Tube hookups?

[jbmaine]

Hello, My wife and I are just learning to fish tubes. We have read all the info we can find on them and believe we are rigging them correctly. the bass certainly love them but two out of three bass we hook we lose before getting them to the boat and the ones we get in the boat are hooked deep. So far I have been able to get all the hooks out but worry about damaging the fish. I can only assume we are doing something wrong, resulting in deep hooksets and lost fish. Any suggestions you can give us to correct this would be greatly appreciated. We are using Yum 4" mega tubes with 3/0 Owner Phantom tube hooks, rigged with the hook exposed.

                                                    Thanks

                                                              JB

[OkobojiEagle]

Use braided lines and keep in constant contact with the bait (meaning your line is fairly taut at all times to feel the slightest difference in weight... more weight or LESS)

[jbmaine]

Do I understand correctly that it sounds like we are letting the fish get the tube too far in before setting the hook? By setting the hook sooner would we have a better chance of getting the fish to the boat and not hooking it so deep? would a different hook help?

                                                                           Thanks

                                                                                        JB

                                                                                   

[.ghoti.]

jb, the Owner hooks are just about as good as you can get. They are sharp right out of the box, so they are not the problem. I have to ask two questions. What size line are you using, and what power rods are you using. For the fish that are getting away from you, if your line is too light and stretchy, or your rods are under-powered, you will get a poor hookset that will allow the fish to throw the hook.

As far as the guthooked fish go, that's just the nature of the beast when fishing with plastics. They are many times when the bite is very subtle, and the fish have swallowed the bait by the time you realize that one is there. It happens to all of us. Your best defence against this is to really pay attention to your line, and to develope a feel for what your bait is doing. Line watching is easy to get the hang of. Just watch the line right where it enters the water. Any twitches or movements signal a bite. The "feel" thing is a bit harder. That will require some time and concentration. You have to pay attention to the way the bait feels the whole time it's falling through the water. The deeper it goes the heavier it will feel. When you pick it up off the bottom, note what it feels like, and again pay attention while it's falling back. Also make note of the time it takes to reach different depths. It doesn't take that long to get sense for what feels normal. Anything other than normal is either a fish or some type of cover. With some time  on the water, concentratrating on the baits, you'll soon be able to tell the difference between wood, weeds, rock, hard bottom, soft bottoms and fish.

To go back to the first question, a soft rod and/or very light line will hinder your sense of feel.

Cheers,

GK

[jbmaine]

Hi ghoti, thanks for the reply. I am using a shimano compre spinning rod cps- 66mb med-power, fast action with 6 pound yo zuri hybrid ultra soft. I use the same setup to toss t-rigged senkos with gammy offset shank worm hooks and almost allways get a good hookup in the mouth/ jaw. Could different style hooks affect this?

                                                                     Thanks

                                                                              JB

[justfishin]

What ghoti said.

[Gorgebassman]

I feel that a 3/0 hook is a little small with the standard 4" tube bait I personally only use a 4/0 ewg with the thick plastic in most tubes I seem to get better hookups with the bigger hook, as far as hooking them to deep I think the others advise is spot on.