Or should I say," California Rig"? To make this bait legal here in CA it would have some alterations. But I can see this being very effective on a certain spotted bass lake right now. :)

To fish is to live!

Does it work with square bill crankbaits?

The rig does bring up a nice grey area in the DFG rules. You clearly can't use 5 swimbaits on this rig that all have hooks on them. But if you removed the hooks from two it's unclear if this still constitutes 5 lures.

Somewhere, Jerry Rago is laughing.

D'oh! Sacto John also posted about the AL Rig in the "New Product Introductions and Product Availability" section.

A number of years ago I saw a swimbait rig in Bass West magazine which had a small Basstrix soft baitfish up the line ahead of a Stocker Trout. The idea was to create an image of a trout pursuing a minnow and not paying attention to what may be lurking below. I thought you could do the same thing with a trolling umbrella rig. Rig small hookless soft plastics around the umbrella with a larger bait (with hooks) following a short distance behind.

Too many ideas out there and not enough time! :-)

Tim

If you rig Big Hammers on it, should it be called an Alabama Hammer sandwich? lol

If you're in California and you only rig 3 lures with hooks in them, which two do you leave the hooks out of? What about spinnerbait blades, where do they fit in?

How long until some enterprising individual comes up with a specialty rod for this technique? I'm picturing the Dobyns Alabama Meat Launcher.

Will the reel come with a line counter on it?

You haven't lived till you've snagged a spreader bar in a big tree or grass bed. The amount of grass you can pull up on these setups is impressive. My personal best is two anchor ropes, with two anchors attached, in one day.

True story: After using spreaders trolling on and off for years, I've never caught a fish on one. This Alabama rig is cool because it's castable and the baits run tight together, but I think many will be sad when they have a hard time getting bit on it in CA.

There's a time and a place for these rigs, and when it's on - it's on. Guntersville must have lined up something special. But this ain't the end of bass fishing as we know it :)

Thanks Tim for remembering my rig. My friends called it the "Rogers Rig"

>Somewhere, Jerry Rago is laughing.

NO, somewhere he is crying, but working hard to bring you his California version, The Rago BaitBall, fully rigged with mini's.

Just as Nico said, 3 baits with hooks and two without. A lure is only a lure if it has a hook, otherwise it's a decoy, so i've been told.;)

I'll post pictures as soon I get the O.K.

Also, I can see this thing killing at those giant spot lakes.

Love to see the pics. Is Jerry sad because the 'secret' is out on castable umbrella rigs or because he didn't try selling them sooner?

As similar as this Alabama rig is to an umbrella rig, you have to give some credit to the guy who invented it because it puts the baits on the wires with no leaders and it's castable. Could be wrong, but I don't recall seeing those two features on any rig ever before.

I hope TW gets some kinda rig in stock pretty soon. I want a triple hookup on striper this fall at the Delta.

>Love to see the pics. Is Jerry sad because the 'secret' is
>out on castable umbrella rigs or because he didn't try selling
>them sooner?
>
>As similar as this Alabama rig is to an umbrella rig, you have
>to give some credit to the guy who invented it because it puts
>the baits on the wires with no leaders and it's castable.
>Could be wrong, but I don't recall seeing those two features
>on any rig ever before.
>
>I hope TW gets some kinda rig in stock pretty soon. I want a
>triple hookup on striper this fall at the Delta.

Yes, because the "secret" is out and Yes, because he didn't try selling them sooner. He never want to sell castable ones because he is not much of a caster.

I give ALL the credit to the guy in Alabama, but Jerry says when he was with Osprey, Steve Harner built a castable version very similar to the Alabama rig, no leaders. Jerry wouldn't let him sell it, so now he is trying to play catch up.

Stripers?? What about a triple on bass at Clear Lake, or Bullards? YES???

Retail $24.99



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8841-photo.JPG

Attachment #1, (.JPG file)

Where are they available? The fish head is cool.