Alabama Rig - Rago Bait Ball

The Alabama Rig has taken the tournament world by storm. The contraption looks like something you would dangle over a baby's crib, not something you would be casting to bass.

 Although reminiscent of the old striper trolling rigs, this lure is far more advanced, and its castable. The Alabama Rig style bait is comprised of a central head with five wires running out from it. Each wire ends with a snap swivel for attaching a bait of your choice. A few of the popular rigging options include the Basstrix or Keitech swimbaits on jig heads, usually a 1/4oz model. Other anglers have rigged up spinnerbaits and buzzbaits with extraordinary success. 

Jerry Rago has created his own version of the Alabama rig with an extremely realistic head. Take a look at Jerry Rago's Bait Ball:

In some states including California, regulations only allow for three attached baits so one way to rig the Alabama rig for California is shown here:

Some possible methods of rigging this bait are as follows:

For states that do not regulate the number of hooks to 3 -

• Five 1/4oz Swimbait Heads with your favorite soft plastic paddle tail style swimbait between 3-6 inches in length. Some possible choices include: Keitech Swimbaits or the Little Creeper Trash Fish.
• For shallow water or a weedless presentation try rigging the bait with the Trokar Swimbait Hooks, but make sure to use a weighted belly hook on the bottom wire for keeling purposes.

For states that place a 3 hook maximum regulation -

• Three 1/4oz Swimbait Heads with your favorite oft plastic paddle tail style swimbait between 3-6 inches in length. Some possible choices include: Keitech Swimbaits or the Little Creeper Trash Fish. For the remaining wires add a medium or large Owner Centering Pin and attach two more swimbaits. This method will still provide the "bait ball" look you are trying to replicate, but will be completely legal for those states such as California with additional regulations.
• For shallow water or a weedless presentation try rigging the bait with the Trokar Swimbait Hooks, but make sure to use a weighted belly hook on the bottom wire for keeling purposes.
• You can also slow the retrieve speed of the bait by adding Spinnerbait Blades in place of the two teaser baits. This method of rigging will create quite a bit of drag similar to a spinnerbait. While experimenting with this method it was found to be more productive to use the swimbait hooks instead of the swimbait heads. The additional weight made the bait very difficult to retrieve and it detracted from the action of the swimbaits.

Whether you agree with the principle of the product or not, it is a proven fish catcher and tournament winner.

If you'd like more information check out this page: 

http://www.OutdoorProShop.com/Rago-Baits-Bait-Ball-p/rago-baitball.htm