Wish they would change the laws in Minnesota (although I have second thoughts about that), either that or some customers from down south as if they couldnt find a good builder down there....lol Sounds fantastic for tournament fishing, doesnt matter if its new or not, its new to the bass fishing world thats all that matters. Whole different customer base. Thanks for the heads up.

Vern

There are a lot of techniques that are very effective for bass - that are employed in other styles of fishing. Cowgirls, Pencils, Needles, Teasers (daisy chain), etc - none have rods out there designed for it. A saavy rodbuilder can create a need in his area by finding a new technique and then offering a rod just for that.

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Thomas
I agree with Bill on the BB2 it is and excellent blank, but wrong for this situation.

Yes the umbrella rig has been around for years, but the application is new and that requires using different rod setup to handle it.

Whether is legal in every state, ethical, or will be around for a long time, I don’t know and was not the reason for this post.
I do know it is legal in NC, Alabama, Tenn. (with some modifications) and a State of Texas official has issued this statement:
“It is my opinion that the Alabama rig is a lawful artificial bait.
Keep in mind, it is unlawful to take or attempt to take fish with one or more hooks attached to a line or artificial lure used in a manner to foul-hook a fish (snagging or jerking). A fish is foul-hooked when caught by a hook in an area other than the fish's mouth.
L. David Sinclair
Chief of Staff - Division Director I
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Law Enforcement Division
4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744

The post was not intended to discus the legalities of the bait or even how to build it. But to provide some info for those interested, to take advantage of a coming trend and a blank to fill the need.

Bert; if you are using smaller or lighter versions, several blanks could fill the bill. But when using setups similar to the videos, or what I’ve been throwing, it’s a different animal requiring a blank more suited to the work load and weights.

First time I used the rig, fished from back of boat to give partner first shot at every thing. He used swim baits, crank baits, flukes, a C-rig and remained fishless while I put fish after fish in the boat.
The biggest 5 weighing about 22-23 lbs. not including some monsters I lost due to a too stiff rod.


Chad, Ofer;
FLW has ruled it a legal tournament bait, saying that as far as they are concerned it is no different then a double fluke or donkey rig.

Jeremy
All my casting rods are built spiral wrapped.

Robert
Am doing well and am glad to hear you are also
“Does it seem to you that all the rigging takes most of the "sport" out of this rig?”

No sir! This like all baits is not a 100% catch them bait, and will not work all the time. You will have to still figure out when and where it will work, and learn to work it properly to get bit.
I don’t see much difference in a rig with 5 single hooks or a Rebel stick bait with 9 (three trebles) in which I have more times then I can count caught mutable fish on at one time.

Alex:
Ditto!

Some will make gillnet jokes about this and others will make money – Your choice

Steve, please excuse the comments made by me and Chuck. I think it would be fun to be able fish with this rig. I also think it would be okay to have a bass season that doesn't close...other states seem to do fine w/o a closed season.

No disrepect to your opening post was intended but Chuck and I are from the state of Minnesota where absolutely nothing is allowed. : \

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN

Right on Chad.

If I was a camera man on a pro boat I'd be looking into a full-face helmet with face shield.

It looks like a blast, but not possible here. Unless - What if only a larger, center lure had the hooks? The spread could act as teasers. Might defeat the purpose, but might be something to test...

Steve - It's 19 degrees here and I'm probably done until April crappies. I need to joke about something! Heck, can't even enjoy football any more. Ouch!

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

I am in the process of making some A-Rigs as I type. Spinner Bait wire works great. Am also building a rod to handle it, A Shikari BT8020, will see if it works or blows up.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

Chad;
Did not take it personally and did not take it as being disrespectful

Chuck
Hate to tell you this but its about 65 degrees here
Jokes did not bother me, honest. was just poking back.

You may want to check with your states governmental parties to see if the rig is leagal I know some of other states have commented similar statements as "An artificial lure is considered one hook."
doesn't hurt to check

Although not as effective I also know cases where it is being modified to fit certain states regulations by removing some of the hooks

Chuck (and assorted others concerned about the "multi-hook" rules in your area).... after reading this thread, I did some searching and found lots about the striper umbrella rigs, that only have a hook on the center bait, usually a larger swimbait or bucktail. All the bait ball rigs on the outer edges of the umbrella were 3" Sassy Shad-type softbaits without a hook, just stuck onto the swivel clip. Several places had mini-sized umbrellas (4-7" spread arms) and were towing around a 6-9" Storm-type pre-rigged swimbait, the smaller shad baits were just attractors.

Since there would only be one hook, this would be both legal and significantly lighter...both good things, IMHO.

Honestly, I was thinking about PIke, Musky and Big Walleye when I was looking into this....any thoughts on swimbait or musky-type rods' suitability for this smaller-size of umbrella rigging?


Scott Nordlund
Ringneck Custom Rods
Hartford, SD

Scott;
The Batson ISW945 blank along with the heavier version suggested are from their swim bait line up, which is one of the reasons they fit the bill so well.

