Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

Can you legally fish an Alabama rig in Michigan? (5 hooks on one line)

From what I have read they are this is one technique I am not going to be slow to jump on board with.  I have been stocking up on the necessary gear and have a box full already. 

I believe so. I will attempt to ask the Lansing MDNR spokesperson before spring season starts.

Its been like 20 yrs since I worked in sporting goods and was really up on all the nuances of laws. Seems like i remember back then something about no more than two 'rigs' on one line. Like a perch/crappie rig with two hooks - people were always asking about more hooks on it and we had to explain it was illegal (or so my boss taught us). But I could be all washed up....Fill us in DJK when u find out.

Yeah, the regulations have changed since then but I want to get an official interpretation on the rig from Lansing before I say anything. It is on my todo list.

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10364_52261-211448--,00.html  does this help?

It's preety clear cut
Your allowed 6 hooks, so it's legel

"Hook and Line Fishing: Fish so taken must be hooked in the mouth. Fish not hooked in the mouth must be returned to the water immediately. No more than three lines per person (including tip-ups) nor more than six hooks or lures may be used. All hooks attached to an artificial bait or "night crawler harness" are counted as one hook. Hooks must be baited or attached to an artificial bait. You may use any number of hooks on one line for taking smelt in recognized smelt waters. Tip-ups and similar devices used for ice fishing must show the angler's name and address. All lines must be under immediate control. Hook size regulations exist on certain streams (see Exceptions to General Regulations by County, p. 16-18). "

what's not clear cut would be
Is it one lure or 5
"All hooks attached to an artificial bait or "night crawler harness" are counted as one hook."

If it's one lure under the current law you could fish 5 more and still be legal
But who's going to be able to fish more then one at a time

Most Tournament rules are one rod at a time for Bass any ways

This was just sent from D&R Sports

ATTENTION: In the state of Michigan you can attach no more than 3 baits to this rig. Please consult your state's fishing regulations prior to use.

I wonder what they are going by. I'll ask Randy if I get a chance. I'm still going to try to get an official word from Lansing before spring.

Did anybody notice
The price jumped 3 bucks now that Mann bought the rights to the rig.
There still back odered, But there now 27,99

Reading the FLW mag this weekend
The swim bait Paul E. was throwing was the Mann hard nose
I bought a bunch of those a few years back when TW was clearing them out for 2.99. So I'm at least stocked up on those

Talked to the manager at Bass pro shops, and he said they got a bunched ordered and should have them by the march madness sale.

Or... you can order 3 different models from Bass Tackle Depot for less than $20 down to $16.99. And several others for $24.99. Save some money. The fish won't know.

Curious what kind of setup you guys will be throwing with these.  I'm thinking some heavy braid and a swimbait type rod.

If you think about it, there are 9 hooks on a jerkbait. each treble hook has 3.

Quote from: Ellipsis on December 13, 2011, 10:11:45 AM
Curious what kind of setup you guys will be throwing with these.  I'm thinking some heavy braid and a swimbait type rod.

I plan on starting out with my loomis bcfr894 flipping stick and 65lb braid. I am expecting to realize quickly that it will not be enough rod to sling the a-rig and will probably have to get an 8ft heavy swimbait rod.

Quote from: Ellipsis on December 13, 2011, 10:11:45 AM
Curious what kind of setup you guys will be throwing with these.  I'm thinking some heavy braid and a swimbait type rod.

7' MH rod, and 15lb co-poly. Cxx or YZ Hybrid.

I've got a few ideas that should make this possible....

Quote from: KLAKE on December 13, 2011, 12:34:46 PM

Quote from: Ellipsis on December 13, 2011, 10:11:45 AM
Curious what kind of setup you guys will be throwing with these.  I'm thinking some heavy braid and a swimbait type rod.

7' MH rod, and 15lb co-poly. Cxx or YZ Hybrid.

I've got a few ideas that should make this possible....

Good luck with that setup you better be rigging it with small swimbaits/grubs weightless even then it would weigh 2 ounces or more. Not to mention if you snag up your $40 rig its not comming back.

Quote from: KLAKE on December 13, 2011, 12:34:46 PM

Quote from: Ellipsis on December 13, 2011, 10:11:45 AM
Curious what kind of setup you guys will be throwing with these.  I'm thinking some heavy braid and a swimbait type rod.

7' MH rod, and 15lb co-poly. Cxx or YZ Hybrid.

