I headed down to Guntersville Saturday to try my hand at the perhaps the biggest lure craze to hit the bass fishing world since Mr. Creme invented the plastic worm. The new bait is called the Alabama Rig (really just a castable umbrella rig). Ever since Paul Elias and most of the top 10 smashed the bass on Guntersville three weeks ago in the FLW event, it has been a mad scramble by lure designers to make them and a feeding frenzy among fisherman to get their hands on some.
I found mine by calling the owner of Sworming Hornet Lure Company in Georgia, who supposedly had a good replica of the original, and I wouldn't have to wait 6 weeks to get them. Since the 5 bait version is illegal in TN, I needed to go to AL or KY to try it out. The wind was going to be considerably stronger in KY, so I opted to head to Big G.
Here's a quick run down of the tackle set up:
7 1/2 ft extra heavy Allstar Flippin Stick
Large capacity Curado 200 6.3:1 reel
65 lb Power Pro braid
Sworming Hornet Swarm castable Umbrella Rig (Ark Shiner head- pictured above)
(5) 3/8 oz Big Hammer Hammerhead jig heads
(5) 4.5" Strike King Shadalicious swimbaits - a real key is to glue the baits to the head.
Two items I did not have with me that I would recommend are velcro tennis shoe soles to keep you in the boat as you try to sling this awkward deal 30 yards into the wind and some Ben Gay rub to apply to your wrist and shoulder when you finish. This rig is not for the faint of heart or those with soft tissue injuries in the upper half of their body.
Since I knew most of the fishing pressure on Guntersville is usually mid-lake to Goose Pond, I opted to head down to the town of Guntersville. I launched the boat at the public ramp in Big Spring Creek and ran out to the deeper bridge heading toward the main channel. My friend Russ who finished 3rd in the FLW event at G'ville gave me a good idea of what to look for (big balls of shad suspended in 15 ft over 30 ft in the creeks). I idled under the bridge, and just as I cleared the pilings the screen lit up with huge clouds of bait 12-18 ft down in the 30 ft channel- perfect. I put down the trolling motor, and began lobbing the chandelier.
I stayed on the shad balls in Spring creek for 2 hours, but I never had a bite. I did watch another boat catch a 5 lb class fish on the other side of the bridge, so I was on the right deal. I decided to move down to Brown's Creek to try the same pattern, and it was obvious that there were shad in the creek due to the hundreds of sea gulls working over the creek channel. I ran to within 100 yards of the bridge and started idling back out toward the main lake. The creek channel ran from 22-30 ft deep, and the shad schools were everywhere on the graph. A fish would break the surface every now an then too. I felt pretty sure that this was the place. I kept on the trolling motor and threw at every shad ball and breaking fish I saw. I stayed in the area for an hour and a half, and I caught three nice hybrids but no bass. The bite on this rig is fantastic. It reminds me of a smallie crushing a spinnerbait at night.
Next I ran up to Siebold Creek to see what I could find there. I idled around in the mouth of the creek in the deeper areas and found a few shad schools, but I never had a bite. It was almost lunch time now and I needed to regroup. I trailered the boat and ran up to Waterfront for lunch. Due to the number of trailers at the ramp, I opted to drive up to Comer Bridge and fish up there for the second half of the day. One funny sight when I was driving north- when I drove over the North Sauty bridge I looked down, and there were five boats lined up within 40 yards of the bridge, and they were all slinging the rig toward the pilings.
As luck would have it, I met a local guide when I stopped to use the restroom in Scottsboro. He said that he had caught 30 bass on Friday on the A-rig in the Comer Bridge area. He told me about a secondary channel that runs under the bridge on the West side of the river and suggested that I fish there. I easily found the ditch and started firing the rig thru the deepest part (9-12 ft). I landed my first bass and a double in the first 30 minutes. I worked my way north on the ditch and was able to catch 5 more bass before I left around 3 pm.
I never caught the big fish that Big G and the A-rig are known for, but it was a fun day, and I learned a lot about the new technique. I'd say any time that the fish are on a shad bite and hey are deeper than 5 ft, the A-rig will be effective.
Tight lines y'all.
RBK
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