After a few tournaments of guys trying to fish an A Rig exclusively, they will figure out that one bait, one technique won't get it done. I really don't think we have enough history with this thing to jump to the conclusion that it is the ultimate bass catcher. Persistence will prevail.

[Champ188]

Well put, bobw. I too remember the heyday of the Carolina rig. Couldn't beat the fish off of it with a broom handle for a couple of years, then they got conditioned to it. Same will likely happen with this A-rig. But by gosh, it's gonna be fun til then.

[cullinby9]

Why don’t BASS tournaments allow live bait? My opinion on that is simple. NO SPONSOR MONEY! Big tournament anglers are nothing more than paid spokesmen for those who sponsor them. These are not the average angler they have made a career out of a sport that is supposed to be fun. Seems they cry loudest as well when a new product comes out that force them to use it over their sponsor’s product to put up the wins. Let’s face reality if one lure comes out that force them to use it to win and it’s not one they are sponsored by it hurts their sponsor and hurt sponsor means less money to them.

I throw the A-rig now on a 7’9’’ medium action rod with 12lb mono line, I haven’t lost a bait yet on it since I switched, not saying I won’t but I haven’t yet, its forcing me to stay more to open water and pay more attention to where I throw it, and that is increasing my catches because im doing rule#1 more! Reading the water!!!

This lure has certainly made the tackle industry wake up and I’m sure we will see many more new lures come out designed for the rig. It has also gained a lot of attention to fishing in a slow time which is good, and its catching fish which will hopefully bring more people back to the sport which is always a good thing.

Tournament’s pay out. Now this I’m a little lost on. When I use to tournament fish club level and opens if you were not in the top 5 there was NO PAYOUT so I’m confused to how an angler gets 75% payback please explain that.

This rig/lure/ bait however anyone wants to call it has done one thing I see, It has evened the playing field out and put everyone on the same level. Now some might argue this is unfair as it takes away from the elite’s ability to out fish the average guy. But I will contend that if they are truly so elite and fish catching gods then they should still be able to out fish JOE. They are not the elite gods people think IMO they are IMO guys who have sponsors and can do it more often than most people. Give me 5 to 7 days of pre-fishing on any lake and ill put up good weigh in counts as will most people who can read the water and conditions.

I’ve fished this bait now enough to know its definitely got its uses and limitations. It will be a good bait on open water fish (no surprise as its origin was designed open water fish) It will not be a good bait in any kind of cover ( might work but you will be buying new ones often).

Most the complaints are about the multiple bait part of the rig. The rig still needs to be thrown where there are fish and they still have to bite the rig. Also if the baits on it are not what they after ( size color ) they won’t bite it. Bottom line the way I see it and from using it is simple. It has its place and time for use. For the average angler it seems to boost confidence so more are being bought and used of course more fish are being caught and caught on them. For the pro-s they are crying IMO because it’s a sponsorship issue, as well as they don’t like the fact JOE can beat them with it because it gives him confidence and he will stick with it. 90% of fishing is mental and if a lure comes along that gives people the mental drive to believe in it removes the edge the pro’s have in sticking to something knowing it will work.

Alright I will explain 75% payback is of the total enrtries recieved. Lets say the entry is 100$ and there are 100boats 10,000$ is total purse. 75% of that is what the actual payout would be 7500$. The remaining money goes to the tournament organizations 2500 for the cost of putting on the tourney. I don't know how much a reggata permit is. I would think by the time they get a hotel and food they come out alright for 2 hrs of work. I'm not complaining about this but responding to a statement explaining, that we are fishing for our own money. Unless you have a new Nitro,Triton, or Ranger and fish the corresponding circuts then you don't qualify for the money.

I must say feather n fins your arguments are making sense to me. Thats something I would not have thought could happen a couple of weeks ago.

I'm starting to come around on the a-rig its not as bad as I first thought and not as good as I first thought. I still feel strongly about one lure one rod but if the circuts I fish aren't going to ban it I better get busy with the thing.

I will also let you know that I'm a jerkbait guy in the winter and pre spawn and this cuts right into my strength as a competitive angler. Might have something to do with my stance on the rig.

[bobw]

Cullinby9, I am the same way. I quit fishing 16 years ago, quit like some people do when they stop smoaking or drinking, just got tired of it one day and quit. I sold all of my lures to a kid that was just getting started and I was glad they went to someone that would make use of the. I say all of my lures except my jerkbaits. I love throwing a jerkbait. In the 16 years that I didn't have a boat I would talk one of my friends that did have one into taking me once or twicee a year and throw a jerkbait. Last May I bought another boat, nothing fancy, but a good solid old 335 Ranger and the one thing I looked forward to was being able to go throw a jerkbait. And honestly, unless I was fishing a tournament of some sort, I still will throw it way more than the A Rig. Maybe all those guys throwing the A Rig out there in open water will scare a few up on the bak for us to catch on a jerkbait!

[Quillback]

I was throwing jerkbaits last week on the White river arm of TR and my buddy Jeb was tossing the A-rig. I caught 2 bass, biggest 12", he caught 13, biggest just shy of 6 Lbs. That A-rig is tough to beat.

[Feathers and Fins]

Cullin: Here is more food for thought; There is another fishing instrument that when it first came out sent shock waves through the fishing world! The circle hook!! We didn’t have the internet back when it came out but seemed every magazine and news paper were talking about how unfair it was and how many fish it would catch.

I and a few others laughed at the articles, we had been using them for years already for Bill Fish, Sharks and other large game fish, not on small ones because the hooks that were available were designed for commercial fishing of the larger fish. We had paid attention to 1 of our tenents taught to us by the “old guard” as we called them which is “Keep the mind of a child” by that it means to keep an eye out on the world you are in and see what is going on all around you not just in front of you.

While everyone was crying wolf about these new fish catching hooks we sat there and watched them yank hooks out of the fish and shake their heads trying to figure out what they were doing wrong, It wasn’t until someone started giving the advise that you don’t set the hook but just start reeling in the fish did people start catching fish. But boy was it fun watching the learning curve for us.

The circle hook does catch fish and lots of them but it certainly was the end of fisheries that people thought they would be. People came to relies this was a BAIT hook and had a limited use… By the way that is the “Just in front of you view” I use circle hooks on Crank Baits, Jerk Baits,Texas and Carolina rigs and even trolled baits. The “Keep the mind of a child” tenent! And I catch a lot of fish on them. Same principle applies the fish hits it and the hook sets itself.

The a-rig is just the newest fish catching tool, it as I have said will be affective in the right situations. But like the circle hook it’s not the fish destroying tool people worry about. Try putting a few circle hooks on your rigs and see what happens to your catching ratio!

I was taught the tenents of fishing by men who had no fancy electronics or 500 magazines weekly to tell them how to fish. These men had to catch fish it was their livelihoods.