I have had more success on translucent paddle tails in clear water than solid, figured I might see if this translates to the Alabama.  Only issue is you have this perfectly obscure, barely visible school of fish led by these floating, shimmering blades and a big honker fish head.  
 

Is there a way to remove these or do they make a bare bones rig with only the wires for this application? Seems it would be much more realistic.

Nope.  I normally use white baits and my Arigs have lots of blades.

Alabama rigs are not finesse presentations. The  whole point of an Alabama rig is not to be realistic  as you define it. 

12 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Alabama rigs are not finesse presentations. The  whole point of an Alabama rig is not to be realistic  as you define it. 

I agree. Never caught a fish on an a rig but i understand the premise. I mean regardless of the paddletail color, you are still dragging them behind a bunch of metal. I get the irony however of a translucent behind that thing in clear water. I antually think blades would be a good thing in that instance as the flash they provide would break up the silhoette of the frame. However, if they are keyed on the “bait ball” as is the purpose of the a rig, I really dont think they would pay attention to the hardware any more than any other color. If they are noticing the frame it probably suggests the a rig is the wrong technique that day anyways

No blades

 

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9 hours ago, Jig Man said:

No blades

 

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Yup actually just looking at that, just wish it didn’t have the fish head.

23 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Alabama rigs are not finesse presentations. The  whole point of an Alabama rig is not to be realistic  as you define it. 

Yeah I get that, I just feel like I want to give myself every advantage possible as it isn’t *entirely* a reaction bite and they do follow it on occasion 

Over time I'm trending towards two colors 1) white but a little translucent (ghost ice 6th sense, pictured below) and 2) silvery/flake (jackall). Occassionally using Fat Impacts but they don't seem like the right bait for this.  

I could see low-vis water + cloudy using an actual white, but I don't fish much water like that. 

You can use different colors on the same rig, particularly if they are close to each other, like pearl white and these ghost ice, and see if you see a difference in which one is getting bit. For me, the vast majority of the bites come on the bottom two. Then the back, then the two top, not sure they ever get big. 

 

Anyway I think the ghost ice is pretty good for a do-it-all.

 

 

 

 

And yes there are a-rigs with no wires and no big head. Probably more suitable for neutral fish that actively eating ones.