Alabama`s new platform is sweeping the country and raising questions among fishermen about its legality. The bait, which has five tow wires to which five baits can be attached, appears to be a school of fish swimming in the water, making it attractive to bass. To determine the body of water allowed by the Alabama Shelf, read the fishing regulations booklet under Site-Specific Regulations. Site-specific regulations are given directly under the name of the lake “only 2 piles and pipes”. As mentioned earlier, the Alabama Shelf is NOT legal on these lakes unless it is modified as described above. Some fishing clubs may choose not to use the Alabama platform, even if a modified version is legal. States where an Alabama drill rig with three or more hooks is considered illegal include New Hampshire, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Nevada, Vermont, and Maryland. At the beginning of the fishing tournament season in central Illinois, fishermen are reminded that the Alabama shelf is not legal on all lakes. However, multi-bait configuration is not always legal.
Examples of lakes where the Alabama shelf is legal are: • Corps of Engineer Lakes (Carlyle, Rend and Shelbyville) • Lake of Egypt and Kinkaid Lake. “Is it legal to use the Alabama Rig in Illinois?” At the Bolingbrook Bass Pro Shops Fishing Classic last weekend, I probably heard this question a few hundred times. Well, according to the Illinois DNR, the Alabama or Umbrella platform can be used on rivers and lakes that have no 2-pole and 2-line restrictions, with the exception of the Mississippi River between Iowa and Illinois, where it is not allowed to be used at all. Waters marked as restricted to 2 poles and 2 lines require a modification of the drill rig. This change is simple; It is enough to attach a blade of willow leaf to 3 of the threads instead of the hooks. Basically, your modified platform consists of 3 spinners and 2 swimming baits with hooks. So yes, the Alabama platform is legal to use, but you should always remember to check the rules and regulations for each body of water where you want to use it. The Alabama Rig is also legal on most rivers and streams, including the Mississippi River between Illinois and Missouri, but NOT between Illinois and Iowa. It is also legal on the Ohio River, including Smithland Pool.
In addition, the platform is legal in all private waters of the state. Because of its many hooks, the Alabama shelf is not legal on lakes like Springfield Lake, which have rules that limit fishermen to two poles and two hooks or bait per line. If the fisherman cuts the hooks of three of the baits or replaces these baits with spinning blades to attract the fish, the platform is legal. Arizona also limits supply to two baits with hooks, according to Kirk Young, head of the fisheries division of the Arizona Department of Hunting and Fishing. “These `platforms` with more than two baits would not be legal for fishing in Arizona,” he said, adding that it is “my thought” that several soft baits can be included in a platform as long as you do not have more than two hooks. It`s important to know your state`s hook laws when fishing for an umbrella. Not all states allow you to use 5 brackets legally. Indiana allows a fisherman to fish no more than two hooks or two artificial baits or straps per line, which appears to make the Alabama shelf illegal. However, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources is reviewing the legality of the drill rig. IDNR legal staff, in collaboration with the Departments of Fisheries and Law Enforcement, determined that the Alabama platform is legal in state waters that do NOT have the “2 sticks only with no more than 2 hooks or bait per rod” order.
Illinois allows the full version of the Alabama drill rig on its largest reservoirs, but a limit of “two poles and pipes” limits the use of the drill rig in many bodies of water managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). “Nationally, the rule is that you can use up to 50 hooks, so the Alabama drill rig can be used in some Illinois waters, but not in those that have the boundary between two rods and lines simply because we only allow two hooks or baits per line there,” said Sgt. Roy Maul of IDNR Support Services. A list of waters subject to the restriction of the two hooks is available in Illinois Fishing Information 2011 on pages 10 to 33 (www.dnr.illinois.gov/fishing). There are many bodies of water in the state with regulations that allow “only 2 masts with no more than 2 hooks or baits per stem.” On these waters, the Alabama Rig is NOT legal as it has 5 hooks. The platform could be legalized by cutting three of the hooks, effectively turning them into “mannequins”, or replacing three of the hooks with spinner blades so that the platform has only 2 hooks and therefore falls under this regulation. The platform is legal on some lakes, such as the great lakes of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, such as Shelbyville, Rend, and Carlyle. It is also allowed at Lake Kincaid and Lake Egypt.
Check the site`s rules or contact the directors of fishing tournaments if you`re not sure if the Alabama platform is legal where you fish. “A lot of people have questions about this,” says Rod Cooke of the Sangchris Bass Club. “A lot of people use it and probably don`t even know it`s illegal. You probably don`t even know anything about the two-bracket limit. “Everyone is trying to make them in their basements and garages,” he said. We have these guys who call us and say, “I do 100 a day, and I need the parts.” New Jersey allows the platform in most waters of the state, with the exception of the Delaware River, which has a limit of three hooks per line. The Mississippi Also allows the drill rig to be used in most waters except Arkabutla, Pomegranate, Enid and Sardis Lakes and overflows from the Arkabutla, Pomegranate, Enid, Sardis, Okatibbee and Ross Barnett reservoirs, according to Larry Pugh, deputy director of the Wildlife Department`s Bureau of Fisheries, state fisheries and parks. “We have a crappy regulation for these four lakes, which states that fishermen are allowed to fish with no more than three or five sticks and that each pole must have no more than two hooks/baits. So this law includes the Alabama shelf on these lakes,” Pugh said.
So if you don`t already own one and want to know more about it, visit Bolingbrook Bass Pro Shops and get one.