Donnie Beasley

I think they may be discontinued, but Lucky Craft made a bait called the Splash Tail that was a Devils Horse type bait with the props on front and back. The props were on ball bearings and spun like crazy. I still have a couple in my tackle box.

#2 Owner ST-36 should fit nice for that size bait. 1/0 would definitely be overkill.

I would go with size 4 if you are wanting to swap them out.

I agree with keeping the hook size the same. Get yourself a spool of lead wire. Wrap it around the hook shank till you get the fall rate you are looking for. Cheap and effective.

Honestly, I think you are perfectly fine with that. It may be an unpopular opinion, but I think the use of fluorocarbon is exaggerated. The only time I have personally seen fluorocarbon make a big difference is still fishing for trout in gin clear water. I do use fluorocarbon for bass if I’m using a very slow moving application like drop shot, Texas rig, jig where the bass has a long time to look at the bait. For all other moving baits I’m using mono or braid. Think about an A-Rig for a second with all the wire arms and then think “How important is it really?”

I really like the Lunker City Pro Lite Round Jig Head. Light hooks that are still plenty strong. Great hook keeper. Fairly inexpensive considering you get 5 to a pack. I would also recommend the Storm Largo Shad in place of the Keitechs. I love Keitechs, but just hate how quickly they get torn up and considering as many as you are using on a A Rig, I like more durability. I suggest the 3/0 jig head with the 3” Largo Shad.

As a fellow bank angler I would not totally abandon it. As others have said it certainly has a time and place. Really knowing the lakes you fish is very important. It can be difficult as a bank angler not having access to a depth finder, but try tying on an inexpensive jig or other weedless bait and do some searching. Cast your jig out and learn the depth. Drag it around and see if you come across any hangups that might break your A Rig off on. Also, as others have said try it higher in the water column. My favorite time to fish it is coming right up. When the shad are schooling up and you can see bass feeding on them, it is deadly! My home lake is a small approximately 40 acre lake. Through trial and error I have learned that shad will school in the deepest part of the lake. There happens to be a dock sitting right in this area and the shad will school right around it. I went on Jan 1st this year with my A Rig and caught 12 including a 3 1/2 pounder in a couple hours fishing off that dock. Don’t give up!

Thank you for the link. That’s ironic that I was actually watching one of Randy’s recent videos and it’s what made me make this post. I guess it just comes down to personal preference.

Yes, sorry I meant DIS engage. During the fight they are constantly disengaging the spool and thumbing it when the fish starts to make a run versus just letting their drag do the work. I have seen this more and more lately. I really don’t see anyone but the pros doing it. It really didn’t make much sense to me either so I was just curious.

Something I have seen more and more over the years are a lot of pros engaging their spool and using their thumb when a fish makes a run. It never really made sense to me especially considering the drag systems in high quality reels these days. What is the benefit to this?