A-Rig Live Up To The Hype?

[Osprey39]

A buddy of mine that works in a weld shop made a few and gave me a couple. I'm wondering if they work as well as I've heard. I mean these things are getting banned from tournament tours left and right, are they really that good? I ask because about the only rod I have that could handle these things is my flipping stick and I don't want to go out and buy a new combo and find out it's all hype. Also, the lakes I fish in have lots of submerged bush/trees with lots of limbs. Do they get hung up a lot?

[Under the Radar]

They have their time and place, Try them out on your flippin stick. I usually have on rigged on deck. You don't want to throw them in shallow vegitation unless you plan on becoming a vegetarion . They will give a great upper body workout if you throw one all day.

Nick

[Osprey39]

They have their time and place, Try them out on your flippin stick. I usually have on rigged on deck. You don't want to throw them in shallow vegitation unless you plan on becoming a vegetarion . They will give a great upper body workout if you throw one all day.

Nick

Weeds aren't really an issue here in New Mexico. The only lake that has any to speak of is Ute and that's mostly that snot grass stuff. Bushy type trees however are prevalent and many of them are well below the waterline so you only become aware of them after you hang a lure in them

[tomustang]

The hype did die down, but I would think its because of the season. Give the post spawn a few weeks and they'll start being everywhere again

[roadwarrior]

Here is a post with a few pics:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/97447-pickwick-is-on-fire/

[tpsneaks18]

A buddy of mine that works in a weld shop made a few and gave me a couple. I'm wondering if they work as well as I've heard. I mean these things are getting banned from tournament tours left and right, are they really that good? I ask because about the only rod I have that could handle these things is my flipping stick and I don't want to go out and buy a new combo and find out it's all hype. Also, the lakes I fish in have lots of submerged bush/trees with lots of limbs. Do they get hung up a lot?

They have their time and place is exactly right...Bass Magazine had a comment in one of their articles this month saying "had that tournament been fished on almost any other lake other than Guntersville (the P. Elias Win) in almost any other situation...the A-Rig would still be an unheard of entity" (quote is not exact)...In my neck of hte woods in the herring riddled ponds...there is times when it'd absolutely SMASH THEM...(right now). I'm sure many bass fisherman that have saltwater fishing knowledge have thought of the "a-rig" or umbrella rig before...Everytime I took out a spinnerbait I or buzzbait it jus made me think of a smaller version of a saltwater umbrella rig and how it would work. These thoughts were BECAUSE of the schooling situations and probably because these exact (but larger) rigs have been employed in saltwater striper, bluefish, tuna fishing for DECADES out here...it's not new to me...so I've thought about it for freshwater because when balls of these herring are in our ponds coming up the runs to spawn, during (bass) prespawn...the fish just GORGE on them and want nothing else. Matching the herring fairly close is KEY.

Two seasons ago we times the most epic fishing experience of my life @ the mouth of one of these runs...we had 53ish degree water and I had a LC Pointer tied on in the big 128 size (1oz, 5") in the MS MJ Herring color. My buddy had the 100 size in American Shad...There was BALLS and BALLS of these herring coming into the lake...they dont "run" @ all times so u have to catch the right time and if u do and r prepared it's truly epic. All the herring coming into the pond were bigger than our baits...6"-10" and some 12" even nippin @ our baits...they were so thick snagging some was a problem...anyway...we proceeded to have the most amazing 70 minutes of fishing I've ever had...EVERY-SINGLE-CAST was a MONSTER smallmouth...everything in the 4lbs class, Our biggest going 5-4 but another 5-1 and 5-0. But If it were a tournament it'd be 25lbs of smallmouth cuz we had so many in the HIGH 4lbs class it wasnt even funny. Much too many fish to count, literally and when we got a 3lber we'd go "dink" when on a normal day we'd be thrilled for a solid 3lb class smallie. Our wrists were immobile after the frenzy ended...when i say every cast I mean it..we counted 17 casts between us yielding fish in a ROW. If we had a cast that went fishless we were surprised...once in a lifetime stuff. But it got me thinking...

