W2F Blog

Two key factors dictate Jimmy Mason’s selection of Alabama rig components

By Walker Smith

Although the excitement surrounding the Alabama Rig and subsequent rigs has largely died down in the past year, castable bass umbrella rigs remain effective fish catching tools under the right conditions. Alabama fishing guide Jimmy Mason has zeroed-in his approach to the rig over the past two years. He narrowed down bait selection to two important environmental cues:

•    Water clarity
•    Water temperature

Clear water

The most important factor to Mason’s bait selection is water clarity. In clear water, the eyesight of a bass is largely enhanced, making a proper presentation a huge factor of success. In these high visibility situations, he doesn’t get too creative when chunking an umbrella rig.

“The clearer the water is, the more I want my baits to match,” Mason said. “It’s much more natural for the bass to see a ‘school’ of matching baits, so I want to throw 5 identical baits.”

While clear water does dictate a set of matching baits, the color of these baits is equally important. Just as he would opt for more natural-colored hard baits in clear water, Mason keeps this philosophy intact when he’s on a hot rig bite.

“I’m a big believer in translucent baits in clear water,” Mason said. “One of my most productive baits in these conditions is the 3 1/2-inch Emerald Pearl-colored Yum Mud Minnow, especially on sunny days. When the sun reflects off of the green flake, it’s a dynamite combination.”


Stained water

As long as the water has at least 1 foot of visibility, Mason doesn’t hesitate to throw a bass umbrella rig. When faced with these low-visibility water conditions, he tends to get a bit more technical with his bait selection. Larger baits and brighter colors have produced some unforgettable fishing days for him in the past year.

“In dirty water, I’m going to play with my baits a lot more,” Mason said. “I love using 5-inch Yum Money Minnows in the middle of the rig because they give it a much bigger profile that displaces a lot more water. This extra visibility and water disturbance draws attention to my Yumbrella Rig a lot better than smaller baits would.”

The Tennessee River system received an insane amount of rain last year, but that didn’t stop Mason from putting his clients on monster bass. With the river continuously moving at nearly 100,000 cubic feet per second, the muddy water forced him to improvise his A-rig approach.

“The only way we could get consistent bites was by using 5-inch chartreuse grubs on the outsides,” Mason said. “I was running a full size, 5-inch Money Minnow in the middle and the 5-inch grubs on the outside of the rig in order to help the bass see the bait better. It ended up reducing our short strikes and dramatically increasing our hookup ratio.”

Water temperature

As with any bass fishing technique, water temperature is an essential element in Mason’s Alabama rig bait selection process. In water temperatures above 50-degrees, big bass won’t hesitate to attack an A-rig with 5-inch swimbaits, but when the water drops to below 45- to 50-degrees this time of year, downsizing baits can make a lot of difference.

“Whenever the water temperature gets below 50-degrees, bass become lethargic,” Mason said. “A big, bulky presentation isn’t appealing to these wary bass, and can actually spook them. This is a time where I like to use 5-inch grubs on the outside of my rig—it’s less imposing and matches small forage better.”

Umbrella rigs never ended up being the “magic baits” that some anglers thought they would be, but that doesn’t mean they won’t catch fish. Keeping a close eye on the surrounding water clarity and water temperature not only leads to smarter bait selection, but also more fish in the boat. 


To fish with Jimmy Mason, visit jimmymasonbasspro.com.

•    environmental conditions effects on fish
•    competition conditioned the bass

First, a little background on why the rig was so prominent last year but not as much this year.

The craze of the rig is history
The Alabama Rig generated a tsunami across the bass fishing tackle landscape in the fall of 2011. Andy Poss took a simple 5-wire umbrella rig and applied it to it for bass fishing. When Paul Elias won the FLW Tour event on Lake Guntersville in October of 2011 with 100 pounds of bass, a time when most anglers were saying the fishing was horrible, the flood came almost immediately.

Anglers were willing to pay $50 to $100 for one rig. Guys were tying wires in their kitchen. The bass lure market exploded with thousands of castable bass umbrella rigs. The bait shops were flooded with new contraptions for rigging the hundreds of various swimbaits on the market. Shops couldn't keep their shelves stocked with rigs, jigheads or swimbait bodies on fisheries like the Tennessee River, Table Rock, Grand Lake, the Alabama River and many more.

Yet fast forward to now and most tackle shops have a surplus of both umbrella rigs and swimbaits. Things obviously have changed.

The forage came and went with the wind
The wind can affect fishing, but water temperatures, current flow, water clarity and other environmental factors affect the bass and the forage more. Last fall/winter, there had been significant rainfall across the country that put a little color in the water of many of the nation's fisheries. The resulting flooding generated consistent current that seemed to keep the bass feeding in groups.

