Alabama Rig

[Bassmaster21]

Walcrabass

Do you use a recurve bow when you hunt? do you even go the extra mile and shoot a longbow? That would be extremely impressive.

[Walcrabass]

Bassmaster 21,

Your point is very well taken. I have used Long Bows, Recurves, and Compounds. I have made my own arrows from scratch and assisted in the making of the long bows. I have hunted with sights and without, made my own tree stands, ground blinds, rattled Deer, Still hunted Deer, Muzzle Loader Hunted Deer, and literally crept up and shot them in their beds. In short, I have Deer hunted a LOT!!!.As I said I compete at the level of others around me. But here is my point,...... we are in the age of exponential learning and technological advancements. We have to draw the line somewhere on this stuff or we might as well be fishing with Trammel Nets and Dynamite. If we look to our neighbors to the North we see Barbless hooks, no live bait, and no motor powered boats in some areas. There is a reason for all this....... the purity of the sport and the fact that the fish cannot sustain their populations under the pressure. I guess I am just wondering out loud at what point will we be happy????? We have underwater cameras, Temperature indicators, oxygen meters, sonar that shows the fish and the jig you are using, frequency emmiters( hydrowave), ability to tell soft bottom or hard bottom, "pictures" of the brush from the top AND the side, GPS, Topographical maps, Multi-Lure Tackle (Alabama Rig),and in some cases Scuba Divers to go down to take a fish count and measure their size. Doesn't it seem like we have lost the "Magic" of fishing????? Like I said, we are driven by money. If it weren't for the tournament pay-outs, income generated, and profitability of these items they would not be "Pushed" on us to this extent. there is one silver lining in all this.... they still have to bite the hook. At least until we come up with the "Fish Hyptonizer" that makes them swim up to the boat so you can just net them.... with an automatic net of course

[Feathers and Fins]

Wal, I look at fishing as a constant improvement to try and catch an animal that has a brain so small it shouldn’t even be able to drink even if it does live in water but constantly outsmarts even the Einstein’s of the fishing community. Looking back at some of the artifacts of fishing we have gone from bone made into hooks to lures that look so real if they were packaged and put in a grocery store someone may very well buy and try and eat them.

The goal is to try and catch a fish for most people others are just hoping for a bite. I have never seen a lure, rig or bait (including live) that is guaranteed to catch a fish on every cast. Many thought the A-rig was going to be that magic bait that would do it and now they are becoming frustrated and depressed that it is nothing more than another tool.

We have gone from bone hooks and gut for line to all the tools we have available today and the wide array of lures and yet that stupid fish make us look like the most mentally handicap creature on the planet day in and day out. It is the challenge to improve our chances and the skill to learn how to use each lure and each new technological improvement that is part of the fun of fishing. I would probably stop fishing the day I could go out and catch fish every cast as then it wouldn’t be fun (probably boring) at that point.

I see the phenomenon of people not liking the newest lure often and learned a long time ago to embrace it and learn its uses and limitation and just think of it as part of a new skill to learn, which for me is part of the fun of fishing. The skill comes in to the picture that you have to learn and improve your knowledge.

Fun to me is the challenge and the learning curve and quest to defeat by capture those Einstein’s swimming in our waters and I do not think anyone will ever figure them out all the time. Heck I have spear fished and watched at the last second them turn and give me the fin as if to say HAHA made ya think I was stupid.

[FishinCricket]

Sounds like a good bait for people under 12 years old or over 80 years old.

That's funny, I'd love to see an 11 (or 81) year old cast that thing...

[Walcrabass]

Feathers and Fins,

You are exactly correct with your obversations and comments..... just as mine. I like the comparison of "Bone and Gut" too. Just think of how our Professional Bass anglers would fare if they were fishing with it today. I don't think there would be very many sacks of five Bass that weighed 25 pounds. I think we need to look at other items that have been made "Illegal" for our tournament fisherman. Live Bait is one.. and for good reason.... not a lot of personal expertise involved. That is why we teach little kids to fish using it. Another that I remember from yesteryear is jiggerpoling. I haven't seen anything on it in years but it too was at least at one time "illegal" in tournament fishing. As I said I use what is necessary to compete with the others around me. I am just thinking we are losing the "Art and Knowledge of Fishing" to the Electro/Manufacturing Knowledge in Fishing" in a lot of ways. I don't think there is anyone out there that would argue that we could use our "Bigger Brains" to completely wipe out ALL the fish ( and everything else too) if we wanted, including ourselves. Just some food for thought...

that's all.

