Over the years I’ve written about fishing spots, fishing techniques, and how to target certain species. I’ve rarely written about specific fishing products.
Years ago, I wrote about the Power Pole and how it was going to revolutionize the fishing industry. I bought my first Power Pole out of the inventor’s garage when he still had a patent pending on it. Everybody who fished inshore had to have a Power Pole, which, if you didn’t know, is a hydraulic arm on the stern of your boat that anchors you in shallow water electronically with the push of a button.
Everybody wanted to buy one once they figured out that you could drift into a school of fish, quietly push a button and stop your boat. It solved the problem of anchoring traditionally, which was loud, physical and also not environmentally friendly with traditional anchors destroying reefs and seagrass. Then, everybody had to have two on their boat once they realized that one would anchor you and the other would angle your boat.
Years before that, I wrote about a product called Bob’s Machine Shop Jack Plate. Before jack plates, all you could do was tilt your engine up and down with the push of a tilt and trim button. Now, you can jack your engine straight up and down, allowing you to plane through much shallower water to get to your fishing spot.
Until now, I think those two revolutionary fishing products are the only devices I’ve ever written about. Today I want to tell you about a new product that I think will change offshore/nearshore fishing forever. It’s called the Bravo ACR LLC, invented and patented by a Marathon fisherman named Erick Bravo. “ACR” stands for Automatic Clip Return.
Most offshore anglers use outriggers while trolling, kite/balloon fishing or drift fishing. Outriggers use long arms extended to the sides of the boat to keep multiple baits separated, keep them out of your prop wash and enable the boat to make tight turns without tangling baits on one another.
In my opinion, the modern outrigger has just been reinvented with ACR. As you know, fishing, and especially offshore fishing, is a game of inches and seconds. Inches and seconds matter a lot when presenting a bait to a hungry game fish. Before ACR, a captain would have to yell down to his first mate, “Hey Larry, take the middle starboard outrigger and pull it down. Change your bait – your ballyhoo is trashed!” “Hey Larry, put up your first port outrigger, it’s running too low.” “Hey Larry, you have weeds on your port long bait!”
They’d spend all day yelling at poor Larry, who has to bring multiple outrigger clips up and down all day by hand. With ACR, the captain can sit in his chair, looking down at the cockpit, and can control his entire set of outriggers with the push of a button on a little controller attached to a lanyard around his neck – no more yelling down to his mate to make outrigger adjustments.
This not only allows the captain to have complete control of his outrigger system, but it also allows the first mate to be doing other things such as rigging baits, cleaning the boat, catering to the clients, etc. Most of all, it saves inches and seconds.
It can also be a game-changer for people who fish alone or fish with novice anglers. Before ACR, these captains with no first mates or experienced anglers would have to leave the wheel with the boat underway to adjust the outriggers while trolling, which is not only dangerous but time-consuming.
For me, this invention is the coolest thing since the electronic windlass anchor or autopilot steering. I know there will be a day in the near future when you will step onto a nice offshore boat and already know the release clips on its outrigger system are equipped with an automatic clip return.
All of our offshore Ana Banana boats are equipped with the new Bravo ACR LLC outrigger system. On another note, the fishing is great right now and will be getting better and better as we enter springtime.
To book a charter with Ana Banana, call or text Capt. Joel at 813-267-4401 or Capt. Jojo at 305-879-0564, or visit anabananafishing.com.
