Mitchell Forde • Major League Lessons
When Paul Elias first introduced the bass fishing world to the Alabama rig with his rout on Lake Guntersville in October 2011, the contraption seemed like the magic bullet anglers had long been waiting for, capable of eliciting strikes from big bass no matter how tough the bite.
Mercury pro Colby Miller has won lots of money with an Alabama rig during the coldest months of the year. Photo by Rob Matsuura.
Of course, like all baits, its effectiveness faded as bass grew accustomed to it. It remains a fish-catcher, but not nearly like it was in those early years.
However, there is one time of year when it consistently outshines most, if not all other baits. From fall through prespawn, anglers need to have an Alabama rig at the ready.
While Bass Pro Tour rules prohibit umbrella rigs, second-year BPT pro Colby Miller still throws the chandelier frequently when fishing in West Louisiana and East Texas. Miller has won a lot of money on an A-rig through the years at the MLF5 and local levels. His breakout 2024 Toyota Series win on Sam Rayburn saw him catch several key fish on a rig, and the bait also contributed to Top-10 finishes at the Toyota Series event on Rayburn last January as well as the 2023 Toyota Series Championship on Table Rock.
The common denominator between those events: All occurred during the coldest months of the year (November through February). Miller said the A-rig shines then because it does a better job of imitating bass’ main forage – schools of baitfish – than any other lure.
“This time of the year, fall and winter, they’re feeding up, feeding really hard on baitfish,” the Mercury pro said. “They’re feeding up, trying to get their bellies full before the springtime, and a bait like an Alabama rig just has so much draw power. They can see it from a long ways away, and it imitates a ball of baitfish. Obviously, a single bait is great and catches a bunch of fish, but a bait that has five hooks or five baits really just gets their attention, and instead of chasing one baitfish, they’re chasing five.”
Miller throws an Alabama rig in shallow, deep, dirty or clear water. Photo by Rob Matsuura
While the power of an Alabama rig in cold water is well established, many anglers still shy away from the technique because it can be both cumbersome and complicated. Miller, who prides himself on keeping his presentation as simple as possible, offered some advice that anyone can use to harness the power of the rig this winter.
Don’t pigeonhole it.
The Alabama rig has a special spot in Miller’s heart, and not just because of his recent tournament success with it. In 2015, Miller caught his first ever 10-pound bass on a rig.
That fish not only buoyed Miller’s confidence in the lure, it taught him an important lesson: The A-rig is a versatile fish-catcher. Many anglers only think of the contraption as a tool to pull bass off cover – and it does excel at that – but Miller caught that 10-pounder targeting an offshore school, slow-rolling it along the bottom (and long before he had forward-facing sonar on his boat).
Now, Miller throws the rig for all three bass species in a wide range of situations, from shallow to deep and in water that ranges from dirty to gin-clear.
“You can go to a fishery that you can see with your eyes without polarized glasses 20 feet deep, and they’ll bite an A-rig,” he said. “As far as clarity, I don’t really think it matters. I think if they’re in the mood to eat, they’re going to eat.”
When pairing the rig with forward-facing sonar, Miller most often uses it to draw fish from cover like brushpiles and standing timber or to target bass that are suspended and chasing shad.
While having modern technology helps reduce snags, it’s far from a necessity to catch bass on the rig. In fact, he said throwing an A-rig is a great way for an angler without forward-facing sonar to cover water in the wintertime. It can be fished quickly, and its drawing power means anglers can keep the trolling motor on high and spread out their casts.
“If it were me, I would say December, January, get around maybe a bridge or some rocks, a rocky bank, and just chunk and wind,” Miller said. “Throw it like a spinnerbait and just chunk and wind.”
Tackle and other tricks
One of the main components to A-rig success is throwing it on the right gear. Trying to wield a bulky rig on a setup that’s too light will reduce casting distance – a major key, according to Miller – while too heavy a setup can make it exhausting to cast all day.
Miller utilizes a 7-foot-5, heavy, extra-fast Fenwick World Class rod, which he pairs with a 6.2:1 Abu Garcia Zenon reel and 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon. He typically sticks with full-size rigs, but a plethora of downsized options are available, which can allow anglers to get away with lighter tackle.
As for the rig itself, the possible permutations of blades, jigheads and swimbaits are endless. Miller doesn’t do much experimentation. He sticks to a bladed rig with 3.5- to 5-inch paddletail swimbaits. If he’s fishing shallower than 15 feet, he uses all 1/8-ounce jigheads. If he needs the rig to run deeper, he upsizes to 1/4 ounce.
Miller recommends using a long rod and a slower gear-ratio reel to throw Alabama rigs. Photo by Rob Matsuura
“I try to keep everything as simple as possible, and I just do the same thing that I know works,” Miller said.
Texas and Louisiana regulations allow Miller to throw rigs with five hooks when he’s fun-fishing, but if you are limited to three, you can either cut the hooks off the top two jigheads or replace them with dummy baits on screwlocks and go a tad heavier on the other three heads. (That’s tip No. 1 for fishing an Alabama rig – be sure to check your state regulations and tournament rules.)
Miller said he doesn’t do anything special when retrieving his A-rig, either – just a straight wind. However, he did share one tip: Try to keep it above the fish.
Forward-facing sonar has taught him that bass prefer to feed up when eating baitfish, and letting a bait fall mid-retrieve often turns them off. Being able to see both bait and bass with forward-facing sonar makes that easy. For anglers who don’t have that option, Miller recommends gauging the depth by counting the bait down to the bottom, then fishing it in the middle of the water column and letting the drawing power of the bait do the rest.
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