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Colorado Meet the Alabama Rig
by: Frank Villa 4/15/2012
With all the recent talk about the Alabama rig, I broke down and bought one. I actually bought it about 2 weeks ago with the intention of hanging it on the wall with the rest of my got another fisherman lure collection. Well curiosity got the best of me so... Well I recently went to Boyd lake to get the skinny on the use of the A-Rig in Colorado. I Rigged up the A-rig and showed it to the the on duty ranger. He took a photo and called the big boss in Denver. He advised me that the way the A-rig is designed is illegal because it requires 5 baits with hooks, but if you rig it with 3 baits with hooks, and 2 baits with no hooks then it can be used in Colorado. From the DOW Regs page 9: ONE PERSONALLY ATTENDED LINE. Each line shall have only 3 hooks attached. I took a couple pictures of the rig that I showed them and I will put them on the forum since I don't think I can do it here. I also used a couple honeyhole hooks from http://www.honeyholehooks.com/, which I will post on the forum to. The other 3 hooks are regular swimbait hooks from BPS. I have yet to use this rig because I personally feel that it is an unfair design and should be banned but since several of our Junior members have purchased them I wanted to make sure that they new if it was ok to use in Colorado. Here is a video of one being used. http://youtu.be/Lk0suXi7Vtc
and an underwater video, http://youtu.be/FOcVMSC6hJM I also felt that I should get this information out to everyone so no one gets a ticket if they happen to use it illegally. Hope this Helps
Frank Villa (toobman)
CBC-CBF Youth Director
Blog content © Frank Villa Member comments Patrick, CO 4/15/2012 11:22:19 AM
Thanks for the info.
pbs, CO 4/15/2012 4:41:52 PM
Frank, I'd like to thank you for this blog and for your thoughts regarding the Alabama rig in Colorado.
Personally, I don't see this rig as being an unfair practice for
angling in Colorado. But, rather for nothing more than mimicking a small school of baitfish cruising (only five). Albeit...
Colorado limits the amount of hooks allowed in the water on one line, and also, the number of rods that can be used at one time.
I realize that there are some states that allow an unlimited number of rods/lines to be used at the same time...which, IMO.....is rediculous and uncalled for.
So, with that in mind...I don't think that the 3-hook/5-lure umbrella rig is that unfair in Colorado.....jmo........ Browns Hunter, CO 4/16/2012 11:04:43 AM
Frank, if you go to the BassMaster site, they've got a gallery of 29 umbrella rigs. http://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/photo-gallery-29-umbrella-rigs
Several of them have been designed for use in Colorado and other states that have the 3-hook rule. Some of the rigs only have 3 snaps, some have willow leaf blades in place of the other lures. bluecollarguy, CO 4/16/2012 11:06:29 AM
I'm really curious how a downsized version would work on say...white bass. It's on my list to try this year haha Frank Villa (toobman), CO 4/16/2012 12:01:43 PM
Thanks Browns Hunter, I will Check it out!
Frank brobeyCSU, CO 4/16/2012 7:41:46 PM
Good article on the rules, it's always nice to have confirmation from the DOW on this sort of thing. Some of us on the CSU bass team recent picked a few up also, and while the rig does shine in some cases, it isn't the guaranteed fish catcher that some people think it is. We've fished ours for over 200 hours combined, and only have 4 fish to show for it. To make ours legal in CO, MO, and CA among others we're running 3 swimbaits with hooks and two large willow-leaf blades on the other arms. It's going to be interesting to see the legality of the a-rig in the future, but just remember- there was a time back in the day when some pushed for the banning of the plastic worm because it worked too well.
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