New lure credited for $100k purse

If you are a bass fisherman and you haven’t heard about the Alabama Rig, you have probably spent the last few months in deer camp and failed to check in at all with the “real” world as we know it.

Special to the Chronicle

Bassmaster Elite Series pro Paul Elias topped the 100-pound mark fishing with a new bait on Lake Guntersville at an FLW Tour Open back in October and cashed a check for a cool $100,000. Above, Elias displays the Alabama Rig, the lure he used to land his tournament-winning catch.

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Let me fill you in.

Bassmaster Elite Series pro Paul Elias topped the 100-pound mark fishing with the “new” bait on Lake Guntersville at an FLW Tour Open back in October, and cashed a check for a cool $100,000. With the win, Elias, the 1982 Bassmaster Classic champion, set in motion a “feeding frenzy” as anglers hit the Internet in search of the “magical” bait, myself included.

And let me forewarn you, before you plop down $25 or $30 for one of these baits (I hope my wife isn’t reading this!), you had better eat your Wheaties. If you are a finesse fishermen at heart, this may not be the bait for you. But then again, you may want to switch tactics. After all, a four-day, 20-fish bag weighing more than 100 pounds can make fishermen do funny things … including changing tactics, underwear or jobs.

Striper fishermen and saltwater anglers have been familiar with umbrella rigs for many years, so the basic technique is not really new. Targeting suspended bass, the ‘Bama rig proved almost miraculous for Elias, who admitted in an interview with Bassmasters that suspended bass have “given himself and many other anglers ‘fits’ over the years.” There is nothing, and I mean nothing, more frustrating than seeing large schools of fish on your fish finder and not being able to put them into the boat.

Inventor Andy Poss hit the immediate jackpot with this lure, and has a deal with Mann’s Bait Company to distribute it. The rig consists of a lead tie-in head and five leader wires with a snap swivel attached to each wire, which are flexible. The anglers can use a jig head or other type of hooks with the rig along with a wide variety of soft plastic baits, and according to the company web site, spinnerbaits and crankbaits as well.

Without baits, the rig weighs in at less than 3/8 of an ounce. Throw on five baits with hooks, and you have quite a load to cast. And might I say an expensive one too. Five swimbaits can cost up to $9.99; five swimbait hooks run $3 or $4, and presto, you can have a little more than $40 tied on the end of your line. The company suggests you use 80- to 100-pound test braided line (another $30 to $40 for a spool full) and a flipping stick to throw the now very expensive and heavy rig. But if it catches bass, who cares? I’d toss out a small, expensive car if it caught fish.

Anyone who has targeted suspended bass knows that they can be some of the toughest fish to catch, so having another tool in the arsenal always makes sense. But, buyer beware. If you are out of shape and think you can cast this lure around all day long … think again. It takes its toll on a body, as four hours of slinging it around recently proved to yours truly.

I didn’t catch any bass with it, but I did realize how out of shape I am. While resting for two days on the couch, I thought about other “magic” lures that have hit the market over the years. The first and foremost that came to mind is legendary angler Roland Martin’s “Helicopter Lure.”

I’ve never fallen prey to that piece of expensive junk that Martin (he ought to be ashamed to this day) ran to the bank with, nor did I ever purchase the “Banjo Minnow.” The name and images of Deliverance scared me off on that one, but many people do purchase infomercial lures with the hope of “catching that fish of a lifetime.” If you still use these baits, do not, and I repeat, do not hold your breath!

Time will tell if the Alabama Rig can hold up to the demands of catching largemouth bass day in and day out, and if it keeps producing fish. My educated guess is that we may have a game-changer on the horizon. And heck, with all the stuff I buy to catch fish, what’s another $30? If the Alabama Rig doesn’t pan out, I can give it to my niece, Delaney, to hang over her crib as a mobile … minus the hooks, of course!

Dan Hermes is an outdoors writer based out of Inverness. He can be reached at danoutdoors2001@yahoo.com.