[Hunter91]

Its interesting with all the controversy over this new bait/tool or whatever you want to call it, that there has been no proof that it will affect the fish population, lots of speculation but no proof. I am a duck hunter also and it brings to mind the big controversy over the spinning wing decoys that came out a few years ago. There were a ton of hunters claiming it was an unfair advantage and it would draw in so many ducks to be killed that it was going to affect the population. Well, here we are several years later, its still popular and it has been proven that it does not affect the duck population. The spinning wing decoy has its place in some duck hunting situations and in others it can be a deterent. I believe the same will eventually be proved of the A-rig. I think ,as mentioned before, this rig will become another tool to be used in certain conditions.

I have a few A-rigs, have a couple of graphs on my boat, a 225 hp motor to push the boat around at speeds in excess of 60 mph, I also own a couple of spinning wing decoys as well as a semi auto shotgun. All these things in thier time were controversial when they came out and a lot of people were upset about the effects they would have on the sports of fishing or hunting. Now most of them are considered commonplace. We still have excellent fish and wildlife populations in spite of these.

I've caught some fish on the A-rig but will say its not my favorite. I will use it when I think it will work and I will fish other baits when I think they will work. I think you will see all the hype peak this year and come back to a normal level before this time next year.

Just my humble opinion. Let's go fishing

[Walcrabass]

Hunter 91,

Your humble opinion is a good one and correct as well. But I did have another thought. If the spinning wing Duck decoy really works even if only in some situations, wouldn't the Duck population have to go down just a little bit??? After all, in Hunting you don't have "Shoot and Release" like we have "Catch and Release" in fishing. Just a little humor Ha Ha!!!

[Hunter91]

Good point :-)

[Bassmaster21]

Walcrabass

I have recently started to bow hunt but only have a compound right now. I figured that is by far the easiest way to learn and get started then work my way up to recurve, etc. I do enjoy bow hunting much more than guns now. And I can only imagine how much more exciting bow hunting gets as you use recurves and then longbows. I hope that one day I can work my way up to that level. Untill then I will continue to use my cheap 55lb pull compound.

I agree for the most part with all of your comments. I am young and I admit, I do at times get suckered in to this day and ages technology. However, being young, I useually cant pay for any of this stuff. After all the hub I made a few A-rigs of my own. I still have yet to use them. I mostly fish on small lakes out of a small Jon boat w/ only a trolling motor. And I love it. I agree that Id like to see how the pros would do on the water without the extra aid that most people like us have access to. Although mayb they have recieved all of that extra stuff because of their ability without the aids. I wouldnt go as far as to say I would get rid of the barbs on my hooks but I would like to see more people fish the way that I like to. Then again if people did that there may be no room on my favorite waters.

[Feathers and Fins]

On the food for thought subject here is some more. When I started bow hunting it was with a long bow, I progressed from it to a recurved and then compound. I wanted to see how it was in the past. But what i learned was even though I had the skills to harvest game with the older gear the kills were not always or near the percentage they were with more modern weapons ( compoound ) It is the duty IMO of the hunter to harvest the game in a manner that creates the least amount of suffering to the animal. Thus technology is not a bad thing for hunting.

Fishing I often have thought about this same subject. Before the circle hook most hokings were deep in the fish from the gut to the gills almost surely a mortal wound. Now almost 100% of the hooking when a circle hook is used is in the lips of the mouth asurring a live release if that is what the angler wants to do. I see far more fish deep hooked on lure then by circle hook and more mortal wounds to them from lures. So by the reasoning of some of live bait isnt fishing sporting or harmful to the fish I will argue that point with todays circle hooks. Today I beleive it is the lure that is more damaging to a fish for catch and release unless its a tournament which I beleive is even more damaging. Tournaments durring hot months and durring the spawn im certain do far more to fish stocks then anything else.

People think of it as just a few fish off the beds or a few die off durring the summer. But I ask you if one is taken from a bed how many eggs or fry wont survive? 1 fish could be hundreds if not thousands from a bed, and those durring summer tournaments that die will not breed again ever. Im certainly not against C&R, but is there really a need for it when the fish are at there most vulnerable or at their most valueable time?