Below Nick A Jack Dam 1-5-2012
Yesterday I met good friend Jerry Steakly in Manchester and we headed out to Nick A jack to throw the Alabama/Tennessee Rigs. This was my first experience with these and I found out a couple things that might help you in the future should you want to throw these type of rig.
#1 KNOW YOUR STATE LAWS concerning the use of these rigs #2 If your fishing below a dam like we did yesterday you definitely need some stout line-I used the 65lb test Sufix 832 Braid smmoth as silk
www.sufix.com #3 it wouldn't hurt to have a couple different weights of these rigs and here's why. When we put the boat back on the trailer Jerry looked at the rigs I was using and they were much lighter than what he was throwing-what difference did that make? Well when we started out we were in an area that had allot of current and the fish were out in deeper water and he basically caught all the fish because his rig was getting down in their strike zone and my rig was riding to high-in the excitement of catching fish neither of us took time to figure out what the difference was. When we were in water that didn't have as much current my rig worked just as well as his and our catch ratio was equal. This can be corrected either by the weight of the rig it's self or by the weight of the jig heads that you use. #4 You need stout line because you may catch doubles or more on the same cast (as pictured above) #5 watch your electronics and stay in bait....these rigs are heavy and if you can save a few wasted casts during the day when you my age you will appreciate it. #5 I used VMC 1/4 ounce Smoochin Jig Heads
www.vmchook.com and a couple different swim bait bodies including a Storm WildEye Shad
www.stormlures.com and they all seemed to work atleast today. #6 Make your center swim bait LARGER than the others-this made a huge difference. I use rigs that were made by 3 different companies Mean Mouth Lures
www.meanmouthlures.com BJ's Bait Company and JJ's Magic
www.jjsmagic.com and they all worked equally as well. The result for the day-we figured we had to catch near 100 total fish ....65% of them were Chunky hard pulling White Bass (see lower right picture) the rest was basically Largemouth. Is this something that I would want to do every day? No....I'm a light line (6lb test) guy...........Will I do it again? Yes if the Lord allows-It was a lot of fun and when your fishing with someone like Jerry that knew the technique and spots it helps cut the learning curve tremendously. Jerry thank you for another good day on the water with you....we will do it again............Rick McFerrin
www.tennesseebassguides.com
Below nick A Jack Dam 1-5-12
