Tube Fishing?

[Quarry Man]

looking to start fishing tubes in some of the quarries and hard-bottom northern lakes I fish. What colors work best in clear water? I am assuming a realistic color. What tubes work well in 4-6 feet of visibility. Maybe a little darker? What tube brands work best? What jigs? Not looking to spend much, maybe like 15-20 $ for tubes and jigs. What weight jigs too? What technique? When do I fish a tube? Anything else? Thanks!

[Paul Roberts]

Tubes catch bass. You can rig them lots of ways.

 

If you are fishing open water -which it sounds like- then a 90deg jig head is best bet. Fish on light line 6-8lb. No more than 10lb. Great triggers are on the fall -esp the spiral fall you can get with a 90deg head on a slack line.

 

Color? Anything that gets your heart to skip a beat when you tie it on. A favorite of mine of late has been a Z-Man tube in "The Deal". Oooooooo...

 

 

[WRB]

Original 3 1/2" Gitzit is all you need, available nearly everywhere.

Tom

[Oregon Native]

I'm a Dry Creek Tube's fan....

Candy is dandy

[gim]

I use tubes a lot in a variety of colors.  Both for largemouth and smallmouth.  I use bigger 4 inch power tubes for largemouth and smaller 3 inch tubes for smallmouth.  I like green pumpkin and root beer as my favorite colors.  In weeds, I texas rig it and in rocks I usually use a tube jig.

[Montanaro]

Smoke purples

 

Green pumpkin is good for darker water of imitating craws

[JustinJ]

dry creek makes a good tube and theyre durable

[scaleface]

I dont use tubes enough . My success rate with them is pretty good .    I usually Texas rig them in place of a worm .

[SWVABass]

Bass pro makes some decent tubes they are cheap and seem to hold up real well. Green pumpkins, watermelons, and bait fish colors have all worked well for me. I also throw them on the bass pro tube jig head. Good luck!

[MNGeorge]

Totally agree on the BPS tubes...have had good success with them, the price is reasonable and they are pretty durable...another color to look at is "Puke"...works well in just about any color water.

[MickD]

I have found the greens most effective generally in any water clarity, so that's my start color.  I believe in hand poured "chubbier,"  dull-finished tubes rather than the glossy, skinny ones that many companies offer.  I have yet to try Z-man.

 

Keep in mind that at times the fish want an almost neutral bouyancy, slow fall, and will readily hit on the fall, while at other time they want it more active, moving both down and up faster.  Jig weights will depend on water depth and how aggressive you want to fish.  I prefer the 60 degree tube jigs, but have had success on 90's too.  Try both and watch how they move in the water.

[RichF]

Green Pumpkin is all you need.

[Quarry Man]

Anybody use the Zoom Salty Super Tubes? I am thinking of trying watermelon red, green pumpkin, and rootbeer in 3.75"

[offsidewing]

3.5 inch Fat Gitzit in Brown Salt and Pepper.   1/4oz 90 degree jig head.  

[RyneB]

3.5 bps tender tube is my most successful tube by far. I try to keep my weight as light as possible, 3/16 is my go to weight. A 2/0 Trokar tube hook sends it home. I use a 7-1 MH IMX with a high speed MGX with 15 lb red label. I have two main colors in the Tender tube, they both have orange glitter. 

[kbeeb374]

X2 on Green Pumpkin being all you need.  I use 2.75" tubes with an 1/8 ounce 90 deg internal jig hook all the time on my very clear water.

[WI_Angler1989]

You've got plenty of budget options here, so here are the tubes I use. 

 

-Cabin Creek Salty Critter Jr  (2.5")

-Dry Creek  (3.5")

-River Rock Pro tubes  (2.75")

 

Now I'm not saying these are expensive by any means, $4.99- $5.99 isn't bad considering the amount of fish I can catch on a 10 pack. The key for me is to fish on a weedless sled jig. Cadman's Custom jigs makes one I use a ton now.

[jr231]

Ahhh tubes. Spring is here... Finally. Lately i fish the fat ika in place of a tube. Whenever it stops working is when I'll switch it up I guess but the simple yo - yo through the water column is about as easy as it gets. And some days it's fish after fish. Black with small red flake gets my vote. 

[RyneB]

If you want to keep it simple as far as colors go, don't forget a June bug tube. I have had days where they will not hit a green pumpkin or other natural colors, but will hit a June bug tube.

[Bluebasser86]

I'm a big fan of goby colors with purple or gold flakes in them. 

[Joshua Vandamm]

On 3/20/2017 at 0:30 PM, WI_Angler1989 said:

You've got plenty of budget options here, so here are the tubes I use. 

 

-Cabin Creek Salty Critter Jr  (2.5")

-Dry Creek  (3.5")

-River Rock Pro tubes  (2.75")

 

Now I'm not saying these are expensive by any means, $4.99- $5.99 isn't bad considering the amount of fish I can catch on a 10 pack. The key for me is to fish on a weedless sled jig. Cadman's Custom jigs makes one I use a ton now.

Which sled jigs? The smallie sliders? They look pretty good. 

On 3/21/2017 at 3:02 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I'm a big fan of goby colors with purple or gold flakes in them. 

X2

ive caught more big bass in quarries on a goby coffee tube (sometimes dipped in jjs chartruece) than anything else by FAR. and I've caught a lot of quarry bass 

..,the laminate one specifically. I thinks is called goby magic color

[Joshua Vandamm]

Btw most hits are either on a slow fall or after a pause. Patience is 2x crucial in any clear water situation. And I don't sweat the jigs/Weights very closely. A split shot or bullet beats a tube jig imo. The straight fall makes the skirt flair open whereas jigs make the tube fall spin around more like a jerk bait. 

[d-camarena]

Green pumkin stupid rigged

[drew4779]

I like venom, cabin creek, and ISG tubes.  BPS aren't bad.  

[moguy1973]

All I use is BPS 4" magnum flippin tubes.  And I recently started rigging them stupid style with 1/4oz wide gap shakey head hooks without the screwlocs and they work great!