A screen grab from a Jason Christie how-to video on YouTube has him catching a big smallmouth with the Yumbrella umbrella rig.
Number-one ranked tour angler Jason Christie of Park Hill said he was surprised by today’s announcement by FLW that it will ban use of Alabama Rig styled lures on its pro tour – but he’s not surprised they made the decision.
“I didn’t know it was coming,” he said. “But they’re always trying to do what the anglers want and evidently that’s what it was based on was angler’s votes.”
One of Christie’s three tournament victories this year was the FLW Tour event on Beaver Lake in Arkansas. It was an umbrella-rig tournament and Christie said the rig is undeniably effective when bass are in the right pattern for its use. “If they’re biting it you’d better be throwing it or you’re going to be beat,” Christie said.
But not having the rig in an angler’s arsenal is not a problem. “To me, we’re going to fish with whatever they let us fish with and we’re going to catch fish on whatever we have to catch fish on,” he said.
BASS, the Professional Anglers Association Tour and now the FLW Tour all have banned use of umbrella rigs for their top-echelon trails.
“What I really like about (the decision) is that now both major tours are the same,” Christie said. “If both tours are doing the same thing then hopefully they’re both shooting for the same goal … whether it’s right or wrong I don’t know, I’m not a fish biologist, but at least both majors seem to be shooting for the same thing.”
Some opposed to umbrella-rig baits have a problem with the effectiveness of the bait and say some tournaments are degraded into umbrella-rig contests. Others object ethically to the idea of having five baits on the line (and in some states only three hooks are allowed legally). And some say when bass are hooked on the rigs they tend to suffer too many hook punctures and risk added injury.
“This is one of those situations where if you ask 100 guys you’ll get 100 different answers,” Christie said. “I think everyone has their own reasons, and there are some guys that want it, but everybody is different.”
The bait does catch fish, that’s all he knows. “Like I said I’m not a fish biologist. We don’t really know what effect it has on the fish,” he said.
Christie’s chosen umbrella rig is the Yumbrella rigged with Yum Money Minnows. A video posted on his web site shows how to use the rig – and he hooks a monster smallmouth while showing it off. It’s definitely worth watching, just
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