Alabama

Nada Mucho · Feb 29, 2012

Alabama

Splash One · Elusive Crow

This is nothing more then a shrunken version of an "umbrella rig" for use in fresh water... I have seen a lot of variant of this "alabama rig". I would have to say...without even using it ...... it will kill fish.

I read that the BASS tournament and its smaller tourneys banned the lure..that's got to say something for its effectiveness.... I can see this thing demolishing open water bass that are balled up on shad...

When I was back in San Diego I was working on a version of this "Alabama Rig" myself to use with a technique called "long lining" where you leave your reel in free spool as you drift and dump 200+ yards of line in the water. This technique allows you to keep small or light lures near the bottom in 30-60 feet of water... only drawback is picking up eel grass and kelp... not fun winding in 200 yards of line that weigh 20 pounds...

I still have all my salt water gear so I know I have a stout enough rod to fish one.... It's been a very mild winter here and things are starting to warm up... I'll take a trip to Cabela's a get one of these rigs...then make a video of me fishing with it in our local ponds.. I bet 5 GULP! twitch baits could empty every pond for miles.

NOW if they make one for crappie jigs...I'd be all over that... everything eats crappie jigs... even crappies on occasion...

-- Edited by Splash One on Thursday 1st of March 2012 11:09:50 AM

Splash One · Elusive Crow

Nada Mucho wrote:
Well.......Anyone use the Alabama rig yet?

Picked up an "Alabama Rig" made by YUM...it's called the Yumbrella.

I'm not sure if all Alabama's are created equal... I got mine at Academy since I was near it anyways. The Yumbrella 7" is the only "Alabama Rig" This particular Academy carried... I will have to go to BassPro I suspect..if I want to see many variants.

My first impression is that the Yumbrella is solidly constructed.. I was surprised to find the "head" of this rig was not made of lead... it's either balsa or foam.. I will let you know which after I knock paint off of it..

The snap swivels seem to be a proprietary form, and use a standard barrel swivel.. for the $14.99 price tag I would like to have seen ball bearing swivels.

The wire is Yum's standard spinnerbait wire and seems like it would allow the umbrella to collapse in on itself during casting, allowing hooks to foul.. I suppose I will find out soon enough...

-- Edited by Splash One on Sunday 11th of March 2012 01:02:12 AM

shaddart · Crow Egg

I never even heard of themtil a month ago, now I'm seeing them everywhere. I'm going to try then for stripers when they migrate up the Hudson River to spawn in May. I'll let you know how they work for me. Jerry

Splash One · Elusive Crow

shaddart wrote:
I never even heard of themtil a month ago, now I'm seeing them everywhere. I'm going to try then for stripers when they migrate up the Hudson River to spawn in May. I'll let you know how they work for me. Jerry

how big to the stripers in your area get? I dont think these things will handle a striper let alone FIVE... they are made from spinnerbait wire...

Splash One · Elusive Crow

shaddart wrote:
I never even heard of themtil a month ago, now I'm seeing them everywhere. I'm going to try then for stripers when they migrate up the Hudson River to spawn in May. I'll let you know how they work for me. Jerry

I added video to my above post of myself fishing with the alabama rig.

shaddart · Crow Egg

The stripers are migrating to spawn & I'd guess the average male would be 12-18 lbs & the cows 20-40, with most in the 15-20 range. Yeah a couple of them onat once would be exciting, at least for a few seconds.

Nada Mucho · Mar 12, 2012

From the video it looks like you can cast that rig a country mile. Read a few posts from other forums where people were complaining of the weight and fatigue from long sessions of casting. Didn't hear you crying like a little girl so i guess it isn't that bad to throw.

Splash One · Elusive Crow

Nada Mucho wrote:
From the video it looks like you can cast that rig a country mile. Read a few posts from other forums where people were complaining of the weight and fatigue from long sessions of casting. Didn't hear you crying like a little girl so i guess it isn't that bad to throw.

it's pretty funny you mentioned that... I edited out all the crying...and I had to have my diaper changed twice during the filming of the video..

I many be in the minority... because of my experience as a deckhand in S.D. .... I fished with a 10 foot "jig stick" that had a penn jig master 500 on it...spooled with 30# and the average "surface iron" was 6oz... so the Alabama rig didn't seem like that big a deal as far a fatigue.

Now... in the video I was only using 2 weighted jig heads...which equaled a tad over a half ounce, and the other tree lures probably came to a half ounce.... all the pictures I see of other peoples Alabama rigs have 5 weighted jig heads... which would be considerably heavier then how I was rigged up.

Personally I would not want to repeatedly cast 3oz of crap on a "bass" style rod... they aren't built for it, and i'm sure your average spinnerbait fan would be crying from a day of chucking these things... I know from casting my salt water jig stick my arms would burn after a day of "blind casting"...