I recently fished the BWS saturday on Tenkiller and had my first real experience with the Alabama Rig. YumBrella with 5" swimbaits. Yikes was that a different experience for myself.

 

I cracked my boater up on my first cast. "you threw that like your were afraid too" I was like heck yea i was, this thing is freaking huge i didnt know what to expect, nothing like getting the feel for something on tournament day. ha

 

But in about 15 mins it did land my first tournament keeper a 3 pound large mouth, and right before weigh-in it put a 1 1/2 pound kentucky in the live well.

 

I had one other fish with a Caffeine shad that was a under length smallie. 

 

I was throwing this monster on a 7'6" Carbonlite micro guides medium-heavy with a  Fast tip. Using PQ 7:1:1 Reel with 40 pound power pro braid. I had some growing pains while fishing it but nothing to terriable. Would you say this setup is okay to continue throwing the A-Rig on? Or should i look to a different rod with a heavy action.

 

At the end of the day and we were leaving he saw my giant rig with the 5" baits and he said thats what you were throwing? geeze that thing is huge! His Alabama rig was a smaller one and looked to be only throwing about 3" swimbaits.

I haven't been throwing "the rig" all that long myself and i, like you, started out using a few different rods I already had. They worked ok but now that I've purchased a rod designed to handle these baits it's much more enjoyable to use them. If you liked throwing the rig and want to continue I would suggest looking into an umbrella rig rod. I'm able to throw one much farther and with less effort on my part with the technique specific rod. It just makes the whole experience of fishing these big baits better.

 

I picked up the Cumara A umbrella rig rod myself but there are tons of other companies building them now so you have plenty to pick from. Just my opinion on it anyway, hope it helps ya. 

I threw one a little bit, spinderella with 5in moneyminnows, on a dobyns 765flip and lews TP reel 65#powerpro.

I couldn't stop backlashing 1 out of 5 cast or so. Bad ones too, had to take time to pick them out and not fun with braid as it dug in good. always seemed not matter how tight or loose I set the reel up that the rig couldn't pull off enough line to match the spool speed or vice versa.....

been thinking about getting a dedicated rod and maybe fishing more grub type baits with it.

The Yumbrella is a great rig. I have several rigged with different combinations, but they all share one

common element: Light weight. This is a specific example that produced a 35 lb, five bass bag in a 

tournament on Pickwick a couple of weeks ago. I rig the outer arms with a white Rage Tail Single Tail

grub on a thin wire #3 Gamakatsu Offset Worm Hook, weightless; the interior arm with chartreuse.

 

Another combination that has been KILLER for me is using LFT Live Magic Shad on the outside and

a Johnson Silver Minnow in the middle. Since Tennessee only allows three hooks, I am experimenting

with the same basic set-up, but with two 3" willow blades substituted for hooks on the outside.

 

 

 

Itll probably be a little easier on you reeling wise if you can get a 6.4:1 ration on there. Using a 7.1:1 is like your cranking against something that wont move and you really have to slow down

The Yumbrella is a great rig. I have several rigged with different combinations, but they all share one

common element: Light weight. This is a specific example that produced a 35 lb, five bass bag in a 

tournament on Pickwick a couple of weeks ago. I rig the outer arms with a white Rage Tail Single Tail

grub on a thin wire #3 Gamakatsu Offset Worm Hook, weightless; the interior arm with chartreuse.

 

Another combination that has been KILLER for me is using LFT Live Magic Shad on the outside and

a Johnson Silver Minnow in the middle. Since Tennessee only allows three hooks, I am experimenting

with the same basic set-up, but with two 3" willow blades substituted for hooks on the outside.

 

 

 

So you use off set hooks instead of jig heads? That will lighten the load a bit.

I got a question... What about the Spinners on an A-Rig? Has anyone had a lot of success?

So you use off set hooks instead of jig heads? That will lighten the load a bit.

 

Yes, it's all about weight. I was a little concerned about the lure performance and some have

suggested The Rig would spin. However, I have had no issues, the baits run true and there

is no spin. However, note with the 3" blades the package is lifted with a fast drift. You will probably

want a different set-up for deeper water.

 

 

 

Get yourself a heavier rod for the rig. It pays off in the long run. I used my 7 ft 9 H aetos for the first time and it worked flawlessly. The tip is great and it loads up perfectly when you get a bite. I can throw anything from 1/2 oz to 4oz so I can make a heavier a rig if I wanted to. 

The Yumbrella is a great rig. I have several rigged with different combinations, but they all share one

common element: Light weight. This is a specific example that produced a 35 lb, five bass bag in a 

tournament on Pickwick a couple of weeks ago. I rig the outer arms with a white Rage Tail Single Tail

grub on a thin wire #3 Gamakatsu Offset Worm Hook, weightless; the interior arm with chartreuse.

 

Another combination that has been KILLER for me is using LFT Live Magic Shad on the outside and

a Johnson Silver Minnow in the middle. Since Tennessee only allows three hooks, I am experimenting

with the same basic set-up, but with two 3" willow blades substituted for hooks on the outside.

 

 

 

 

I was looking yesterday on fav swimbaits to use. Right now I been using money minnows, i came across an older post about your LF Live Magic Shad i will give them a try for sure!

 

One thing i keep hearing is the 4 on the outside be the same and the one in the middle go to a bigger version or have it be slightly different.