Best Tubes?

[Zach P]

What brand of tubes are the best on the market? I rarely throw them but have a tournament coming up and know I will need them. I'll probably be throwing them on an ewg hook with a bullet weight or on an Owner tube hook. With the amount of hangups that would happen with an exposed hook it's not worth it.

[iabass8]

Gene Larew Ring Tube

[scaleface]

Denny Brauer won  a Bassmaster classic with a generic tube .

[tbone1993]

What brand of tubes are the best on the market? I rarely throw them but have a tournament coming up and know I will need them. I'll probably be throwing them on an ewg hook with a bullet weight or on an Owner tube hook. With the amount of hangups that would happen with an exposed hook it's not worth it.

Tube jigs fall differently than a texas rigged tube bait. Sometimes the ticket is the swirling motion of a tube jig. That being said let the fish tell you what they want. Sometimes they way a smaller bait like a big bite baits tube, sometimes they want a bigger LFT lures craw tube, sometimes they want those big berkley 5in tubes.  Ive had my best luck on smaller tubes but it just depends on what the fish want. Also BPS tube jigs are super cheap and have decent hooks. Worth the buy.

[A-Jay]

Provider Tackle makes a great tube & offers several Killer Colors which work especially well in clear water.

 

A-Jay

 

http://www.providertackle.com/store/index.php?route=product/category&path=66

[fisherrw]

Gitizit brown craw salt and pepper.

[fisherrw]

3.5 in

[*Hank]

Gitizit brown craw salt and pepper.

3.5 in

I agree,they catch fish.

[smalljaw67]

River Rock Baits makes the best tube I ever used and I have used a lot. I should say that I use a lot of River Rock Baits plastics, but the tubes, those are in another class. I learned of the tubes from a guide on the Susquehanna river, then I found that most smallmouth guides have been using them so I started using them and I have never looked back. 3.5" is the universal size, it works well with an inside jig head but is also big enough to Texas rig and pitch into cover. One real nice thing about River Rock is they will dip the tubes on different size rods, I get tubes for cold water which are dipped on a 3/16" rod, these are a little thinner than the normal 1/4" rod which are double dipped and bulky, those are the ones for pitching in cover.

[drew4779]

Venom Lures (salt series and bleeding series). I always have one tied on.

[zeth]

I really think a tube is a tube. If your flipping/pitching I would look for a brand that has a solid nose. 

Go to your favorite shop and buy whatever colors you think you will need.

Personally I would use a Keitech Salty Core Tube. It's a solid tube that can be rigged backwards to make the skirt flare as it swims away from you on the drop rather than towards.

[papajoe222]

You can get similar action to an internal jig by using an internal weight and then rigging the tube Texas style or skin hooking it. You could also rig a jig 'Stupid' style which is also a weedless rigging.

As far as tubes go, most will get the job done. I would be concerned more with color than brand.

[Senko lover]

I have heard a lot of people talk about the Cabin Creek tubes.

[Cgolf]

Used to love the Trigger X flipping tube, but it is really hard to find now. I have replaced it with a Swing Oil J tube and really like them. They also have a big color selection too, many more colors than were available with the Trigger X tubes. I always Texas rig my tubes on a slider or similar weighted hook. May try the internal heads this year, but really haven't had a reason to try that rig.

[Hanover_Yakker]

I prefer the PowerTeam Lures Food Chain Tubes - they come in 3.5" and 4.5".  They are very durable with a couple flat appendages and several small tentacles..  The body of the tube is built such that there is a solid head for use with a variety of hook styles including ones with keeper pins.  The body compresses almost flat letting you use even traditional worm hooks instead of EWGs.  Upon the hookset, the tube compresses flat and allows the hook to penetrate with ease.

 

I've used them on everything from bass and pickerel to speckled trout and redfish.

 

Drop me a PM if you want more info.

[travis23]

Venom makes an excellent tube that is thin and super soft. I like cabin creek really well, and also dry creek.

[wisconsin heat]

A tube is a tube.

I have zoom, berkley powerbait, berkley havoc, Lake fork tackle, Cabela's, Northland, 2 models of Big Bite Baits, and like 3 Models of Strike King. I would just look for tubes that are on sale haha.

[iceintheveins]

I prefer Gitzits and Strike King tubes.

[Hogsticker]

I really like Dry Creek, Big bite baits, and Skinny Bear.

[livemusic]

One real nice thing about River Rock is they will dip the tubes on different size rods, I get tubes for cold water which are dipped on a 3/16" rod, these are a little thinner than the normal 1/4" rod which are double dipped and bulky, those are the ones for pitching in cover.

 

Talking about a "rod," what does this mean?

[livemusic]

You can get similar action to an internal jig by using an internal weight and then rigging the tube Texas style or skin hooking it. You could also rig a jig 'Stupid' style which is also a weedless rigging.

As far as tubes go, most will get the job done. I would be concerned more with color than brand.

 

What does "internal jig" mean?

 

What is "stupid style?"

 

Thanks.

[Felix77]

Gitzit

Dry Creek

Cabin Creek

[Oregon Native]

Dry Creek

[Bluebasser86]

Snack Daddy and Pour Boy when I can find them. Strike King Coffee Tube and Flipping Tube get a lot of use also and so do the BPS tubes. I wish the Havoc tubes had a solid head so I could use them for flipping. 

[smalljaw67]

Talking about a "rod," what does this mean?

 

Tubes are made 2 different ways, most big companies, not all but most, have injection molds to make the tubes. Other companies, most small manufacturers but a few big ones as well "hand dip" their tubes, the way this is done is the plastic is in a large pot that is heated and then a series of stainless steel rods is dipped into the plastic and then pulled out. When the rod is removed, a layer of plastic sticks to the rod and then dipped again and then you have what is called a "double dipped" tube which has a thicker wall ad is more durable. Most hand dipped tubes are slightly hard because it makes it easy to split the tails, if it is too soft the plastic will tear but River Rock has a way of doing it while keeping the tubes super soft. For the smallmouth I fish for, they see tubes all the time and they spit them quick so having a soft tube is critical, most of the guides I know are using River Rock, that is how I learned of them.  An internal jig is a jig head that is tapered to slide up inside of a tube and then it is fished with the hook point exposed. The "Stupid" style is rigging a tube with an internal jig weedless, there are videos on rigging a "stupid tube" . The reason for this is because a Texas rigged tube doesn't have the same action as a tube fished with an internal jig but you can fish the internal jig in the same places as a Texas rigged tube so someone figured out how to rig an internal style jig weedless so you can fish it in the same places as a Texas rig but it still keeps the action of a tube rigged with an internal or insider jig head.