Need a little help and thoughts on setting up new "finesse" A-rig...

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Hello friends, during the TW sale I decided to go ahead and buy my first A-rig, but being an idiot I didn't realize they don't come with the actual swim baits or jigheads.      

 

I couldn't find anything below 1/8oz for jigheads, and 3.5" is about as small of a swimbait as I could find locally as well.   I have a few questions:

 

1.)  Will five 1/8th oz + 3.5" rage swimmers on this "finesse" rig kill the whole point of it being a finesse rig?

 

2.)  To the first point, can I just run the outside 4 swivels with baits, and leave the middle station open to save weight and bulk

 

3.)  Thinking of mainly just trolling this thing in between spots for the most part, is that a bad plan?

 

4.)  Finally, in the pics below, does this look like it's gonna be rigged right based on the one swimbait I've already put on it.

 

This is craziest, and most silly looking thing I've ever attempted to fish with.    However, I think my home lake is the perfect for this bait.   My only concern is that right now the size of the majority of threadfins are in the 1" range.    Thus my questions over the 3.5" swimbaits on a "finesse" designed A rig, and one I intend to fish in a more "finesse" manner.    

[RDB]

Using 1/4th is fine and won’t impact anything but there are 1/16th options.  You can type in “jig 1/16” on TW and all the results will have a 1/16th size offering.  If weight is a big concern, you can also just add a screw lock to the upper arms and attach the swimbaits to those.  When I want to go lighter, I will use 1/16th on all the arms except the bottom 2 where I use 1/8th.  The extra weight on the bottom helps ensure it tracks true.

 

Edit:  I said 1/4th but meant 1/8th…brain fart

 

Also, on the umbrella rigs like your picture, you can open them up by bending the wires out BUT I would bend the arms slightly below the head…not at the head.  If you bend from the head, they have a tendency to loosen up from the head after multiple bends.

[txchaser]

TLDR: Consider throwing it after you find fish that are biting other baits, and see if you can get them to bite the a-rig. Play with depth and steady retrieve vs pulsing etc. Far easier to learn on active fish. 

 

Keitech 3.3" make great small a-rig baits. 3.8 feels like a standard size to me.

Also grubs were apparently one of the original presentations, so smallish grubs might help, and you might have some laying around. 

 

So far my favorite heads for light a-rig are 

z-man trout eye. I have a preference for eyes on the bait, and a big gold eye fits the bill really well. 

Hooks aren't too thick. IMO it'd be hard to keep 1/16 heads down more than just subsurface without going reallllly slow.

 

8 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

3.)  Thinking of mainly just trolling this thing in between spots for the most part, is that a bad plan?

I'm curious to see what others have to say, but there's three places where I throw a-rigs:

1) where I see schools of shad with bass nearby

2) covering water where I'm pretty sure shad-eaters are around (this is probably a non-standard use, but it has produced for me. Usually I need to know the area to do this.

3) past juicy cover, IMO it has some decent draw to it so running down a weedline or past a laydown or weed point isn't nuts. 

 

If you need to cut weight, the advice above of dropping the top two jigheads is good advice, don't drop the center bait. 

 

On bending the wires out, I had a conversation with one of the a-rig makers (g-funk) and they suggested instead of a sharp bend like a kink, making a longer gentle bend was much better for the rig. I tried to find a pic but no luck. Anyway to get the spread you want don't kink the wire, give it a gentle bend over 3 inches or so. 

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

11 minutes ago, txchaser said:

TLDR: Consider throwing it after you find fish that are biting other baits, and see if you can get them to bite the a-rig. Play with depth and steady retrieve vs pulsing etc. Far easier to learn on active fish. 

 

Keitech 3.3" make great small a-rig baits. 3.8 feels like a standard size to me.

Also grubs were apparently one of the original presentations, so smallish grubs might help, and you might have some laying around. 

 

So far my favorite heads for light a-rig are 

z-man trout eye. I have a preference for eyes on the bait, and a big gold eye fits the bill really well. 

Hooks aren't too thick. IMO it'd be hard to keep 1/16 heads down more than just subsurface without going reallllly slow.

