Gem
How do you rig an umbrella rig?
I know there is a limit on how many hooks.
Do you remove the front treble from a lure?
Do you tie each on with mono ?
Do you or anyone have a picture you could post of a properly (legal) rigged umbrella?
I've used umbrella rigs off and on over the years starting about 6 or 7 years ago. Kevin from Kentucky who posts here off and on first put me on to them. My big complaint was constant tangling and difficult to fish. But they did produce a lot of stripers.
I saw a report on this board about them recently and decided to give them a try again. I bought and used this one:
http://www.captmacks.com/store/product/striped-bass-umbrella-rig/
It comes "pre-loaded" with all the lures already tied on. The best thing about this one (in my opinion) is that the lures are attached with steel leader. This means tangles were substantially easier to undo compared to monafilament.
The video Wayne posted above was very good and I do all those things he suggested. In Bullfrog Bay I trolled mine with 50' of line out (on a line-counter reel) at 1.9 mph (ish) but I think faster would have been better (3mph).
All the lures are only single hooks (no trebles). This helps greatly when it comes time to unhook a fish. I don't lift the rig out of water or net the fish - I kneel at the back of the boat and lip the fish on the rig then lift out the fish and remove the lure while all the other lures stay in the water - this also helps reduce tangling.
That same web site (
www.captmacks.com) sells a heavy lead with treble hooks retreiver in case you get your rig snagged - this happened twice to me on this trip and I was able to retrieve the rig twice with it.
I don't have any pictures of "legal" umbrella rigs. I figure I'm only fishing for stripers (and that's all we caught), a species with no limit, and if they want to try and give me a ticket I'd have a 50/50 chance of talking my my out of it.
I had a double only once on this trip, but have had many doubles in other years.