Quote:
Originally Posted by scoobe
Why is it unsporting? Is it because of the multiple lures/hooks or the fact that it is trolled behind a boat? What about hi-lo rigs fished on the beach or tube-n-worm trolled behind a boat? Are those sporting?
Not trying to be an ass, just honestly curious.  |
Like spotlighting deer at night, shooting turkeys off their roost, or running a trot line across a river, trolling a whole school of baitfish just makes catching way too easy in my humble opinion. Anyone can tow one of those rigs around the bay or islands and practically be guaranteed a high catch rate, even if they spend zero time studying any of the factors and putting in the time that makes a good fisherman what he is. I have trouble seeing where the sport is in that. It's the easy way out and in my opinion, catching fish on an umbrella rig is an achievement that ranks right up there with getting out of bed in the morning. There's a reason some states have banned the use of rigs with more than 2 or 3 hooks.
Besides, these rigs generally result in the catching of very many small fish (ever wonder why very few coms & charter boats use them? They're targeting larger fish and that's not what these are for). I'm not saying you'll never catch a large fish on one, but that's generally not the case. I used them myself for a while when I was first starting out, but quickly got bored with unhooking one small fish after another and started to actually think about what I was doing, studying the fish and their habits, and learning to fish in ways that are actually challenging to me as an angler. To me, fishing is about the hunt and the personal challenge, not about bailing fish out as fast as possible.
But,,,,,,, that's just me I guess.
