A-Rig Questions

[Bcsampson76]

I have been trying Alabama rigs for a few years now with very minimal success. Most of this time has been spent on the CA Central Valley lakes (New Melones & Don Predo) and I have really struggled with these. I have fished them fast, slow, uphill, downhill. Does anyone have any recommendations? For anyone unfamiliar with these lakes they are larger deep water reservoirs with large mouth and spotted bass predominately. Bonus, if anyone has any lake Shasta suggestions with the A-rig, I would love to hear them. Thanks!

[DaveBrabec]

What line are you using? I’ve fished one a bunch on Clearlake. All about keeping it close to bottom and slow while the water is as cold as it is. Snow killed the bite here. Never seen 43 degree water here in March

[Bcsampson76]

I am usually running it on 15-20 pound floro

[Drakestar]

I feel that you'll have most success with A-rigs in eutrophic lakes (fertile, grassy and with heavily stained-muddy water). In clear water lakes they don't produce as well. So you might not be doing anything wrong!

In clear water I'd try a smaller A-rig with 3.8 Keitechs (or similar) and no blades. But I've had most A-rig success in <3 foot visibility on flats, often near vegetation (using a bladed rig with 4.3s and 4.8s). I'm sure there's a "No no, they work great in deep, clear & rocky areas!" story to counter that piece of information from somebody else (but not from me :) ). Generally speaking, New Melones doesn't strike me as a typical A-rig lake. Don Pedro neither (? haven't actually been there, just looking at Google).

[Bcsampson76]

I feel that you'll have most success with A-rigs in eutrophic lakes (fertile, grassy and with heavily stained-muddy water). In clear water lakes they don't produce as well. So you might not be doing anything wrong!

In clear water I'd try a smaller A-rig with 3.8 Keitechs (or similar) and no blades. But I've had most A-rig success in <3 foot visibility on flats, often near vegetation (using a bladed rig with 4.3s and 4.8s). I'm sure there's a "No no, they work great in deep, clear & rocky areas!" story to counter that piece of information from somebody else (but not from me :) ). Generally speaking, New Melones doesn't strike me as a typical A-rig lake. Don Pedro neither (? haven't actually been there, just looking at Google).

I never even thought to down size the rig. I’ll have to give that a shot and see. But you are correct they are deeper and clearer reservoirs. At certain levels there can be a lot of timber fishable on melones

[DaveBrabec]

Wild West Pro Am at Oroville. Angler caught a 12.86 on a Arig with 2.8 Keitechs on it.

[Ky21xd]

Catch them good on lake Cumberland on the rig. This is a clear Rocky highland reservoir similar to some lakes out your way I’m sure. I do better down sizing and reeling painfully slow. The new hog farmer tactical bassin mini rig is great. I like to throw it with strike king baby squadron heads and 3.3 keitechs.

[Bcsampson76]

I will definitely be ordering some smaller rigs and see if I can improve my luck. Thanks everyone!

[JJohnSind]

Like just about anything else, it’s not the bait, but the technique matched to the conditions and situation. You can’t just chuck an A Rig for the sake of chucking it. It’s for fish keyed in on feeding on schools of shad. It’s limited in the depths it’s effective in, usually a shallow technique (under 10ft), but can work well on suspended fish. Does this even sound like a match to the lakes you’re fishing?

[dabassking]

Like just about anything else, it’s not the bait, but the technique matched to the conditions and situation. You can’t just chuck an A Rig for the sake of chucking it. It’s for fish keyed in on feeding on schools of shad. It’s limited in the depths it’s effective in, usually a shallow technique (under 10ft), but can work well on suspended fish. Does this even sound like a match to the lakes you’re fishing?

I would bet a lot of money that over half of my A-Rig fish have been deeper than 10’.

[DaveBrabec]

I would bet a lot of money that over half of my A-Rig fish have been deeper than 10’.

Same here. Most were caught in around 20 foot depths but the shallow arig bite is just getting going

[JJohnSind]

I’ll

[JJohnSind]

I’ll have to try that. None of the ones I own, or made, run much deeper than 10 ft. and they have a tendency to rise the faster you reel. How slow are you guys reeling, and I assume you actually mean the rig is being worked at 20ft, not “thrown” in 20 ft?

[DrewFlu33]

Probably a stupid question, but maybe helpful in contributing to the thread: I always hear about the A-rig in cold water. Do you all have luck with them in the summer too?

They're not really legal here in MN either way, though we can run them with 1 hook. The bigger reason I've never really thrown them is that our archaic fishing seasons prevent us from actually fishing for the bass right after ice out (most years, anyhow), so we don't get that early prespawn window where everyone throws them.

I suspect they're a lot like jerkbaits. "Yep, they only work in cold water."

[DaveBrabec]

Probably a stupid question, but maybe helpful in contributing to the thread: I always hear about the A-rig in cold water. Do you all have luck with them in the summer too?

They're not really legal here in MN either way, though we can run them with 1 hook. The bigger reason I've never really thrown them is that our archaic fishing seasons prevent us from actually fishing for the bass right after ice out (most years, anyhow), so we don't get that early prespawn window where everyone throws them.

I suspect they're a lot like jerkbaits. "Yep, they only work in cold water."

Best winter technique here. Normally about 1 st of May. The Arig bite dies off

[dabassking]

I’ll have to try that. None of the ones I own, or made, run much deeper than 10 ft. and they have a tendency to rise the faster you reel. How slow are you guys reeling, and I assume you actually mean the rig is being worked at 20ft, not “thrown” in 20 ft?

Im talking bumping bottom in 15+ ft. Just crawling it.

[DaveBrabec]

That’s why I asked about line you are using. I was fishing same rig as my buddy. He had braid with a leader. I had 20 lb floro. His rig was staying closer to bottom and definitely got more bites. Slow slow

[JJohnSind]

Im talking bumping bottom in 15+ ft. Just crawling it.

Unfortunately, an ARig wouldn’t last long in our waters if it were bumping the bottom. I’ll try to figure out how to make it work though.

[DaveBrabec]

Unfortunately, an ARig wouldn’t last long in our waters if it were bumping the bottom. I’ll try to figure out how to make it work though.

Here You learn quick where you can and cannot bottom bounce.Arigs snag easily but most times come out by motoring past it.

[dabassking]

Unfortunately, an ARig wouldn’t last long in our waters if it were bumping the bottom. I’ll try to figure out how to make it work though.

You can rig it with belly weighted swimbait hooks instead of jig heads. That helps a lot in making it snag resistant.