2011: Alabama Rig Fun!

I owe my adoption of the Alabama Rig to Matt Peters of Southern Swimbait. His videos inspired me to make my own "home brew" version of the A-rig. The castable umpbrella rig, also known as the A-rig or Alabama Rig, is one of, heck, it is the hottest technique on the market today. After Paul Elias won that tourney it shot off the charts; like every other tourney winning bait. Well, I didn't give it much thought, you know, chatterbait, laser lure, the whole "its so effective they are about to ban it..." type hoopla that leaves you with a tackle box full of junk you bought because some pro won with it. Well, Matt convinced me so off I went to Home Depot and bought some JB Weld and survey flags. My first rig was an ugly four arm deal held together with a wad of JB and featured no swivels or snaps. I just tied the jigs on with some mono. Well, an hour into my first trip I am bumping it along the bottom of a 30ft bluff under wads of threadfin shad and "Wham-O!" its game on! I swear I thought I had a 30ish pound catfish because of the power and rolling this thing was doing. I almost came apart at the seams when two absolute TOAD large mouth surfaced hanging on that rig. Thank God for my net! I barely got both in before I melted into the bottom of my yak. Then, I let out several war woops and what may have been a squeal...I can't be certain. One bass weighed 5 pounds 13 ounces and his pal went 7 pounds 8 ounces. Yes, that is 13 pounds of bass in one cast...uno, my friend. I buy into it fully, it has some serious drawing power. That false bait ball really makes cold bass fire up. The water was 48 degrees and I think that the deception of a small, lost breakaway school of baitfish drew those two bass off their tree, stump or rockpile. I have had alot of doubles and numerous, numerous fish over 4 pounds on the A-rig. I am very excited about this technique because I only have about 4 good trips on it in December and January. I am so sold on this presentation that I just cut down a big catfish rod to dedicate as an "A-rig" rod. I cant wait to see how Pre-Spawn large mouth respond, thats not even speculating on how my Hooch Striped Bass respond. I think I will have to retool the rig for striped bass, both in strength and in weight to keep it off the Chattahoochee River bottom.