I've got a few ideas that should make this possible....

As heavy as they are, the very first time you have any kind of backlash using anything other than braid that thing is going to go sailing into the next county.  I've thrown it several times now, and I won't be throwing mine on anything less than 50 lb braid.

By spring I'll be throwing it on a 7'11" MH Shimano Crucial swimbait rod with a Shimano Curado and 50-65 lb Power Pro.

Going to get myself a nice new lure retriever too!

Quote from: Waterfoul on December 13, 2011, 12:48:30 PM

Quote from: KLAKE on December 13, 2011, 12:34:46 PM

Quote from: Ellipsis on December 13, 2011, 10:11:45 AM
Curious what kind of setup you guys will be throwing with these.  I'm thinking some heavy braid and a swimbait type rod.

7' MH rod, and 15lb co-poly. Cxx or YZ Hybrid.

I've got a few ideas that should make this possible....

As heavy as they are, the very first time you have any kind of backlash using anything other than braid that thing is going to go sailing into the next county.  I've thrown it several times now, and I won't be throwing mine on anything less than 50 lb braid.

By spring I'll be throwing it on a 7'11" MH Shimano Crucial swimbait rod with a Shimano Curado and 50-65 lb Power Pro.

Going to get myself a nice new lure retriever too!

Depending on how heavy the wire is on your jigheads you should be able to straighten them out when hung up with 65lb braid. Although considering in what situations we will be likley throwing the a-rig I dont think hangups will be a big issue. I think the biggest problem is how long will the wire on the rigs hold up to bending into place over and over. If they will break as often as some spinnerbaits it could get costly.

I have one so far just to play around with and it is rigged with 5 small swimbaits. It's really not too heavy and I don't think that casting it will be much of a problem. I imagine that there are so many different varieties of this rig that it really depends on which one you are using. I haven't looked too much at the ones they were using down South, but I imagine that they were heavy for fishing deep the same as the big heavy jigs they use while fishing the ledges. Now if this darned ice will go away I can go try it!

Quote from: TCook on December 13, 2011, 12:45:18 PM

Quote from: KLAKE on December 13, 2011, 12:34:46 PM

Quote from: Ellipsis on December 13, 2011, 10:11:45 AM
Curious what kind of setup you guys will be throwing with these.  I'm thinking some heavy braid and a swimbait type rod.

7' MH rod, and 15lb co-poly. Cxx or YZ Hybrid.

I've got a few ideas that should make this possible....

Good luck with that setup you better be rigging it with small swimbaits/grubs weightless even then it would weigh 2 ounces or more. Not to mention if you snag up your $40 rig its not comming back.

3/8oz rig, plus three 1/16oz jig heads and two weightless, on various small to medium plastics.

Quote from: Waterfoul on December 13, 2011, 12:48:30 PM

Quote from: KLAKE on December 13, 2011, 12:34:46 PM

Quote from: Ellipsis on December 13, 2011, 10:11:45 AM
Curious what kind of setup you guys will be throwing with these.  I'm thinking some heavy braid and a swimbait type rod.

7' MH rod, and 15lb co-poly. Cxx or YZ Hybrid.

I've got a few ideas that should make this possible....

As heavy as they are, the very first time you have any kind of backlash using anything other than braid that thing is going to go sailing into the next county.  I've thrown it several times now, and I won't be throwing mine on anything less than 50 lb braid.

By spring I'll be throwing it on a 7'11" MH Shimano Crucial swimbait rod with a Shimano Curado and 50-65 lb Power Pro.

Going to get myself a nice new lure retriever too!

If you go with the bigger A-rigs, and fullsized soft swimbaits on jig heads, you WILL lose them using the braid.

You are much more likely to lose lures during a backlash with braid, than with mono/co-poly, or even Flouro.

Quote from: KLAKE on December 13, 2011, 01:49:37 PM

Quote from: TCook on December 13, 2011, 12:45:18 PM

Quote from: KLAKE on December 13, 2011, 12:34:46 PM

Quote from: Ellipsis on December 13, 2011, 10:11:45 AM
Curious what kind of setup you guys will be throwing with these.  I'm thinking some heavy braid and a swimbait type rod.

7' MH rod, and 15lb co-poly. Cxx or YZ Hybrid.

I've got a few ideas that should make this possible....

Good luck with that setup you better be rigging it with small swimbaits/grubs weightless even then it would weigh 2 ounces or more. Not to mention if you snag up your $40 rig its not comming back.