 

I'm curious to see what others have to say, but there's three places where I throw a-rigs:

1) where I see schools of shad with bass nearby

2) covering water where I'm pretty sure shad-eaters are around (this is probably a non-standard use, but it has produced for me. Usually I need to know the area to do this.

3) past juicy cover, IMO it has some decent draw to it so running down a weedline or past a laydown or weed point isn't nuts. 

 

If you need to cut weight, the advice above of dropping the top two jigheads is good advice, don't drop the center bait. 

 

On bending the wires out, I had a conversation with one of the a-rig makers (g-funk) and they suggested instead of a sharp bend like a kink, making a longer gentle bend was much better for the rig. I tried to find a pic but no luck. Anyway to get the spread you want don't kink the wire, give it a gentle bend over 3 inches or so. 

 

 

Excellent info, thanks to both of you guys for such detailed informative replys.

 

I played with it this afternoon.     Yeah I'm gonna need a special setup, or throw it on a saltwater spinning setup I currently have lol.   This thing is a real hassle to mess with it.    Got it hung trolling the weed lines and deep cover near docks......about had a real bad day until I got it free.

 

I'm on the perfect lake based on your info, however there is just way too many threadfins present right now.   Everywhere you look seemingly.    

[txchaser]

If you have other presentations in the 1-4oz range, Irod's a-rig rod is really good. Particularly in the 1-2oz zone, not so much up at 4. 

 

If it helps, I see a lot of people using this in shorter range lob casting vs monster overhand. That'll give you a little better result on a H rod. Also the rage swimmers are really heavy vs a grub. 

 

[T-Billy]

4 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I played with it this afternoon.     Yeah I'm gonna need a special setup, or throw it on a saltwater spinning setup I currently have lol.   This thing is a real hassle to mess with it.    Got it hung trolling the weed lines and deep cover near docks......about had a real bad day until I got it free.

The A-rig will snag on anything within 10' of it, or so it seems. I've cleaned a lot of old line from the bottom of my lakes with it. I throw it on 40# braid. I can straighten hooks out or pull up big snags and get my rig back this way. The 7'10" Shimano SLX H MF works well with it and won't break the bank. I throw it on the 7'11" Ark Tharp "Guntersville Special". The long handle on these rods makes a big difference over the course of the day vs a 7'6" or shorter. They wear on ya, but once you start catching fish, it's hard to put down.

[A-Jay]

  Right off the bat, I will say that I threw an A-Rig for the better part of two seasons, trying to force feed it to smallies.  Got a lot of great casting practice but that was about it.

But once it clicked - it was a Beauuuuuuuuuutiful Thing.

Now, I'm semi-addicted to the thing. 

 

Ok So - the A-Rig for me is a really interesting deal.

First, it's a bit of a bear to fish for any length of time.  Obviously it doesn't cast very well (more of a full body heave or lob than an actual cast) but it does require quite a bit more effort to fish than most anything else I throw, in Michigan anyway.

 Second - the strikes are straight up vicious and every brown bass I've caught on it has been in the plus size class - so there's a decent reward for the effort expended.

 As for what clicked: I initially got the idea to fish it for brown bass from Mark Zona.  But rather than actually watching how, where & when he was having results - I thought I could just go out - throw the thing around a bit and hook up.  Didn't happen. 

   Once I went back through what he was offering, and really digested the deal,  I was eventually able to get on some fish. Took a while though. 

 So like I said, I love throwing it because the strikes are great and so far, it's been a big fish catcher.  However, it's not a deal I use all season or on every lake.

   I have found two specific situations where I use it effectively.

 The first starts pre-spawn, but not super early.  More like once the water temps get to about 55 or so - and there's plenty of fish shallow(er) say less than 10 ft.  Clear water helps but not totally needed. But smallies are sight feeders so clean is usually better. 

What is needed are long casts.  The fish have to be willing to chase the bait - so if it's too cold or too dirty - they will not. I usually start throwing it once the smallies start to follow a jerkbait to the boat without eating it - often they will eat this thing - hard!

This bite will last right up to the spawn for me - and then a little into post spawn - but not that long - as brown bass will often head deeper pretty quick and I'll use something else out there (usually a drop shot or spy bait). 

