Tube fishing advice needed!!

[Redline]

My friend and I are heading up to my lake home on the Whitefish Chain this weekend, and I was thinking of using a Tube to hit some cover and work the inside weedlines. Last year we did pretty well with spinners and senko baits, but after hearing Deitz talk about conditions this weekend and finding the Bass, I really want to try tube baits. What ways to you guys fish them? Texas rigged? Jigs? I would like to use them texas rigged to keep them weedless. What kind of weight do you use? 3-4 inch tubes? Any help would be great!!!

[MattWtech]

i love 4 inch black and blue tubes, they got longer strands than the 3 inchers and they just flicker all over the place. ive always fished them texas witha 1/8 oz or 1/4 oz bullet, sometimes 1/2 depends on the depth or what im fishing, obviously need more weight to punch holes. i usually pin my weights too for some reason i just like a stationary weight better, works better for punching holes in mats, for me anyway. but i got some tungsten tube weights to try this year im excited.

[Deitz Dittrich]

As you could tell from my podcast.. I love tubes.. I have one tied on one way or another pretty much all year. IF you can fish it on a jig head with the jig head on the inside, do it. That has the most unique action and will get you the most hits I feel. However, I often because of the cover fish it on a texas rig with a 2/0 hook. And like stated above often peg the sinker. As far as sinkers go.. if you are fishing them in open water try and get away with as small a sinker as you can... if you are flipping matgrass I dont think the weight is as important as long as you can get through the grass and to the bottom.

Another fun way to fish a tube this time of the year is weightless.. No sinker and tex-pose or texas rig it.. and stuff a ear plug inside the tube. The hook should keep it in there.. This will make the tube float.. or sink ULTRA slow.. You can then work the bait much like a walk the dog lure... Fun stuff.

ohh and thanks for listening to the podcast!

[Redline]

Thanks for the tips guys! I will give these a try. I think we will start with spinner baits to find the fish then mess around with other stuff!

[Griggs]

Hey Deitz! What do you mean by pegging the hook? I've used those EZ Tube from lindy a couple times, the tube usually sits kinda weird though.

[JP Z]

Griggs,

I'll give you my 2cents on this. For pegging there are many companies who have weight pegs. Generally just a bit of plastic or rubber that you slip in the weight hole so it doesn't slide up and down the line. Another option is to use a neoprene bobber stop above the weight. This generally works as long as you are using a light enough weight.

[RK]

Hiya -

I fish tubes a fair amount too. How I rig them depends on whether I'm in shallow cover or along weedlines or rocks.

For shallow stuff, I really like to flip or pitch tubes, moreso than jigs frankly. I think they punch through cover better, and especially in mid-summer, or on lakes without a lot of crayfish, I think they mimic a baitfish better than a jig does.

For flipping and pitching, I rig one of two ways:

- Texas rig with a 4/0 heavy hook and a pegged bullet weight. I used to peg sinkers with toothpicks, use Gambler Florida Rig weights (but you have to dork around with the little threader, which I usually managed to lose), or use a Neoprene bobber stop, but since they came out late last year I've basically completely switched to the Northland Sling Shot weights. These things rock... Can rig them to slip, or not, and can switch weights without needing to retie.

- Use a Northland Jungle-Lock Jig. These jigs have a big bite Kahle-style Mustad Ultrapoint, which you can use to Texpose the hook, and a little wire corkscrew keeper you screw into the head of the tube. Great pitching baits because you can fish them like a drop bait, then swim/dart them back to the boat. Good dock baits too cuz they skip pretty well. I'm getting so I use these more than I Texas rig. More convenient, and more versatile, though if I need a really heavy weight to punch through matted Coontail or something, I still texas rig.

One thing with flipping or pitching tubes - you have to get the right kind of tube. Some tubes are single layer plastic with a hollow head. Use those for jigging. Flipping tubes generally have thicker tube walls and solid heads that hold up to Texas rigging without getting shredded just casting them or pulling them through cover. I usually use either Northland Slurpies Flippin' tubes, or Berkley power Flipping Tubes.

For jigging, I rig them with an external dart head or ballhead if I want to swim them, or shove a jighead inside them if I want to fish them as a drop bait. Tubes are underrated as Carolina Rig trailers too I think. Try Deitz's foam earplug trick behind a Carolina rig sometime...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Deitz Dittrich]

Quote:

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Hey Deitz! What do you mean by pegging the hook? I've used those EZ Tube from lindy a couple times, the tube usually sits kinda weird though

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There are a lot of different things you can do to peg your sinker not your hook... LOL many use a toothpick and jam it in the sinker holee.. I often just use the bull shot sinker.. or will try the new nrthland ones as well.. You just dont want your sinker to move.. othewise your sinker will fall through the weeds but your bait and hook will not.

[BoxMN]

I really started using tubes last year for smallies, and they work great for me on my small and clear lake. I use hooks with weights around the shank, I think the brand is Falcon, but I think Eagle has some now too. I rig them texas style, but slightly different how the hook goes through the end of the "tube" part, I bring it all the way through both "edges" and then just barely tuck the point back into the tube. It is completely weedless, but still easy for the bass to get hooked. My neighbor who is bass fanatic from Southern ILL. taught me last year to rig this way.

The light weight on the hook shank makes it swim great, and it sinks very, very slowly. anyway, maybe a slightly different variation than the others mentioned, or maybe the same thing, but I love tubes and will be using them this weekend too My colors are black and chartruese with a dab of red on them.