Alabama Rig For Saltwater Bass?

I have had several people tell me that I am crazy for throwing the Alabama Rig for saltwater bass. Be it Barred Sand Bass, Spotted Bay Bass or Calico Bass, our Southern California saltwater bass find them irresistible.

The Alabama Rig

The Alabama Rig, also known as the A-Rig, has been popular for a long time in the freshwater bass market. They have been fished for quite a few years, and have only recently started to gain popularity among the hardcore saltwater bass angler.

In the freshwater, depending on state, you can only fish a limited number of hooks. Here in California, you can only fish 3 hooks on an A-Rig. You can have multiple baits, but a max of 3 can have hooks. Luckily in the saltwater we don’t have that restriction.

The Alabama Rig itself is an elaborate array of baits that all get fished at one time. If I was a baby, I would have loved to see this dangling above my crib as it has always reminded me of a mobile.

There are several configurations, but a standard A-Rig consists of five arms. Four of which stick out to the sides and one dangling straight down. On this rig you tie on your favorite swimbaits or paddle tail style baits with a jig head.

My favorite Alabama Rigs have a spinner blade attached to the arms. This isn’t necessary, but it definitely helps in bringing in wary fish. The extra flash and bling really drives bass crazy.

There are some great, inexpensive rigs out there, like these found on Amazon. Heck, a bladed four pack for less than $20. You can’t beat that! These are by a company called Lixada.

The Gear

It really doesn’t take anything particularly special gear wise to throw the Alabama Rig, but you do need a rod that will bear the weight of a heavy rig as well as a reel with some breaking power to it.

I personally like to fish a longer rod. Something like an Okuma EVX-C-7101XH. This is a 7’10” rod with some good backbone and a nice tip section to really help get that rig out there. I match that up with the new Komodo KDS-273 baitcast reel and you really have a great set up. The Komodo is great because it offers over 20lbs of drag. You can go bigger and step up to the 350 size, but I like the 200 size in the harbors.

Fishing the rig, I like to use a little heavier braid with a nice heavy fluorocarbon leader. On my braid, I like to go with 50 or 65lb braid and a 30 or 40lb Fluoro leader. Personally, I like the Soft Steel Fluoro Stretch Fluorocarbon. That stuff is strong!

I find that the fish aren’t line shy, so the heavy leader is great in case you do get snagged up. And the heavy braid is just easier to throw.

The Technique

There are several thought on how to fish the Alabama Rig. Personally, I like to fish the A-Rig over eel grass areas in our local harbors. Keeping the rig just above the eel grass is key. These big bass like to hunker down in the grass and ambush the baits as they swim by.

A nice long cast is perfect, and giving your bait a nice count down to get near the bottom is important. Once your bait gets in the zone, a nice retrieve speed that keeps the bait right above the grass is all you need. If you feel the rig bumping the grass, speed up a little, and if you don’t slow down. You want to be right in the zone.

Fishing this way you will be picking off eel grass on just about every cast, but you will know you are in the correct zone.

When making your retrieves, be sure to vary your speeds. Speeding up brings the baits closer together, and slowing down spreads the baits back out. Give it a couple of twitches once in a while as well as completely stop. This gets the bass excited. A lot of times these bass will be stalking your bait for some time, and as soon as you vary the retrieve, you will get bet.

Don’t be afraid to throw this in open water as well. We were fishing deep water in San Diego Bay for Sand Bass, and this is still super effective. We were fishing 50 feet deep, letting the bait drop to the bottom, and slow rolling the A-Rig along the bottom. It drove the Sand Bass crazy.

The Video

Here is a short video explaining the techniques for catching these fun fish.

I hope you find these tips and techniques useful. It is an incredible technique for bumping up your numbers of inshore bass.

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Happy Fishing!

Davey