 The other A-Rig bite comes back in the late summer - first week of August.  I have found several Huge Smallies Super Shallow early morning (very first light) hunting perch right at the edge of the inside weedline in less than 5 ft. Unusual to say the least but that's were I got my PB so I don't ask questions, I just go fishing. These big fish are super spooky way inside in such skinny water and getting them to eat has been a challenge - top water works, but that bite dies fast each morning - so once I tried the A-Rig, it was on like Donkey Kong.  I was surprised it didn't spook them, as it hits the water like a bomb, but they'll follow it and eat it - no problem.

 Good thing is, a little later in the morning and again in the afternoon, these same fish move out to isolated weed clumps in 8-12 ft - waiting for the next low light to go back inside & eat again.  By throwing the A-Rig around this clumps, I'm often able to get a few more bites from some great fish, I'd often given up on in the past - sometimes at noon with the sun just blazing !  Tons of fun. 

 How I fish it - I use a 7'6" MH Mod stick, started out with 20 lb Tatsu FC but have since seen better results with 17 lb.  Prefer a 6.6:1 reel.  Early success came on the SK short Arm Rig, but the bigger bass were busting the wire arms off the bait before I could get them in the net - super bummer.  Have since switched to the G Funk Baits Bama Rig. No more wire failure. 

Almost always prefer all 1/8 oz VMC Boxer heads and either SK KVD Swim N Shiner or Rage Swimmer - I like the baits right around 4 1/2 inches (I'll trim them if I need to).

 While watching Zona hammer smallies with this thing, he kept talking about how he wanted the rig to kind of "hover" in the water column.  I didn't know what the heck that meant ?  But after getting some fish, I sort of have an Idea.  The A-Rig is certainly not a contact bait, meaning you can fish it around cover but you can't be in it at all.  But where it is in the water column and at what speed, is EVERYTHING.  Traveling along, about 2 feet off the bottom seems like the sweet spot. And while there are times when they will smash it while I Burn it along, best results come when I can retrieve it just fast enough to keep "hovering" along in the correct slot of the water column.  Either way, I want this thing right in their face when it goes by - not way above or below them - right in their grill.  Almost seems like it angers them the way they hit it.  Intermittent quick reels handle turns, that make the rig 'jump ahead' a little - can be Money ! 

 Finally, I do not do much largemouth bass fishing locally, however I have fished the A-Rig south of the border for those giants last few trips.  Most all of the how-to present the bait still seems to apply.  I just use bigger gear & bigger baits to do it. 

Here's a couple of clips of local A-Rig fish.

(btw - I'm no longer using cull clips) 

https://youtu.be/-Me1PRCP6Vw?t=51

https://youtu.be/6Ds4Z22ywnY?t=625

Hope that helps

Fish Hard

A-Jay

[roadwarrior]

Some other thoughts...

 

I have been fishing The Rig since it was "re-introduced" as a freshwater lure. I fished with the

"inventor" before he sold the concept to Mann's. He was killin' em on Wilson and Pickwick,

winning numerous local tournaments.

 

So, over a period of years, suprisingly, I have never had a double and never caught a single

fish on the outside arms. As a result, I minimize the weight of my outside baits.  My set-up

is 1/8 oz jig heads with LFT Live Magic Shad on the arms, 3/8 oz jig head  with a Rage Tail

Swimmer in the middle.

 

I'm not in "AJ shape" so casting is a challenge. I prefer trolling. Although my target is generally

smallmouth, I have caught MONSTER striper on this set-up. I use heavy gear, Lamiglas SR705R,

Calcuta 200, 50 lb braid with 20 lb Tatsu leader.

 

I catch bass from fall until early spring, but for whatever reason, not in warmer weather. I have

caught striper in the summer on the same presentation.  Smallmouth can be picked up

individually, but virtually every striper has been in a feeding school. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Wow, talk about some great replies.     Gonna take a minute to digest all the excellent info here.

 

Obviously, folks like you guys and others wouldn't go through all the hassle of slinging this thing around a lake if it didn't produce results.

 

The bigger fish angle really attracts me.   

 

I was too cheap to use my Live Magic Shad on this thing, those things just catch fish on everything.

[Darth-Baiter]

the "A" stands for Alabama?  as in Alabama Rig?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

the "A" stands for Alabama?  as in Alabama Rig?

