All secrets must be let out of the bag eventually, but delaying the announcement is something Shane Lehew and his father Troy could control.
Paul Elias made the Alabama Rig famous when he won on Lake Guntersville in October of 2011. Not long after that event, the Lehews cleaned up tournaments on Lake Norman throwing the Alabama Rig. But not just any A-Rig.
After creating a lightweight rig to throw around docks on Lake Norman, the pair stumbled upon something that opened some eyes around the area. “We went out and fished the rig, my dad went with the standard, but I snapped two together giving me a nine-bait presentation,” said Shane. “After beating (dad) 15-to-1, I said ‘you really have something here, you need to start producing these.’”
“We kept it quiet the first few years because we were fishing local tournaments and winning quite a few of them,” said Shane. “Between my grandfather and dad teaming up and me and my partner, word got out pretty quick and people started asking about them.”
It was then that Troy Lehew decided to produce Shane’s Baits Blades of Glory for public enjoyment.
From there it was history and Shane’s Baits was created. With the production of lightweight A-Rigs, Shane’s Baits found its niche.
The Blades of Glory has not only changed the umbrella rig game, it has enhanced it.
Lake Norman was the site of the final Bassmaster Open event where the Alabama Rig was permitted to use. For Shane Lehew, this was the biggest tournament he had fished on his home body of water. The field was stacked with Elite Series pros, FLW pros and Opens anglers who knew Lake Norman better than most.
Lehew had been in a similar situation before, but with slightly different circumstances. In 2013 the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series visited Lake Norman during the spawn and Lehew and his partner Eric Self showed their superiority by winning the East Regional by 9 pounds, 3 ounces. This time though, the Top 12 was littered with big names and local sticks.
Lehew has an extensive history on Norman and has built a reputation for success no matter the time of year. With his history on Norman, Lehew bounced back from 9 pounds, 6 ounces (38th place) on Day 1 and found himself in contention going into the final day.
“The second day I fished completely different,” said Lehew. “I went straight to my rig and caught a three-pounder on my first cast.”
Lehew went shallow after boating quality fish on his Blades of Glory A-Rig. He began to pick apart his areas with an in-line buzzbait with a horny toad as the soft plastic trailer. “I knew if I got three to four bites on topwater they would be good ones.”
Lehew came to the Day 2 weigh-in with 14 pounds 3 ounces, which was the second biggest bag of the event. Once he caught fish on his A-Rig to start the day, Lehew went to the backs of the coves. When he got a topwater blowup, he knew it would be a largemouth.
Even though he gave a defeated two thumbs down gesture when he came back to the ramp on the Final day he still moved up the standings and finished in 4th place. “I really thought they were going to eat the rig really well with the wind on Day 3. You could just tell it wasn’t my time though,” said Lehew. “I caught two on one cast early in the day and about a 4-pound spot followed those fish back to the boat.”
Lehew knows the in’s and out’s of necessary conditions for the A-Rig to play a big factor, that final day he knew right away that conditions weren’t perfect for the presentation. “They were just following it or just swiping at it,” said Lehew. “They only bit the Blades of Glory well in the first two hours of the day, just because the water temperature wasn’t quite cold enough yet.”
While Andy Montgomery didn’t throw the rig, two of the Top 5 finishers attribute the bait to at least some of their success. Along with Lehew, Drew Montgomery used Shane’s Baits Blades of Glory to put fish in the boat.
“While most guys were targeting spinnerbait fish up shallow right on the bank, I’m throwing those little 1/16-ounce jigheads on such a lightweight rig that I don’t even throw a spinnerbait on Norman anymore,” said Shane. “I feel like I have a better shot on our rig now, with so many baits coming down the bank at one fish and I can throw it so shallow. It works well on rock banks and banks with scattered docks.”