Warmer than average temperatures spawned an explosion of forage. The bass roamed nomadicly, grouping up to ambush bait instead of relating to contours and bottom composition. A lot of baitfish suspended and so did a lot of bass. It was a perfect storm for the Alabama Rig. The suspending fish, which were normally very hard to catch, seemed almost too easy to catch on 5 swimbaits raked over their heads.

This year however we had almost exact opposite conditions around the country. A lot less precipitation, a lot less current flow, a lot more scattered bass and forage that was not suspending. Then winter seemed to come almost two months early bringing much colder water temperatures, extremely clear water and a lot less schooling bass.

Competition conditioned the bass
Bass get conditioned. I've seen a school get conditioned in minutes to a certain lure and a simple lure change gets them fired right back up. I've seen days where a guy throwing one bait crushes his buddy's hopes and dreams on just slightly different bass lures.

Last fall and winter the lakes were overcrowded with boats full of anglers chunking 5-swimbaits at a time haphazardly for bass. I'm sure this year started out much the same, but as folks have quit having success, they've quit braving the elements.

The bass umbrella rig storm was over for many. It is no longer just a matter of going down the bank throwing five lures instead of one. But the truth of the matter is there are many anglers across the country still having a lot of success with the umbrella rigs.

It didn't end bass fishing like many predicted. It didn't become the only lure you had to throw to be competitive in bass fishing tournaments. It didn't even become a factor for most tournaments this year.

Quite simply, it became another weapon to trick our favorite quarry. It followed the same path as the buzzbait, the topwater frog or the Senko. All effectively deceive bass. But they don't work all the time in all conditions. The Alabama Rig, the Yumbrella, the Flash Mob, the Cure, the Roll Tide Rig, the Schooling Rig, the Yellow Hammer Rig and all the other versions of bass umbrella rigs simply became another spinnerbait, crankbait, jig or worm in your tackle box in the span of a year.

But there are still ways to make the most of these bass lures, and I'll dive into that in part two of our look at the changing approach to using bass umbrella rigs.

My most productive non-ice fishing lures for winter time bass fishing

By Jason Sealock

You're scraping ice off the windshield, as the truck sputters and grumpily tries to warm its interior. Breathing in exhaust fumes as cold chills pulse down your spine as you hook the trailer to the hitch. The nose begins what will be a full day trickle as your ears already burn from the frost trying to adhear to your lobes. The allure of big lumbering sluggish bass in icy cold water fills your brain as you scramble to the cab of the truck. It's winter time, and surprisingly some bass anglers hate it.

To an extent, all anglers probably fall victim to "rut fishing" at some point throughout the year, and winter can be the worst time to be in a rut about how you approach your fishing. A few simple facts will hopefully give you better perspective and hopefully some tips on tackle will make your quest to catch bass a little easier this winter.

First, bass don't need to feed every day. There metabolisms slow to a crawl and they don't need as much coal for their furnace so to speak. So they don't have to eat as much or as often. That makes smaller baits a good option or extremely slow moving big baits that they don't need to run down to satisfy a week's worth of food requirements.

Second, bass group up and spend a good portion of their winter motionless. They populate an area that has food and deep water nearby and hover there until early spring. So spend time looking for deep concentrations of bait, cover and bass and realize fish use the smallest percentage of the lake of any other time of the year.

Now for the good news. Bass do eat in the winter. They stay near the bait because they need to eat. Also, they stay with their friends, so if one bass isn't eating today, chances are a buddy right next to him is. They are very keyed into shad this time of year and the shad can be struggling to stay alive if the water temperatures are dipping into the low 40s. So while they are looking for those injured dying shad, they won't pass up a slow crawling craw right in their face either. They are still opportunists and will seek to eat whatever they can in close proximity.

Having addressed their "tendencies," here are my 8 choices for targeting and catching sluggish cold water bass and some tips on how to make them more effective.


Deep suspending jerkbaits

I spent a lot of time watching shad die in the winter when I fished on clear water fisheries like Table Rock and Beaver Lakes in the Ozark Mountains. These shad would kick and pause, flutter and float and sometimes sink slowly out of sight. I've incorporated mimicking this kick-and-float behavior into chasing winter bass with deep diving suspending jerkbaits. A Lucky Craft Staysee, a SPRO McRip, Megbass Ito Vision 110+1 and a Jackall DD Squirrel all do a great job of twitching and jerking in water 8-12 feet deep. The sound, flash and water displacement in clear water can all lead big bass out of deep haunts to grab a quick easy meal.

Tip: I sometimes weight my jerkbaits so they will slowly sink. When I know I'm fishing for bass deeper than 10 feet over much deeper water, I actually like for my jerkbait to mimic those shad I saw dying for many years on other fisheries. I will add lead golfers tape or a few extra split rings to make my deep suspending jerkbaits slowly sink after a rip or pull so they look like a shad struggling to stay afloat.


