The Effectiveness Of The Alabama Rig

[dave]

Not against it or for it, it is illegal where I live and I am happy it is, that way I don't have to put up with any drama surrounding it, either in making it, marketing it, or fishing it!

Me too. The state of Maryland helped me decide whether I liked it or not. (where the umbrella rig for stripers reigns supreme)

[Bigbarge50]

I can not believe the storm this thing has started......

So as a guy who has not thrown it and has not formed an opinion yet, how effective are we talking? RW pointed to the massive results in his area. Some are saying it is a no brainer, others saying itis like a swimbait.... a homerun hitter for big fish. How about some A-RIg Pictures on here?

[tbirds00]

Why is it called the Alabama Rig?

[roadwarrior]

Andy Poss, an Alabama resident, created The Rig:

[tbirds00]

I figured it was something like that but didn't know for sure. Thanks for the help

[bandsr4me20]

This rig doesn't make bass fishing a "no brainer". I went out today and threw it for probably three hours and never had one even hit it. I tried shallow all the way to seeing them on my graph on ledges suspended and still did not catch them. Before i used it, I thought it made it way easier but it still is not a sure fire way of catching them. It is very neat looking in the water and just another lure to use to try and catch some bass.

[MissouriBassin]

In Missouri, you're limited to 3 hooked lures per rig.

http://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/only-three-hooked-lures-allowed-alabama-rigs-missouri

[Nick]

Yep, just cut the hooks off two of your paddletails.

[ww2farmer]

Just got mine yesterday, probably better go down to the bank soon and make sure they are going to be able to handle all the cash I deposit after I just show up at every local tournament I can and toss this around for a bit, haul in 30lb bags, and clean up, cause from what I hear, it's just that easy...............ROTFLMAO.

[MissouriBassin]

I won't be using the rig, but thought somebody from Missouri may need the info. I didn't know it was limited to 3 here.

[roadwarrior]

You know Table Rock can be really tough in the winter.

I hear they're killin' 'em right now with The Rig! I'm

headed up to the White River below Bull Shoals for the

weekend. I'll post something more after talking to the

local guides and some of the guys at Red's.

[Quillback]

Rig bite has slowed way down on TR according to my sources, it was great up to about 2 weeks ago, but the latest reports are it's just not working like it was. It's slowed down on the local lakes in the area also. Everybody and their brother was/is throwing it. Jerkbait bite is improving however.

[retiredbosn]

The only thing that would worry me about the rig is if the number of large bass are being caught that typically means that they are being kept. Even though we are in the era of catch and release, many anglers keep their biggest for the taxidermist. Too many fishermen are just not aware of the high quality fiberglass replicas now that make keeping the fish obsolete. Deplete the gene pool of the biggest fish and the result is a larger population of fish but of smaller size, which will take years to recover from, but then again you would need real world hard epirical data to find out.

[TommyBass]

Its officially legal in Indiana now. The DNR passed some new legislation on it this week specifically for this issue. It was kind of in the air previously, as it was not actually covered in the law. We have a two hook per line law, but it was murky on if the rig is considered one or multiple baits.

We still have a 2 hook per line law, but they expanded our laws to allow for 'harnesses' or 'rigs' to have up to but no more than 5 hooks. They made this a temporary revision and are going to revisit the issue in January of 2013 to see how its effecting our states waters. Its funny how you can use that, but no more than two soft jerkbaits tied to a single line or two jigs on your drop shot, LOL. Looks like 2012 is going to be the year of the umbrella rig.

[J Francho]

They made this a temporary revision and are going to revisit the issue in January of 2013 to see how its effecting our states waters. Its funny how you can use that, but no more than two soft jerkbaits tied to a single line or two jigs on your drop shot, LOL.

WOW!!! A government agency actually made a decision, and then intelligently said, "hey, if it isn't working right, we can change it." OK, no more politics, LOL.

That's actually pretty cool though. And yeah, the two jerkbait rule is a little weird, but given the distance, and the way one can slide way up the main line, I'd say that's fair.