Alabama Rig Craze

[Sprint21fter]

Have you guys heard what Paula Elias and the rest of the top 10 used in Guntersville on what was expected to

be a tough bite. This Alabama Rig simulates a small school of baitfish and they smashed them on it catching suspended fish. Every angler interviewed was talking about how they would attack the bait. Thrift even had one comment about catching two four pounders and neither one helped him. I getting on the waiting list to get a couple of them since they are back ordered. I would think it would work really well in the clear water around the bluffends, long points, and deep tree tops. Thought someone would talk about by now. And as far as I know which isn't much that this rig is legal to use in Table Rock.

What do you guys think about the Alabama Rig?

[Ham]

It's gonna be a beatdown to fish it. I'm not sure I have a rod that is rated to throw it.

I'm sure it will work here, but it won't work everywhere you throw it.

I think it might be possible to look at why it works and get something else going that takes advantage of that without it weighing multiple ounces

AND once the fish have seen it for a while, they won't be as stupid over it. Enjoy it while it lasts. I have no plans to buy any at all.

[Sam]

Having no idea what an Alabama Rig is, I just looked it up. Good golly - one guy says he's using it on a 7'10" flipping rod with 65 lb. Spiderwire, and "chunking and winding" it all day long. That sounds like as much work as spoonbilling! I'd get all five hooks wound up in the brush, and that'd be the end of it.

I'd pay money to watch someone drag a five-lure Alabama Rig through a school of BIG white bass. LOL

Sorry to read here that Tablerock bass fishing has been so slow. I went out of Bridgeport yesterday and went up and down James, and there's nothing at all wrong with the crappie fishing. Water temp was 63, windy as all get-out, and we were drifting and slow-trolling swimming minnows along chunk rocks banks that had stumps. Seems like the "Arkansas Blacknose" crappie are getting dominant in that part of the lake, and I sure like those.

We caught several short bass, the biggest being 14 7/8" (of course), and I counted FOUR hook-holes in his lips besides mine. You're wearing 'em out, boys!

[innova]

I have to admit I had never heard of the Alabama Rig and after looking it up, it looks like a umbrella rig that is used on Beaver lake to catch whites and stripers. Only difference is the umbrella rig is trolled and not cast.

[Champ188]

Just my opinion, but I don't think it'll be a big hit in our super-clear water.

[motoman]

Just my opinion, but I don't think it'll be a big hit in our super-clear water.

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My thoughts exactly James; I almost placed an order for one on their site while they still had them; but those big wire arms and swivels; not to mention throwing it on 80-100 pound braid (recommended on their site) would stand out like a sore thumb in the clear water. (I would think).....so I passed on it.

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Also, the video I saw of Elias throwing that thing; it looked like he may have been in some current or at least some good wind/chop on the water; which lead me to believe there would be a good amount of color in the water where he was throwing it?

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I don't know enough about Guntersville to say for sure though. :-)

[duckydoty]

I can see throwing that with a 10 ft. 12 wt. fly rod on the upper Naknek River for 30+ inch smolting monster rainbows!......Well, maybe not.

[Ham]

I wouldn't worry about the braid so much. If the big metal framework doesn't turn them off, I don't see the braid bothering them.

I have NO idea how much the framework sells for, but the multiple jigheads with bit swimbait bodies would start to add up after a while.

It might not work at the dam areas of BSL or TR, but a little further up creek arms where you have a little color in the water might be an OK spot to try it.

I'm passing on this fad. I have a couple of news things I'm working on already.

[powerdive]

Striper-inspired umbrella rigs for bass (is it really legal to use multiple lures in a tournament???)...and of course the latest fad in the walleye world is trolling bass spinnerbaits on leadcore. What next? Sabiki rigs for crappies? (makes sense to me, if legal.) Gulp crawlers on spinner harnesses for bass? (Also makes sense--Lord knows we catch enough of those green fish on our walleye rigs.)

[Martin]

By the way...And being pretty lazy today, I'm not going to wade through a regulation book, I THINK I remember the umbrella type rigs are legal in Arkansas, but not Missouri. Just from my fading memory, I think this is correct.