The "kicker" is this (pun intended)---there was fish trailing our bait to the boat that were MONSTERS...smallmouth that looked like they could EAT our 4lbs fish...(this is a pond where I caught a smallmouth with no scale on me that IMO was in the 7lbs class n I had my brother in law w/ me who fished Lake Michigan his whole life and lake Erie, Champlain, knows smallmouth n what 6lbers look like n his jaw was dropped n said easily 7 but who knows) ...anyway THIS is when I went out and got a bunch of herring swimbaits...I even had some custom made...they caught me a few pigs but I was never lucky enough to time that situation again...had I had 2ft. diving/slow sinking 8-10" herring swimbaits I think it would've been 5-6lbs smallmouths all. But even more so...If I had had the "Alabama Rig"...it woulda been multiple 4lbs-5lbs smallies on @ once...n if u know how a big brute clearwater smallmouth fights then u can only IMAGINE what fun this would be...

Now I've encountered hundreds of much less intense versions of the above situation in the last couple years...schooling herring and bass smashing them but only wanting matching lures...This is where the A-Rig could be amazing. So it's a time and place. If u just randomly threw it...yeah I think u'd catch em...it's a school of fish...but in the RIGHT, ideal situation...it's got a real place in bass fishing.

IMO don't go out and buy a rig for it...use your flipping stick...in my opinion I prefer the A. Rigs without the big lead head in front...they have many "all wire" versions...with all the weight of the jigheads and the plastic...even if u use a 1/4oz...u've got 1.25oz of lead, plus the wire, and plastic...I like the BOSS all wire "compact harness" to start u out...it's a little more compact, won't require an extra rod @ all and works...

If u prefer non-compact version and want a "head" on the front...they also make a Silicone head version to not add much extra weight (this silicone head IS offered in both compact and not compact version too)

Another one designed VERY MUCH off the saltwater versions that is great is the Jewel "Gembrella"...it spreads the fish out better by the bent arms and swims in a most spread out school...I've had 1 fish with 2 baits hooked in it's mouth...this wont happen on this one.

These are all available at tackle warehouse

But I would NOT buy a new set up for this...if ur flipping stick is rated to 1 1/2 oz or 2oz then u'll be fine...Our high tech rods these days will handle more than their ratings...just try it out and see if u like it then decide if u want a special rig for it.

My General opinion on the rig is: A TAD more hype than anything...probably somethin that'll keep getting banned too. BUT it's a good idea to have it ready n with you in case the situation arises but the perfect situation arises not THAT often for me...but when it does, yes, it can KNOCK EM OUT.

[Fishes in trees]

I've just played around with A-rigs a little bit and I think its a good idea to get a dedicated rod & reel. A-rigs (which fully rigged are going to weigh between 2 1/2 to 4 or so ounces) thrown on braid can tear up a cheap reel pretty quickly. You can snap a flipping rod trying to go for distance with a 4 ounce A-rig. (I've seen that happen, I've heard anecdotal stories of cheaper BPS reels failing.

I think the just is still out on what is and what ain't a good A-rig rod. Different guys are trying different things. I've been fishing a 7'9" Fenwick swim bait rod, and the 7 ball bearing Calcutta reel (I forget the number) That works ok. Throwing the A-rig at 4 or so ounces you feel like you're stressing the rod. The next rod I'll be trying is a 7' Diawa muskie rod that's rated for lures from 2 to 5 ounces. I'm thinking that the shorter rod will be a little more manageable in the boat,but the jury is still out on that.

I'm ok throwing with the Calcutta right now (a 5-1 gear ratio), I'm used to that ratio for just about all my fishing. Some of my fishing buddies think that ratio is a little slow. They are throwing their A-rigs using a 7-1 ratio. I'm considering changing reels to some sort of swim bait sized reel, like a Curado 300E, but at $250 + shipping that might have to wait for a while.

Anyway, I don't think that the A-rig is a fad. I think that there is a time & place for it. I think more & more national level tournaments will ban it. I think that for fishing tournaments on the club level, it is a game changer. Tournaments can be won with a few casts and it will happen.

We've just scratched the surface for applications for the A-rig and I think that there will be more innovations coming. One think I'm going to try is putting two large buzz bait blades on the top two arms and some sort of soft plastic swim bait on the bottom 3.

The idea is a mega buzz bait with multiple targets for fish underneath the surface commotion. The jury is still out on that one as well.

[Jig Man]

As far as getting hung up in brush and limbs, ablolutely. The big thing is don't pull or jerk when you get hung. Go over to it and you can normally use the weight of the other baits to jiggle it till it comes loose. Once I had to take a lure retriever on heavy cord to straighten out the hung hook. That was when I was only using 30# braid. Now I have moved to 50.

[J Francho]

Works for me, but only under specific circumstances.