3/8oz rig, plus three 1/16oz jig heads and two weightless, on various small to medium plastics.

So your just going to throw it shallow then? What you going to do when you need to throw it deep where it is obviously the best situation for the a-rig?

I think some anglers will find out this type of rig and similar are productive in many more situations than they originally think... like so many other new lures and techniques.

The first place I will be throwing anything like this (not sure of the Regs yet...) will be on Table Rock Lake in April.  So, braid will be the line of choice, and a lure retriever will be in the boat.  LOTS of standing timber, brush, and rocks that come right to the edge (or even past the edge) of the ledges and break lines.  Never lost so many jigs in my life as I have fishing Table Rock.

Here in Michigan I don't think snags will be a big issue... unlike PIKE and MUSKY!!!

Quote from: KLAKE on December 13, 2011, 01:51:43 PM

You are much more likely to lose lures during a backlash with braid, than with mono/co-poly, or even Flouro.

Hasn't been my experience. 

Quote from: Waterfoul on December 13, 2011, 02:44:27 PM

Quote from: KLAKE on December 13, 2011, 01:51:43 PM

You are much more likely to lose lures during a backlash with braid, than with mono/co-poly, or even Flouro.

Hasn't been my experience. 

Sure has been mine. Anything with any weight to it (musky lures) are usually too much of a shock for the braid....The shock in that situation isn't duplicated on anything except a backlash type incident. Hook sets, strait pull when hung, etc, you are fine.

Light lures and braid and your fine.

Well I don't own a single musky lure.   ::)  Don't fish for them much over this way.  Couple that with the fact that I never get back lashes and I just don't lose any lures on the cast (and if you believe that I've got some cheap land in Florida for you!).   ;D  Sent a few crank baits out of sight for sure... but always on co or floro.

Braid has the ability to cut itself very well, which is why heavy lures on a backlash can do that. It was one of the benefits of switching to the top quality P-Line Spectrex IV - avoiding those types of break offs when tossing the giant topwaters in Brazil and tossing heavy musky-type baits, even large bass jigs - I don't know that I have ever broken off like that since I switched.

The worst problem I had at Table Rock was hooking all that leftover fishing and trot line in all the trees and snags. It can get tedious. I did retrieve quite a few lures however - some in pretty good shape. P-Line is pretty tough stuff apparently!

Like others
I have a 7-6" hy rod that doesn't get much use
So that will be the rod. Was going to pick up 65# braid
But a friend gave me a new spool of 55# braid
And the reel will be a 7:1 Curado 200 (D model)

Should be interesting
While I'm noy worried about the Bass breaking it off
2 larger pike would be a fight

Quote from: djkimmel on December 13, 2011, 04:13:51 PM
Braid has the ability to cut itself very well, which is why heavy lures on a backlash can do that. It was one of the benefits of switching to the top quality P-Line Spectrex IV - avoiding those types of break offs when tossing the giant topwaters in Brazil and tossing heavy musky-type baits, even large bass jigs - I don't know that I have ever broken off like that since I switched.

The worst problem I had at Table Rock was hooking all that leftover fishing and trot line in all the trees and snags. It can get tedious. I did retrieve quite a few lures however - some in pretty good shape. P-Line is pretty tough stuff apparently!

It very well may have been the braid I was using. Two different kinds. Stren Superbraid, and Spiderwire Braid of some sort. Both in 80lb. But this was whatever was new from them about 5 years ago. Haven't musky fished in a few years.


On an A-rig note, I have a wire twisting machine that Netcraft used to sell. Always used it to twist my own Musky leaders. Anyhow tried twisting up some wire that would be appropriate sized for an A-rig....No dice.
Still may work on building some home made versions, but that route isn't going to work.

I linked up a video somewhere on here or on the GreatLakesBass.com facebook page where someone demonstrated how to make a workable homemade rig. It looked like it would work if you have the right tools. If I figure out where I posted it, I'll put a link up. You could probably find it with a search.

Question I have is if you read the rules for alot of the Tx's they limit you to a 7' rod. So what is the best rod?

Every tourney I've seen the limit is 8'.

Quote from: markgoetsch on December 14, 2011, 01:37:32 PM
Every tourney I've seen the limit is 8'.

Me too.

Usually 7 1/2 foot or 8 foot seems to be the norm for most tournament rules I've seen?

