Advice?
Lost a couple of big fish this year on a-rig breakage. Trying to figure out how often to replace or how to know it is time. I've had a few where they were just bent up so bad it was obvious, but more often than not I'm clearly using it too long. Not boat-flipping them on the a-rig. Made it a little better by hitting the back bait with a lil chartreuse - still mostly bottom of the rig bites, but sometimes the followers eat that one instead, which is straight vs bent.

On the extreme end, I'm fishing for big fish so I could just choke it down and get another one every day they are on em hard or put a cap on the # of fish. $15 if I use the 6th sense, $20 for the rest of them. Or maybe $10 for new arms on one of the Shane's baits rigs (my current favorite anyway).

storage - I've tried a couple of things (Plano a-rig box, TW tube) and they just seem to bend it all back down so much it is stressing the metal, so I've started just flopping it in an open compartment so it doesn't get flexed at all. Maybe there's something in the middle? Or maybe if I'm serious about it I shouldn't be reusing them unless I only had a few bites.

Some learnings:

On the good news side, now that I use screw lock style jig heads the baits last nearly as long as the a-rig. I'll never go back to superglue and frustration.

I don't sweat color much, just use ghost ice. Mostly I'm fishing more than 2x deeper than the water vis, if they aren't biting the a-rig I probably need to change presentations or go from bladed to no blades, big blades, or 8 blades more than I need to change to a more natural color. But my water is never more than 4' viz.

You know to always keep it above the fish or they won't bite it, but I've learned one situation where that's maybe not true - if you have a follower and a reel snap/flare doesn't trigger a bite, they are going to get spooky when they see the boat anyway. So stopping it dead and letting it drop a few feet (not more) and then ripping it up above their head again can sometimes trigger them. Often enough to try it anyway. Probably better to just get it away from them before they could see the boat and try again, but that's not always how it plays out.

If it is really -on- that day and the big fish are wolf packing, it is worth having two rigs on deck. They maul it extra hard when they are competing/cooperating, and I want to get right back in them before the pack swims off. No time to straighten so just pick up the other rod.

You don't have to see fish to throw the a-rig. Really good at pulling them off the bottom, but even better at pulling them out of a brushpile or a weed clump. It's a lot going by and often they will come out and check it out, so even if they don't bite it you now know there's a fish in there.

If you are trying to get a double (it's fun) you can just let the fish swim around with it for 10 secs or so - if they are in a school the others will get stirred up too. Not a game I'd play with bigs, but fun on a bunch of 2-4lb fish.

Ty, @txchaser . Appreciate the deep dive. I have a but of a love-hate relationship with the A-rig. Your tips may tip the scales back closer to the love side.

I have been fishing Arigs for 20 years and never broke a wire but the ones I use are homemade. My harnesses came from a company called Battlefield Wire which was bought out by lpo. I have one with no blades or hooks on it that I can send to you and you can set it up the way you want and give it a try. Let me know.

On 1/24/2026 at 6:31 AM, Jig Man said:

I have been fishing Arigs for 20 years and never broke a wire but the ones I use are homemade. My harnesses came from a company called Battlefield Wire which was bought out by lpo. I have one with no blades or hooks on it that I can send to you and you can set it up the way you want and give it a try. Let me know.

Thanks @JIGMAN I'll DM you.

I like the ones with a longer center wire. I prefer a 5-6 wire with 2-3 fakes on the top. I use a CPS for the top baits. I have yet to break a wire but one tip is to bend the wire out away from the head.