Alabama Rig: tips, tricks, and tweaks

I'm hard pressed to think of another bait that has caused such an uproar amongst bass fisherman. Over the past year I've read articles pronouncing it a "miracle bait", others condemning it, going as far as to accuse the Alabama Rig of destroying fish populations. Whether you're in favor of the Alabama Rig or not, you cannot argue its ability to catch schooling fish when other baits fall short. While the "rig" is quite effective on its own, there are many modifications that can be done to further increase the its productivity. Over the past year I've experimented with different models, trailers, and various other components and have dialed in what I consider to be my "perfect" rig. We all have different fishing styles and fish in different environments, this must be taken in to account. Even so, I hope you are able to learn from my experiences and further increase your effectiveness with the A-rig.

Whether you're fishing shallow grass flats or deep ledges you can adapt the Alabama Rig to meet your needs. Its not a cure all but it definitely helps you catch more fish in a variety of conditions.

For the products I use when fishing the Alabama Rig visit the following links: Alabama Rigs Keitech Swimbaits Dobyns 784 ML Rod Dirty Jigs Swimbait Head

Alabama Rigs Are No Joke

After months of requests the time has finally come for me to chime in on the topic of Alabama Rigs, generically known as "Spreader Rigs" or "Umbrella Rigs". Obviously I'm months behind the hype. Most of you now own rigs and have had some experience with them. Some of you are probably having a blast catching fish on them while others of you have already retired them to a plano box where they will soon be forgotten.I would have chimed in months ago but I wasn't willing to speak out until I felt I was speaking from a place of experience.

For those of you that have been living under a rock, the "Alabama Rig" gained huge notoriety when Paul Elias won a major event last fall. It is a smaller, "freshwater" version of the old saltwater spreader rigs.

The video was shot on Clearlake in mid-april. While the fish in the video is by far my largest fish on the "A-rig" my clients and I have been catching big fish on it all spring. As you watch the video you will notice there are a handful of details that I failed to cover. I apologize for the oversight, but Jeff and I were in a hurry to get back to fishing. The day ended with 5 fish for 44.05 lbs, only one of which (the smallest) was not caught on a Spreader Rig.

Feel free to respond with your thoughts and questions. I'll film a follow up video with more of the technical details in the coming weeks and will answer as many of the questions as possible at that time.