I would think a rod with a long, strong backbone would make throwing the rig when it is heavier easier over the course of a day. A nice two-handed handle probably helps quite a bite.

I have a pike / musky / swimbait type rod from Grandt Rods I will try first. It's a C14 All American Pro Series (http://www.grandtrods.com/All%20American%20Pro%20Series%20Custom%20Graphite%20Fishing%20Rods). The tip is a little soft and it has more of a parabolic bend to it because it's a composite rod but it has a big, strong backbone and a large handle. Only 7' but I can throw large baits on it. It wouldn't be great for ripping the big peacock topwater woodchoppers because of the softer tip, but for casting and reeling large crankbaits, bucktails, swimbaits, and hooking and fighting large fish, it works well. I'm betting it will work really well for the A-rig anytime you're throwing one that totals an ounce and a half or better.

Grandt Rods are 25% off right now with FREE shipping through Christmas day too! http://www.greatlakesbass.com/forum/index.php?topic=11255.0

... you crack me up Dan Kimmel ...

I didn't know I was trying to be funny...??

Maybe we should start a contest to see how many different a-type rigs will be for sale at the Novi show.

my guess is    5

I'm going to guess less then that

Now that Mann bought the rights, I think will see less store rigs

I think there are already over a dozen at least for sale so I'm guessing more like... a dozen. Yamamoto couldn't stop the senko knock offs. I doubt Mann's can stop the a-rig knock offs. Maybe they'll win a lawsuit for some licensing fees.

Wasn't the Yamamoto a knock off of the Slug Go any ways
Gary just came up with adding the salt to the plastic?

No. The senko was more than enough different. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sluggo was an influence though. Everyone who was adding salt to their baits had to pay an expensive license to Gene Larew also because of a law suit that company won.

I still have a few original hand-poured Sluggos that I'm saving for some special occasion. They are really soft and tear up easy.

As we all know those hollow belly swimbaits are expensive, this last month is the first time I wanted to buy any. I did a little digging and found a great deal at landbigfish, not a site sponser but this deal is to good not to pass along to you guys looking for a cheaper way to fill up those a-rigs before they are sold out. They have the 5" berkley hollow bellys in hitch and blue back herring for $1.49 a pack retail $10.

http://www.landbigfish.com/showcase.cfm?PID=7751&SiteID=1497

Quote from: TCook on December 16, 2011, 05:14:39 PM
As we all know those hollow belly swimbaits are expensive, this last month is the first time I wanted to buy any. I did a little digging and found a great deal at landbigfish, not a site sponser but this deal is to good not to pass along to you guys looking for a cheaper way to fill up those a-rigs before they are sold out. They have the 5" berkley hollow bellys in hitch and blue back herring for $1.49 a pack retail $10.

http://www.landbigfish.com/showcase.cfm?PID=7751

THanx,
I picked up 3 packs in both colors

Wish I'd seen this earlier. I do have an arrangement with LandBigFish.com. For anyone else who might use the link, I updated it so that any traffic from here gets the proper credit. Thanks. That is a super price 85% OFF!! I've been watching them a little more lately. They've had quite a few really, really good deals.

Anytime any of you see a good deal and have a short amount of time, if you run it by me through PM or other contact (http://glbass.com/contact) I'll post it for everyone as a live link when I can. If I'm not available and it's a short term deal, then you've done the best you can and I appreciate you sharing deals with other members. I appreciate a heads up. It does help the website quite a bit - real important right now! Thanks!

I see LandBigFish.com has a bunch of castable umbrella rigs including one as low as $14.99. Check out their entire selection here: http://www.landbigfish.com/alabamarigs.cfm?SiteID=1497

The Everstart championship was on today.  Another A rig tourny win.  Cool underwater shot of 5 spinnerbaits on one.  Only about 6 months till we can start tossing them.

think spring

6 months? spring??


think newton.

Quote from: thedude on December 18, 2011, 08:12:30 PM
6 months? spring??


think newton.

I like the way you think.  When we going??

Quote from: Waterfoul on December 18, 2011, 09:29:13 PM

Quote from: thedude on December 18, 2011, 08:12:30 PM
6 months? spring??


think newton.

I like the way you think.  When we going??

2012 Newton Lake Winterbreak

I saw the last few minutes of the FLW show today and it looked like another Alabama Rig commercial! I'm betting a lot of us are throwing one version or another of these lures in 2012!