If you haven’t heard about it by now, let me introduce you to the biggest breakthrough in bass fishing to come down the pike since the SENKO: The Alabama Rig.
Some pros have been using this thing for years: The Alabama Rig is basically an umbrella rig like they use for stripers in the ocean on the East Coast that has several lures attached to it. Swimbaits, grubs, jerk shad and even spinnerbaits work well with it and what you end up with is a “school of fish” effect.
Well, the cat’s outta the bag now thanks to Paul Elias’ dominant win at on at last week’s Walmart FLW Tour stop on Lake Guntersville. Elias blew the field completely outta the water and that set the bass world abuzz and anglers everywhere scrambling to find these rigs. Expect many production editions coming to a shop near you soon, including the “Rago Baitball,” designed by veteran pro Jerry Rago, who’s been secretly using the umbrella rig for years. Rago’s version will be available through Tackle Warehouse soon.
The Rago Baitball
Experts predict that the Alabama Rig will completely change and perhaps ruin many lakes for a few years and then the bass will get used to it and everybody will be onto the next big thing. Before you run out and buy one, be sure to check your state’s regulations to see how many lures you can legally use on one line. Read more HERE
Berkley’s new NanoFiL line has really been creating a buzz in the fishing world over the past few months since the iCAST show in Vegas. Through the grapevine, I’d been hearing some really good stuff about the stuff but didn’t have a chance to try it out until recently.
But first, let me back up here and try to explain what the hype’s been all about. Berkley says that the line isn’t a mono or a braid, but rather “The Next Generation of fishing line.” It is made out of gel-spun polyethylene, much like a superline, that consist of hundreds of Dyneema (“The World’s Strongest Fiber”) nanofilaments . The filaments are molecularly linked and shaped by “unified filament technology” into a unified filament fishing line.
In layman’s terms, the fibers that make up the line aren’t braided but instead all run the same direction, so you end up with a smooth finish (made very strong by the Dyneema) rather than they typical rough feel of regular braid. So, basically, Berkley is saying that you can have your cake and eat it too. I was eager to find out… [click to continue…]
This is pretty interesting…John Posey of Lamiglas gives us an in-depth look at how fishing rods are built. No robots in there…pretty much everything is made by hand…in America. Gotta love that!
Here’s a cool little device that should help solve some future arguments between you and your buddies about the length of fish you caught.
The Snap Shot Ruler is a vertical fish measuring device that you can easily attach to your line or fish gripper (BogaGrips, etc). It’s a two birds with one stone type of deal: You can simultaneously snap a photo of your fish while getting a measurement… [click to continue…]
So, what’s the best lure color? Easy answer: the one that’s been all chewed off by fish! Check out this Wordens/Yakima Bait MagLip plug that guide Bob Toman used to catch 43 kings in two days on Alaska’s Nushagak River.
Before being put into service two days prior, this thing was a pretty green/chartreuse/pink polka-dotted affair. Kinda makes you wonder about all the thought we put into lure color doesn’t it? I’ll take one that swims right any day over one with the perfect paint scheme!
Salmon anglers have long been fans of the classic T-55 FlatFish — the plug’s big-time thump has accounted for countless river Chinook (and big lakers, too!) over the years. But the knock on the original version has always been that it’s not a great lure for flat-line situations. In other words, you have to add weight to get the thing down for backtrolling…or standard trolling.
Well, with the introduction of Worden’s/Yakima Bait’s newly designed Hawg Nose T-55 FlatFish, you can have your cake…and eat it too! [click to continue…]
There was a time when I was into making custom rods…way back before the major manufacturers began mass-producing technique-specific sticks. In those days, there weren’t a ton of rod companies out there, and if you needed something that wasn’t offered in their lineup, you just built it yourself (my specialty was making plug rods out of fly rod blanks). Now, however, there’s a rod for every type of fishing you can imagine…no matter how esoteric.
While I’m a big fan of all the cool new technology, modern rods just don’t have the same aesthetics as those ol’ classic rods (like the ones I used to borrow from my uncle’s closet without permission!). There was just something so cool about the vintage sticks — the fancy thread work, the old school ferrules and guides and sweet-looking corks.
While those old style rods are pretty much a thing of the past, there’s at least one guy out there keeping the tradition alive: Master Rodsmith Cal Piccolo (www.piccolopole.com) makes custom 50′s style spin and fly rods that are functional works of art. [click to continue…]
The original RoeMaster ad, placed in Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine in 1992
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…as the saying goes…I was an aspiring tackle designer. In 1990, I was still attending Humboldt State University and decided I was going to give Mepps, Panther Martin and Rooster Tail a run for their collective money, so I built a weapon of mass fish destruction, the “RoeMaster,” which would conquer the world with its deadly fishing catching attributes: A spinner combined with roe…I mean how could a fish resist that? There was no way the RoeMaster could fail! Well, they could and it did… For photos of Roemaster and more, click here
