Multi-lure rigs caused plenty of controversy during the past two years, but continue to grow in popularity with anglers across the country. Can acceptance be far behind?
Anglers would have been appalled to cast a multi-lure rig less than two years ago. They were too heavy and cumbersome without a proven track record of success. Most of all, many anglers thought of a “lure” as a single unit, not a rig that allows multi-lures to be retrieved as one lure.
Of course, everything changed and when the castable umbrella rig won a regional FLW BFL tournament, then a major FLW Tour event on Lake Guntersville in Alabama. From that point, the common trolling umbrella rig evolved into the castable multi-lure rigs of today.
Brad Wiegmann, a guide on Arkansas’ Beaver Lake, saw his first rig while working the FLW Cup Championship at Lake Ouachita, several months prior to the publicity explosion.
Arriving home after the tournament, Wiegmann began experimenting with the multi-lure rig.
“There were no instructions or YouTube videos to watch on how to rig it,” he said. “What I had been told was that shad-shaped
soft-plastic lures rigged on lead jigheads would catch bass. That’s all the info I had.”
His early multi-lure rigs were rigged with 4-inch shad pattern curl tail grubs.
“I couldn’t get a decent bite on a shad-shaped body, but I could catch small bass on a grub. I figured that it was the size of the lures on the multi-rig influencing the size of bass biting it, but I was wrong. Later on I learned one of the most important keys to fishing the multi-lure rig is, like with many other lures, a timing issue.”
His initial testing was done in summer, but Wiegmann felt that the rig would be effective when the water temperatures cooled off and shad began gathering in big schools. He knew it would work on the flats where he’s caught stripers for years during fall and winter.
“I always catch a lot of stripers feeding on gizzard shad on the flats once the water temperatures gets around 60 degrees. In the past, I used topwater lures like Redfins and Pencil Poppers to catch them. Now, I was attempting to catch
stripers by casting a multi-lure rig on the flats. The first couple strikes were like fish just bumping it, then ‘Wham!’ a big striper hooked up,” he said.
An added bonus happened as he was casting for stripers on the flats. He was catching largemouth and spotted bass on the multi-lure rig.
By then a multi-lure rig fever had hit anglers everywhere. Everyone was fishing with them and catching unheard of stringers of bass on reservoirs across the country.
“I truly believe that the stars were all aligned for this to happen,” he said. “The winter was mild, allowing big fish to move up shallow and feed. Most of the reservoirs had good water clarity in the South and spring seemed to come early. It all added up to perfect timing for the multi-lure rig to succeed.”
Still anglers faced confusion when throwing the early rigs. In addition to a lack of “how-to” info, regulations pertaining to the multi-lure rig were also confusing in many states.
“I remember being concerned over the regulations, so when I went up to Table Rock Lake in Missouri, I took off two of the jigheads and replaced them with spinnerbait blades,” Wiegmann said. “By switching out hooks for blades, I was able to fish heavier cover without getting snagged. Plus it added flash and vibration, which is a positive thing when fishing it in stained water.”
In clear water, Wiegmann uses more translucent soft plastics and is more apt to use a smaller version of multi-lure rig. When fishing stained water, he wants as much flash, color and vibration as possible and often uses a white soft plastic with a swimming “boot” tail like the
YUM Money Minnow.
One drawback that remains, at least with the average-sized multi-lure rigs, is the size and weight of the contraption. Fully rigged for mid-winter fishing, a
YUMbrella can measure nearly 10-inches in length when rigged with 5- or 6-inch swimbaits. Add weight of up to 4 ounces and it’s easy to see that it takes some muscle to cast one all day long.
“It’s a big, heavy lure that requires a lot of muscle to cast all day and stout equipment to reel it in. I use the 7-foot medium-heavy action
Quantum Energy baitcasting rod and a Quantum 200 EXO baitcaster spooled with 65 lb braided line. It’s great because you can catch stripers, whites, hybrids, smallmouth, largemouth, spotted bass and walleyes on it,” says Wiegmann. “And I have!”
Other anglers with a lot of experience with the rig say that in addition to the action of the rod, a long rod handle can make casting them a lot easier. A 10-inch handle allows the angler to grip it with both hands while casting, which can be a challenge in itself. FLW and B.A.S.S. pro Jason Christie likens it to catfishing with a big glob of liver.
“You’ve got to gently lob it out,” he said. “You don’t want to throw it out so hard you throw off your liver. If you throw a YUMbrella too hard, and you’re fishing with braided line, it often will backlash. Be gentle with it.”
One of the big questions is identifying the best array of baits for the rig. In deep water with a good population of big bass, most anglers are throwing identical 5- or 6-inch swimbaits. One productive option is to run 4- or 5-inch swimbaits on the outer arms, and a slightly bigger swimbait on the center lure arm. Bass often strike the center bait and many manufacturers are making that center arm slightly longer to take advantage of this. In shallower water, a good option is a smaller version like the Flash Mob Jr., rigged with 3- or 4-inch curly tails or swimbaits.
Often the anglers Wiegmann takes out on guide trips lack the skill level to cast a multi-lure rig, and to cut out the downtime of picking out backlashes or dealing with a frustrated client, he’s developed some techniques to get the advantages of fishing one without the hassles.
“One technique that works is similar to long lining a
crankbait,” he said. “I simply have the client let the multi-lure rig down as I move the boat forward, then they slowly reel in the multi-lure rig over the fish I have trolled over. The key is to troll quick enough to get out plenty of line over a school of fish before they begin reeling in.”
Love them or hate them, multi-lure rigs are here to stay.