There are some Musky rods that will also work.
But with the “Bass crowd” blank and finished rod weights are a big concern. And the Musky blanks I looked into in the actions needed for the rigs.
Are almost twice the weights of the blanks suggested.

little info on modified rigs
[www.bassfan.com]

It is true that catching fish on these is not automatic. Last weekend in a tournament I was able to catch fish on the rig in a ditch running through a large flat, on tournament morning the fish had moved up on the flat and I couldn’t catch them on the rig. The water was so shallow that to keep the rig off the bottom I had to reel so fast they weren’t interested, we caught our fish on shallow running crankbait. Once these get commoditized by the large manufacturers they will end up costing about the same as a spinnerbait, I build my own and there is not much to them I have way less than $5 in each one.

Guys,

Please heed the rules about not linking to sites that feature advertising. Thanks.

...............

Chad,
I suspect that if you check with your local DNR officer, you will find th at the Alabama rig IS legal in MN.

The key part of the regulation that you posted was the word artificial.

When you look at the rig itself, you find that at the head of the rig, there is an artificial minnow looking piece of weight. This makes the rig artificial. Then, the fact that there are multiple wires off the back of the back of the weight that each have a swim bait or similar lure on it, just further define the "artificial" lure part of the device. Since the Alabama rig is an "artificial" lure, it may have as many hooks on it as it wants to have on it. It is still an artificial lure and is still considered a single bait from the standpoint of a legal definition.

This is exactly why it is legal to have stinger hooks on jigs on walleye rigs in MN. The jig makes it artificial. The fact that there happens to be a minnow on the jig doesn't change the fact that it is an artificial.
That is also the reason that crawler harnesses that contain three hooks are legal in MN. The fact that there are beads and possibly spinners in front of the first hook, makes it an artificial rig, thus allowing the use of the three hooks on which to rig the crawler.

So the fact that the Alabama rig happens to have 5 hooks on behind a minnow looking weight does not change the legality of its use in MN.

I had a chat with a DNR officer about the use of quick strike rigs for northern fishing in MN. This is where two or three small treble hooks are used in line to hook a large minnow on a line for big northern fishing. This is in lieu of using a single large Pike hook and then missing fish because the fish has not inhaled all of the hook with the large sucker minnow. The DNR officer indicated, that as long as there was a spinner in front of the two treble hooks, the lure was considered an artificial, by legal standards. The fact that there happened to be a large sucker minnow impaled on the small treble hooks did not change the legality of using this "artificial" lure for catching northerns under a bobber.
But, he said, that if there was no bead or spinner in front of the two or three small treble hooks - then the lure would be 100% illegal.


So, to be sure, I would suggest that you obtain an Alabama rig and mail it to the DNR office of enforcement in St. Paul and have them rule on the legality of the rig. I would be very surprised if it were stated that this rig is illegal for use in MN.

Be safe

Roger

p.s.
If there were NOT a minnow looking weight at the front of the Alabama rig, or a spinner or something similar to make the rig "artificial", then I would agree that it would be illegal to use an Alabama rig of that style in MN, that consisted of a group of 5 wires twisted together, each of which had a swim bait and a hook at the end of the wire.

In this case, you would essentially be running 5 different artificial lures on the same line which is illegal in MN. I believe that the interpretation of the law would indicate that there needs to be a "common" artificial device to "unite" the individual lures into a single artificial lure. It is nit picking, but when it comes to interpreting the law, nit picking is what judges do all day long.


Take care
REW

Good idea Roger. I fowarded Steve's link to "bassfan" with my inquiry. When I hear something I'll share their response.

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN

That was quick turnaround by our DNR. Their response:

"That would not be legal in MN. Another rig legal in some states, but not others. Not legal here."

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN

Tom
Sorry!
Did not even think about the advertising issue when posting the links

I got several A rigs when they came out early this summer. I live and fish in Tennessee. Did not realize the exact wording of the law until after the G'ville tournament. There was an FLW tournament on Ky Lake close to my home. The Tenn Wildlife Resources Agency issued a clarification for TN. A'rig can be used with 3 baits and 3 hooks. This is the max.

The strkes are bone jaring. I started using a RX7 IMB 843. Too short and wore me out. I then then too a RX8 7'-3" flippin stick I had built for myself earlier in the year. Much better. I have built a 7'-10" RX8 flippin stick for a cousin. I think this set up would work even better plus is is under 8 feet which many tournaments have as a maximum length for a rod.

There is no doubt about the comments Jim listed above. If you plan to fish the rig all day, it is not for the weak! That leaves me out!!!

Hey Steve! Hope you are yours are well my friend.

Being a Striped Bass and Musky fisherman, I can tell you that many Musky blanks are perfect-o for this rig, I can guarantee that I have several musky rods that would shine using this method for bass.

I've been around the umbrella rigs for many many years, same setup....and yes we catch bass on them too.

Steve suggested having "bass crowd" specific rods would surely be a seller, I agree!. The blanks are there for the asking already, no one needs to know what the blank was originally designed for.

Maybe I'll throw on 5 8" Hellhounds surrounding a center 10" Hellhound for Musky! I'd need a good pine tree for a rod! LOL

DR

Hmm.... similar to the umbrella rig but smaller. Wonder how long these smaller umbrella rigs catch on for various saltwater applications.

Duane,

I was thinking the same thing as I was reading this. Musky blanks!

jeremy