Alabama Rigs Weren't the First To Sport Multiple Lures

Renowned lure designer and inventor of the original umbrella rig, Andy Poss, released the Alabama Rig to the public in 2010. However, as I learned from my research in recent days, there were two-lure bass rigs already being used prior to that date to catch more than one fish at a time.  According to outdoor writer George Fiorille, the two-lure tactic was designed to imitate a small school of baitfish, which will get the attention of multiple bass more quickly than a single offering.

It also was surmised that these two-lure rigs may have looked like a larger forage species trying to eat a smaller one. And bass, being prime-time opportunists, as fishery biologists tell us, would see the presentation as an ideal feeding moment. It made sense then that one or more minnows swimming erratically by would be more enticing to a bass than just one offering.

The history of two-lure rigs dates back to when Heddon and Rebel introduced the Drop Zara Spook and Drop Pop-R, respectively. These lures, which consisted of the plug, along with a jig attached via dropper line, were used to catch fish that missed the topwater bait and could be caught on the second dropping lure.

Lunker Lure also introduced the Carolina Jig Weight some years ago. This rubber jig rig is intended to replace the weight on a Carolina rig. With this setup, you have one lure at the weight and another at the end of the leader. Although both rigs have accounted for fish that otherwise would not have been caught, neither proved to be a huge success.

It wasn't until bass pro Terry Scroggins used a two-lure rig to score victories in the 2001 CITGO Bassmaster Eastern Open on the St. Johns River, as well as the January 2003 CITGO Bassmaster Tour on Lake Okeechobee, that these setups came into their own. Scroggins went on to win more than 300 tournaments on the St. Johns River with the two-lure rig.

While most of Scroggins' fish were caught on a Carolina-rigged Zoom finesse worm, some key fish also were taken on a gold/green Heddon Zara Spook, with a white Norman Front Runner teaser tied inches in front of it. He used the Spook whenever he spotted schooling bass periodically surfacing in the areas he was fishing.

Tournament angler Mark Burgess also used the same two-lure setup as Scroggins.

"Although it's rare to catch two fish at a time on the rig, you can do it," he said. "It's a great rig to get a quick limit...of usually smaller fish."

Burgess especially liked to throw the rig in tournament practice to help find schools of active fish. He preferred using the rig on clear bodies of water that had lots of smallmouth bass, such as Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. He used other two-lure rigs as well.

While fishing a tournament on Lake Hartwell in Georgia, a premier clear topwater lake, a local angler showed Burgess a two-lure rig using two Zoom Super Flukes. The Lake Hartwell rig consisted of tying your main line first to a three-way swivel. Then you tied leaders of approximately 1 and 2 feet long to each of two swivel eyes. Next, you tied on two unweighted hooks and rigged two soft-plastic jerkbaits on the hooks. Burgess used a pink jerkbait to ride on top and a silver jerkbait on the other hook. He cast the rig over points and extended sandbars and worked back to resemble a small school of baitfish that were fleeing. The rig could be used during postspawn periods to find schools of females suspended over deep water.

Meanwhile,  Alan McGuckin, public relations and promotions manager for Terminator lutes and an avid bass angler, used a unique two-lure Carolina rig. He first slid a half-ounce Top Brass sinker on his main line. Next he tied on a three-way swivel. Then he tied on a short leader with Berkley 20-pound-test Big Game line to one swivel eye. The first leader--only being about 4 to 6 inches long--was connected to a 1/0 or 2/0 Mustad Mega Bite hook. Next, McGuckin attached the same hook to a 3-foot leder on the other swivel eye with 15-pound-test Berkley Big Game line. McGuckin liked to use either a Gene Larew Salt Craw or Twin-Tail Skirted Grub with the shorter leader. On the longer leader, he liked to use either a Gene Larew Salty Lizard or a HooDaddy.

The reason he used 20-pound test on the shorter leader was because it was so short there was no room to give," explained McGuckin. "I catch about half of my fish on the short-leader lure and the other half on the long-leader bait. No matter what level of angler I'm fishing with when I use the rig, I'm always questioned about the setup."

As allowed by writer Fiorille, the rigs mentioned here more than likely are not the only two-lure rigs used by bass fishermen today. With ever increasing pressure on bass-fishing waters, anglers are coming up with unique ways to catch bass. By employing two lures on your line at once, you, too, can increase the odds of finding and catching more fish.