ever wonder...

[CrappieJohn]

I was reading a crappie publication last night and, of course, the article showed a boat with about three hundred and four rods hanging out of it (the article had a southern flair to it, where these riggings are legal)and two severely overweight anglers to over-see this maze of tackle. They called it a spider rig. They say its the only way to go for productivity. No doubt that it would keep those two anglers hopping if the bite got hot. Then the "what if" kicked in.....

Now I am a stickler for seeing potential problems and this particular read got me to thinking about what could go awry.

Since the article says that these guys are big on lines of 12 and 14 pound test (REALLY big crappies, ya know), I wondered what this would look like if they fished a water with an over-abundance of 5 to 7 pound northerns? Its been my experience with northerns that if you are trolling two lindy rigs and a toothie hits one, you have an hour's worth of untangling to do if you failed to get the second line up pronto. What a vision....

I had to put the magazine down after running that senario thru my mind. About the only thing that could have improved that story would have been floppy straw hats and chaw trails going from the corners of their mouths to their chins.

S'pose they go thru a form of shock if they moved up here and found out that only one rod is allowed?

[markkstanley]

I lived in North Carolina and I've seen these Bubbas in action. Most boats even have a sunshade rigged. Saw a pontoon with about 36 rods out. When these guys hit a school of aggressive crappies it's quite the show. They tangle the living daylights out of things. I never could bring myself to fish that way. Just stuck to what I learned up north and didn't do any worse than them most days. The spider rig method is very condusive to beer drinking versus casting. Add no bag limits to the equation and you know why the good ole boys prefer it.

[matthothand]

I can see how that could pose a problem but most of the areas that such methods are used don't have any pike around. When fishing on Superior with as many as 16 lines I've seen and dealt with more than a fair share of tangles. It's always fun to catch salmon or a big trout but they can make a mess of things at the back of the boat. Pulling all the lines in isn't really an option either. Now I am a cutter, not a knitter. With tangled lines I usually just cut and start from sctratch.

[eyepatrol]

I for one am big on feeling the bite happen through my rod. Feeling the bite is the first big rush of adrenaline, the second is setting the hook, third is fighting the fish and finally landing the fish. For me, and this is just my thought here, that is what fishing is all about...feeling the bite, setting the hook and reeling 'em in. Even when I go fishing to SD I only use one rod. Ice fishing is obviously a little different story, but there again I many times only use one rod.

Long story made short, I don't know if I could handle trying to fish with that many lines down, and don't think I'd want to. But, that's the beauty of fishing...there are many different ways to do it for many different species in all different parts of the country. Still though, I can picture in my head the chaos and mess there would be if we were able to fish like that around here and a northern got onto one of the lines. Now THAT would be a tangle!

[fisherking01]

Just think of all of the waisted bait if they are not biting!

[metrojoe]

I just got images of the Water Boy...I saw this Spider rig type of fishing on some outdoor show and I wondered why they just don't use a net. Your right though, it seems this could become a mess in a real hurry if the bite was hot.

[Bobb-o]

it is legal to use drop-shot rigs with up to three lines coming off of the main line each with a hook and minnow/waxworm as long as you add a bead/feather to the hook. They seel these rigs with two hooks at walmart and gander and such with the name Crappie/perch rig, they run aboot 80 cents.