Blade bait

A blade bait is a dynamite lure for stair-stepping down steep 45 degree banks into the zones bass are holding. Where a spoon derives its action after the hop or pull as it flutters on the fall, a blade bait attracts on the actual rip and drop.

Tip: I will fish a blade bait like a lipless rattling bait and just slowly wind it along, hoping it bumps a rock or two. I think the subtle vibration, couple with the clinking and clacking over rocks, draws those deep bass in for a closer look and the slow crawl is easy for them to run down.


Jigging spoon

A jigging spoon has been a staple over the years for deep wintering fish. It looks like nothing, but it casts like a rock, gets to the bottom and into the strike zone with blazing speed and can be worked in place easily on a vertical presentation with a simple snap and fall on slack line.

Tip: Slack is critical so learn to drop or cast the spoon and watch your line as it falls. Think it stopped too early, reel up fast and set the hook. See your line jump, set the hook. I often cast out a few yards from the boat and hop it around to cover a small circular area where I think the bass are holding and being out away from the boat helps me watch my slack a little easier as well.


Tail spinner

Another deep small hunk of lead with some flash, a tail spinner has been a hot ticket in Texas lake in colder years. The ability to hop it, wind it, pump it and work it various ways both near the bottom and up in the strike zone make this simple tear drop lure a dynamite presentation.

Tip: I use a lighter one a lot of the time to get a slower fall in the winter. I think a lighter weight really lets the blade work and you can keep the bait in their strike zone for a much longer period on each cast, which is critical in the winter.


Under spins with shad tails

When you are fishing deep flats, a lure you can cast and wind slowly along the bottom or up off the bottom if you find the bass suspended can be the ticket. Something like a Sworming Hornet or a Buckeye SuSpin with a small swimbait or shad tail like the Optimum Opti Shad or Basstrix can easily mimic a shad in cold water that might have a slight stain to it.

Tip: Super glue is your friend. Super glue the swim tail to the head and you can fish all day with one tail and head, well at least for a lot more fish than you would otherwise. And a pumping and stop and go retrieve can also trigger bass who might slowly lumber behind but never strike.


Grub

A grub is such a simple and old faithful lure, that many anglers totally forget about them. Fact is, this bait really shines when the water is ultra cold. I've caught bass in water below 40 degrees on a grub and 1/4 ounce jighead. When bass suspend in vertical cover, a grub can be a dynamite lure to catch those otherwise stationary bass. Wind it slowly and methodically and most bites will just feel like a little pressure as you wind it.

Tip: Small diameter line helps keep the lure down and swimming steady through the water. The lure doesn't weigh much so heavier line causes it to rise too much. I like some of the new grubs like the Strike King Rage Tail grub or Zoom Fat Albert that put out a lot of vibration.


Casting jig

One of my favorite ways to catch smallmouths this time of year, is casting to 45 degree banks and steep points and bluffs with a casting jig. Something like a Cumberland Pro Lures Pro Caster or a Stan Sloan's Booza Bug are ideal for this technique. I will tip the jigs with a Zoom Chunk or Zoom Super Chunk Jr.–something with flat appendages that undulate more than twist and thump.

Tip: I'm normally fishing this on fairly open rocky banks with occasional stumps or laydowns. So I will opt for very light line like 10 to 12 pound fluorocarbon. The lighter line gives the bait better depth control and I think the fish look at a jig this time of year longer than other times of the year before biting. So I want to stack the deck in my favor with very natural presentations, trimmed skirts, natural chunk  colors to give the bass a real meal looking profile.


Drop shot

I've definitely built up a lot of confidence with a drop shot over the last decade. And I just smile when I hear guys tell me bass won't bite plastics in cold water. They will bite the right plastic. Especially if presented in a very realistic manner. The bass are often tight to the bottom so I will keep my leader lengths fairly short and I will let the drop shot sit for long periods. I still want to butt it up against a rock or a stump and work it painfully slow around an isolated object. But sometimes just barely flicking the tail is all the action it needs.

Tip: Choose a bait that gives you more of an undulating or vibrating tail action. I think a bait with a slightly thicker body and tapered tail gives you that tail vibration or whip you need for cold deep water bass.  I really like the new Strike King KVD Dream Shot and the new Berkley Twitchtail Minnow for cold bass.

Left Column: Mann's Baby 1 Minus, Xcalibur Wake Bait, IMA Roumba, Spro BBZ-1 Shad Floater, Lucky Craft Real California Right Column: Buckeye Wake Up, Cordell Red Fin, Cordell Jointed Red Fin, Koppers Live Target Jointed Bluegill Wake Bait, Strike King Wake Shad

Justin Lucas shares his secrets to catching suspended bass on hollow-bodied swimbaits