3.5'' - 4'' Tubes

[Craigums]

How have you guys been rigging your tubes. Just standard Tube Jigs?

[Pherris]

I use the Bite Me tube jig. It has rattles in it.

[Craigums]

I use the Bite Me tube jig. It has rattles in it.

Vertical eye, Flat eye, Big Dude?

Any particular weight you use most 3/16, 1/4, 5/16oz?

[RumRiverRat]

Bite Me Jig

I also use GY insider tube jig.

Flat eyes for dragging

Vertical for traditional lift drop, snapping, swimming

I use rattles and no rattles.

Up to 3/4oz for dragging deep water or power snapping shallow rock/gravel flats with areas of grass.

Punch/Flippin gear for Largemouths

[smalliehunter]

I just texas rig it with a 4/0 hook and peg a weight you can flip it any where and its super weedless

[Craigums]

Thats what I usually do too. Want to try an exposed hook around more sparse cover and docks though.

[RK]

Around docks, Texas rigged with an internal tube weight. Lindy used to make them and I have piles of them so not sure if they still do. I think Eagle Claw makes something similar too. Great skippers, and they glide really well.

Away from cover, inside jig with a flat eye - either Northland or Bite Me Big Boys. Both have a 3/0 sproat hook that isn't too heavy so you can hook fish really well with them. Have tried other heads with heavier hooks and missed too many fish. Weights from 1/4 to 3/4, but for smallies at least I use 1/2 oz most often.

[Craigums]

RK, I wouldn't have thought to go that heavy. Do you use 1/2oz+ for drop speed, keeping bottom contact or another reason.

In my head I was thinking 1/4oz would be about perfect

[RK]

RK, I wouldn't have thought to go that heavy. Do you use 1/2oz+ for drop speed, keeping bottom contact or another reason.

In my head I was thinking 1/4oz would be about perfect

Drop speed and efficiency mainly, but I'm fishing tubes pretty aggressively to trigger fish. I can fish them fast, and cover a lot of water. This is more for smallies than largemouths (don't fish tubes for largies other than skipping docks really) but all the stuff a tube does to trigger fish - spiral on the fall, dart when you snap it, etc - still happens with a heavy weight so I go as heavy as I can get away with.

It's kind of amazing. It sinks like a bowling ball but they still hit it on the drop. I fish them with pretty hard snaps to rip it up off the bottom, and basically snap it again as soon as it lands. Sometimes I'll drag it a few feet once in a while, but mostly it's just snap-snap-snap with a pause here and there.

I fish 1/2 oz any deeper than 10' or so, and will fish a 3/4 of it's windy in deeper water. I fish some deep reefs in late summer that top out at 20' or so and you can cover them pretty fast with a heavy tube.

I'll fish lighter weight tubes sometimes in shallow water, but not too often anymore. Just have things I like better.

[masoct3]

My technique has well.