Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3814 June 21- July 5 2019 | Página 29

H
June 21 - July 5, 2019
SALTWATER
VOL.38 • ISS. 14
27
A-Rigs for Salmon?
aving been in the fishing industry for over forty
five years, I can claim that I have come in contact
with thousands of anglers, and that I have exchanged a
great number of fishing techniques and tackle tips with
them.
Since I retired from active retail sales
nearly five years ago, it has been a joy
and delight to bump into old acquain-
tances while going about my daily
business. Oftentimes, such a person
would remind me of an occasion when
I helped them out with a fishing tip or
two, many tips which
I have forgotten. (There are constant
reminders that I should be writing
all these things down in a book or
something before I forget them all.)
Such is the case when I was shopping
at Costco the other day and bumped
into Dave.
Dave, by way of explanation, is a die
hard salmon troller. He loves the whole
concept of salmon. He loves trolling for salmon. He loves
hooking up to salmon. He loves fighting salmon. (He’s
caught lots of other fish like yellowtail, bluefin tuna,
sailfish, and striped bass, too, but somehow he still likes
fighting salmon the most. Go figure.)
He likes cleaning salmon. He loves cooking salmon.
Most of all, he loves eating salmon, whether raw or
cooked. Did I mention he loves salmon?
Anyway, back to Costco. After exchanging a few pleas-
antries, Dave leans over and whispers, “That Alabama rig
for salmon is just killing them!”
I was taken aback because I had no idea what he was
talking about so I answered back, “I had
a feeling it would!” After a few more
minutes we parted
ways and I was left with a mystery. How
in the world are you supposed to use
an Alabama rig for salmon?
For those who are out of the loop,
the Alabama rig is a small, castable
spreader rig originally designed for
catching black bass. When it first
came out, it took the tournament
world by storm because of the abso-
lutely huge limits that were caught
using it.
Mann’s of Alabama was the first
company to commercially produce
the rig and has the trademark name
for it. Subsequent producers of
such rigs had to call it the A-rig, the
umbrella rig, or the U-rig to avoid
some legal infringement.
Essentially, the Alabama rig
imitates a small bait ball. The lure rigged
to the longer center wire gives the illusion
of the straggler in the group. This poor
rascal is the one most frequently attacked
This fisherman landed this limit of huge Chinook salmon during a trolling
by a predator.
adventure aboard the New Easy Rider off the Marin County Coast on June 5.
Photo courtesy of NEW EASY RIDER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley.
Of course, a ball of bait is more attractive
to a predator than just a single lone bait.
This accounts, in part, why the rig attracts
original Mann’s Alabama rig, added #4 silver willow leaf
big fish. But how does one use this on the ocean for
blades to the four short arms, then tied on a
salmon?
two foot long leader to the longer middle arm that led to
Anglers on the West coast aren’t too familiar with the
a tandem hooked Rotary Salmon Killer. Ahead of this, I
use of umbrella trolling rigs, but they are the cat’s meow
tied on a five foot leader made of 50 b. test fluorocarbon.
back East. These multiple lure fish attrac-
Two weeks later, Dave came back into the shop and
tors are used for everything from tuna to
barely said “Hello.” He went to the back of the shop,
striped bass to bluefish and all
grabbed a half dozen Alabama rigs, a couple of dozen #4
sorts of predator fish. The great attrac-
willow leaf blades, assorted Rotary Salmon Killers, and
tion is that the conglomeration of lures
some
and decoys more resembles a
fluorocarbon leader material. He paid for everything,
small pod of bait fish, something more
but then, before he went out the door, he turned, gave me
natural than a loner in the middle of
a wink and a big thumb’s up.
nowhere.
There is no
reason why
such a rig
wouldn’t work
for fish out
west except
that no one has
ever used it.
When
Dave asked
if there was
anything on
the market
that may up
his success
when salmon
trolling, I
decided that
he would be
a candidate
These anglers took a trip aboard the New Easy Rider in early June and
for a little
scored some handsome chrome bright kings.
experiment.
Photo courtesy of NEW EASY RIDER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley.
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