Yeah, Umbrella rig is another name for them 

[QED]

LiveTarget makes small umbrella rigs with stated weights of 1/4 and 3/8 oz. I have a couple but haven't used them yet.

 

https://discounttackle.com/products/livetarget-baitball-spinner-rig-umbrella-rig

[T-Billy]

I can attest to the toughness of the Yum Finesse rig. I've caught several musky in the 3' range and pulled free of a bunch of snags and haven't broken one yet. 

I like the size of this rig, and the wires are flexible enough to get that breathing action while still being plenty strong. The price is right too.

[roadwarrior]

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Yum_Yumbrella_Flash_Mob_Jr_Umbrella_Rig/descpage-YYBFLJ.html

[T-Billy]

8 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Yum_Yumbrella_Flash_Mob_Jr_Umbrella_Rig/descpage-YYBFLJ.html

These are on my short list. I haven't thrown a rig with blades yet. Last spring was the first time I really spent time throwing one and gave it a fair shot. I'll be looking to improve my game with it this fall.

@A-Jay and @roadwarrior, what are your criteria for whether you want blades or not?

[roadwarrior]

Flash is good!  Blades mimic schooling baitfish.

[FishTank]

If you are looking to set this up as light A-rig, I have used 1/16thoz Dirty Jig heads or Megabass Okashira heads with Keitech 4 in Easy Shiners or 3in Hazedon Shads. Both caught fish but it is difficult, for me at least,  to get the rig set up after a fish is brought in. It's usually a tangled mess. 

 

On a side note, check out the Donkey Rig.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

3 minutes ago, FishTank said:

If you are looking to set this up as light A-rig, I have used 1/16thoz Dirty Jig heads or Megabass Okashira heads with Keitech 4 in Easy Shiners or 3in Hazedon Shads. Both caught fish but it is difficult, for me at least,  to get the rig set up after a fish is brought in. It's usually a tangled mess. 

 

On a side note, check out the Donkey Rig.

Great idea about the Double Fluke/Donkey rig.....I think I might try that this afternoon.    I know the concept, but have never tried it before.

 

I have to imagine that it triggers the same "bait fish school" strike that makes an A rig unique, but maybe to just a less degree.      I guess when you think about it, spinnerbaits are using this same concept to a lesser degree.   

 

I've been reading that multiple baits in a single presentation triggers a different reaction strike from Bass.       

[A-Jay]

38 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

These are on my short list. I haven't thrown a rig with blades yet. Last spring was the first time I really spent time throwing one and gave it a fair shot. I'll be looking to improve my game with it this fall.

@A-Jay and @roadwarrior, what are your criteria for whether you want blades or not?

I don't use blades locally. 

Seems like too much.

Always use blades down south.

Nothing is too much there.

A-Jay

[roadwarrior]

35 minutes ago, FishTank said:

... check out the Donkey Rig.

I call it a double fluke rig.  Is there a difference?

[MN Fisher]

9 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

I call it a double fluke rig.  Is there a difference?

Nope - same thing, just regional variance in the name (like the crayfish/crawfish/crawdad discussion we had).

[RDB]

I use the A-rigs from Shane’s Baits.  You can buy replacement arms separately, so they can be replaced if broken or switched out if you want a different look.  Their smallest mini finesse rig is 6” long and weighs 1/4oz.

 

https://shanesbaits.com

 

 

[T-Billy]

6 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I don't use blades locally. 

Seems like too much.

I was thinking along the same lines when I purchased those Yum Finesse rigs. Seems to me 5 swimmers should have plenty of drawing power and look more natural than a bladed rig. I could be wrong though, it happened once before. ? I think I'll pick up a couple of those Flash Mob Jr's and give 'em a spin on windy days. 

[FishTank]

12 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

I call it a double fluke rig.  Is there a difference?

Same thing as far as I know. I use two swivels, one attached to the main line and the other  is riding freely on the main line. I will sometimes use a stopper on the main line to control how far the loose bait rides up.  I just pop it like a jerkbait.  

[AlabamaSpothunter]

You guys cost me so much money......just had to run to wal mart to get some barrel swivels, and some fluke jrs ?