I am watching my clients lob a big white spinnerbait at Lake Casitas in Ventura California. As most of you know I am the owner-operator of Rich Tauber Fishing. The business has grown now to a point where we do over 200 bass fishing guide trips every single year here in Southern California. When you have one of the largest full-time bass fishing guide services in the west you get to see an awful lot from clients when you're on the water most every day. As I'm watching my clients spinnerbait glow just underneath the surface of the water I began to ask myself a question? Is the spinnerbait really the first ever Alabama Rig? When I grew up bass fishing in the late 60s and early 70s most everyone in bass fishing was under the assumption that the spinner bait was effective due to the blades working as an attractor and once the fish got close to the spinner bait they would strike the physical skirt of the bait. I've been thinking about this ever since the first Alabama rigs hit the market. If you remember the first ever Alabama rig that was ever shown on national television was fished by Paul Elias and it featured five plastic baits being retrieve through the water with what we generically call a spreader rig. This was the Mann's Bait Company original Alabama rig and it featured five baits without any blades on the Alabama rig. Most all of us were excited by this rig and came to the belief that it was the multiple lures or baits being retrieve through the water at one time that was generating the strikes. As you watch all of these different Alabama rigs and spreader rigs hit the market we are now seeing lots of blades and baits being used together on these spreader rigs. It seems like more is better. The question that I ask myself is, was the spinnerbait actually the first ever Alabama rig? Was it the simple fact that the spinnerbait incorporated 2 to 3 different objects being retrieved through the water at one time that made it so good? Was it the simple fact that the spinnerbait was in essence the first ever spreader rig fished for bass? I was always under the belief that the bass saw the flashing blades in the water and would charge the spinner bait and that the fish were actually eating the chartreuse and white skirt of the spinner bait which resembled a threadfin shad. The more that I look at the success of the spreader rigs across the country I'm beginning to believe that all of us were wrong all along when it came to spinner bait fishing. Maybe it's just the simple fact that the spinner bait resembles a small cluster of 2 to 3 Threadfin Shad swimming through the water like a small school of bait fish that has always made the spinnerbait so effective. The strike on the spinner bait is intensely violent much like the strike on Alabama Rig. The more I watch the spinner bait in general I've come to belief that the spinner bait was really the first ever Alabama rig or spreader rig ever developed. I am now under the believe that all along the bass believed that those blades and skirt resembled a small school of bait fish moving through the water. Could it be that the person that developed the first ever spinnerbait actually created the first ever spreader rig used for bass fishing? As I've said in many of these articles, I am a firm believer that there is a lot more to be learned about the sport of bass fishing. No bass has ever talked so therefore the entire sport is based on theory. When the Alabama rig hit the market the American public leapt at the opportunity to purchase the rig and were under the belief they were fishing something absolutely new and innovative. Have we actually been fishing the Alabama rig (AKA a spinner bait) for over 60 years? I think we would all agree upon the fact that there is a lot more to be studied about the clustering of baits when fished for bass, and how it stimulates bass to strike an anglers lure when fished in this clustered fashion. I'm not sure it will be fully understood during my lifetime, but I do believe there is something more to be learned about why bass react in such a positive fashion when these baits are retrieved through the water. The spinner bait is without question one of the greatest bass lures I have ever used in my 40 year plus career. I really don't believe that the spinner bait has been given enough credit recently as in my opinion it was really the first ever spreader rig fished for bass. So next time you reach for your tackle box full of spreader rigs better take the time to reach a little deeper in the boat and grab that spinner bait box also.