Alabama Rig: Hottest technique in years!

"Man, this thing's gonna work!"

That's what Bassmaster Elite Series pro and 1982 Bassmaster Classic champion Paul Elias said to himself when he first rigged a few soft plastic swimbaits to an "Alabama rig" and pulled them through the pond behind his Mississippi home.

He was right, too. The Alabama rig worked for Elias on Lake Guntersville to the tune of a $100,000 FLW Tour Open victory in which he lapped the rest of the field, cracking the 100-pound mark with 20 bass and besting second place by more than 17 pounds.

Elias is no stranger to introducing new techniques. In 1982, he won the Bassmaster Classic by "kneeling and reeling" (immersing most of his fishing rod beneath the water to get extra depth out of his crankbaits).

Twenty-nine years later, he's doing it again.