How the heck do you guys know what depth it is at? I do very little trolling, if any, any it seems like I should probably learn…

Adding a weight to the head of your arig will help keep it at the right depth. Usually you have a depth window, for example say you are in 50ft of water and the fish on your screen are suspended at 40ft. When trolling with the weight added, I will occasionally stop and try to determine how long my lure takes to get to the bottom. If it’s pretty quick I know I am close to the zone. If it’s a longer time I know I need to either slow the boat down or add more weight to the lure. I also mark my line every 10 feet with a black mark, that helps me get back to my correct depth once I reel up. If you have a reel that has a line counter on it, that is even better. Of course getting bites is the tell tale sign. It’s not a scientific approach but it works for me. Bottom line whatever approach you take, confidence in what your doing plays a big part.

I don't have a downrigger. I'm going to experiment with using a hellbender. Kind of along the line of a hell/pet except using the A-rig with pet spoons attached.

I have successfully used a chart like the following for Trout and Kokanee in the Pacific Northwest down to 70 feet.
Around here, there is so much structure, I don't troll as much or as deep, it hurts when you lose $30-60 of gear.

Thank you for the info guys. Sounds like it’s a trial and error deal depending on the style of a-rig I’m using, but those charts will definitely get me in the ballpark.

what kind of weights are you adding to the head of the Arig? slip style egg or torpedo worm weight?

Egg weight. 1 ounce.

Definitely invest in a lure retriever. Pays for itself real quick.

ive had good luck using a 3 oz egg wt in front of the leader.......i also use 3/4 oz walleye jig heads to get the whole system a bit deeper...i like keeping one rod deeper and the other without wt until one rod out performs the other.

I troll using a hellbender, I will let it go back 4-6 boat lengths. I troll in 35-40 foot depth rang. This has worked for me. You can experiment the longer you let the line out the deeper the hellbender will go you may hit bottom thinking you had a strick if there is any brush you may hang up in it. hope this helps you. I have gotten my limit of sand bass doing this

I would have thought the A-Rig would be too heavy. It doesn't take a very large White Bass to make it rise to the surface if you don't notice the fish hit a pet spoon.

Thats rigging the pet spoon off the tail end of the hellbender.

Are you guys rigging the A-Rig to the hole where the front hook is originally?

you have to or it would point the hb nose up