MN Legal A- Rig?

[Dylan33]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but how do you rig an umbrella rig to be legal in MN?

I know you can only have a hook in one bait(usually the middle/trailing bait) . My question is, how do you rig the other baits without a hook?

I picked up a rig this winter, and was getting things ready over the weekend, and can't envision getting the other swimbaits attached without hooks.

Anyone ever done it?

Thanks

[bassinboy3]

I saw a blip at the sport show about it being illegal, as far as I know theres no way to attach baits to them without hooks.

[RK]

Take a jighead, thread the swimbait on, superglue it to the head, then clip off the hook point. You still have the head so the rig balances right, but no hooks.

Picasso actually makes a dummy head for use in places where there are limits on the # of hooks you can use. It's basically a jighead with a screw lock and pin rather than a hook. Can switch out colors easier and don't have to cut up jigheads.

Either one's legal as can be with a single hooked bait in the middle of the rig.

[Dylan33]

So by clipping the hooks off on all but one bait, it is legal?

Have you actually done this RK?

[RK]

The DNR HSOforum has pretty specific information about A-rigs on inland waters on their HSOforum. The full text is here: Alabama rigs in MN

But the gist of it is this:

Quote:

Minnesota law restricts anglers fishing in inland waters and the Canadian border waters to one artificial lure/bait on a single line. While each artificial lure/bait may have more than one hook (a crankbait, for example), only one lure or tackle configuration is allowed on a single line.

However, a Alabama (Umbrella/Yumbrella) would be legal if not more than one hook or artificial lure/bait is attached. An angler could place a single bait/lure with a hook on one of the wires and attach hookless spinners or plastic baits to the other wires.

For the purposes of this definition, a lure has a hook or hooks, but a plastic bait without a hook isn't a lure - it's just a thing in the water.

[bassinboy3]

Wow thats interesting, thanks for looking it up!

[HellaBass]

I have also attached dummie baits with a product called hitchhiker, little screws from tru-turn that attach your rig and then you can screw on a bait

[Nhamm]

So one would hope that the fish hits the bait with the hook? Every bite you got a 1 out of 7 chance of getting hooked? Maybe I am off but doesn't seem worth it.

[RawHog]

So one would hope that the fish hits the bait with the hook? Every bite you got a 1 out of 7 chance of getting hooked? Maybe I am off but doesn't seem worth it.

You got that right, I'd rather spend that $ on numerous other baits.

[RK]

So one would hope that the fish hits the bait with the hook? Every bite you got a 1 out of 7 chance of getting hooked? Maybe I am off but doesn't seem worth it.

I know, it seems like an absurdity. I haven't used them a ton but did mess with them some last season, and also talked to a guy I know in another state with restrictions on the number of hooks allowed and got some great insights from him.

If you configure the thing right, the vast majority of the fish hit the bait with the hook. I mean, probably over 90% from what I saw, and that jives with what my friend down south has experienced. He can use three hooks where he's at, but even at that, he said almost every fish hits the one that would have a hook here in MN.

A typical a-rig has 5 wires. To set the rig up you bend 4 wires out in either a diamond or box pattern (I haven't fished them enough to say if one works better than the other). The 5th arm goes straight back.

When you rig your baits, the 4 outside wires get the dummy hookless baits, while the middle that goes straight back gets the real one. If you make that bait stand out either by using a larger size bait - 3" swimbaits as attractors and a 4" or 5" in the middle - or using a different color (I use white or pearl in the middle with darker attractors), that's what the fish focus on. I do think it helps having a rig with a longer arm going straight back (the Lucky Craft Bevy Rig is a good example) but I can't prove that.

Every once in a while I miss a fish that might have hit the attractor, but htey could just as likely have hit the real bait and not gotten hooked. But most of the bites on the attractors happen with smallies when you already have a hooked fish on the middle bait and his buddies try to grab one of the attractors. At that point you already have a fish on so who cares, and it's kind of comical sometimes actually. I did land one fish last year (little smallie) that grabbed an attractor and wouldn't let go.

I don't think a-rigs are going to become a regular thing with me - I didn't enjoy fishing them all that much - but it is kind of fun to mess around with and I can see some situations where they'd be pretty effective. They're not magic any more than anything else is. Just a tool. But even with the hook restrictions, you can make them work here.

[tolle141]

I've also heard taking a red sharpie to the one you want them to hit will make a difference.

It's an interesting tool. A couple of the BASS pros swear by it, and a lot of the Elite Pros say it's overhyped. Alot of money made on it tho.

[Hester]

RK, will you throw these on a braided line or with flouro?

[RK]

RK, will you throw these on a braided line or with flouro?

Braid. You're reeling in a chandelier - don't think I'd worry that the'll be line shy. Plus I just threw it on a flipping stick that already had braid, so my thought process wasn't real deep.

I may mess with them again a little more this season, but I don't see myself fishing them a whole lot frankly. I tried it last year to see what it was all about and it was kind of like "Yeah...ok. That works."

I admittedly didn't fish them a lot, and there are some situations where I want to give them some more time, but I never really thought I was catching fish I couldn't catch another way, and they really aren't a ton of fun to fish. If I want to fling around a big monstrosity on 65# braid I'll go fish muskies. They're bigger