Tubes are a great bait. I fish the Nichols Satly mother tubes. I use just a few colors: watermelon w/ black flakes, pumpkin, black w/ gold flakes. As far as rigging goes, the only way for me is with an insert jig head. I've found if I use a 60 degree jig head snaggs are much less of a problem. With the 60 degree head the bait seems to glide over the bottem and not get stuck. I always have a tube tied on. As for the retrieve, most hits come as the bait is falling, so watch your line. After the bait touches down, I typically start by dragging the tube. I let the drift of the boat move the bait and give it a small twitch every once in a while. If the drag does not produce then i start hopping it and varying my retrieves until successful, but most of the time the drag does it for me. As for weight of the jig head, most of the time i'm fishing it on an 1/8th oz head, but do go with different sizes as conditions dictate.
The tube is also a great follow up bait for missed fish on top water and a spinnerbait. While fishing team tournaments I've got lots of fish throwing tubes to fish that my team mate missed. Hope this helps.
