Best way to fish a tube?

[GRiver]

Hi Everyone 

Got  a question… but little background first. I have never fished a tube before, never even owed before, until a few days ago. I’m going with the stupid rig style. My question is what is the techniques that has been most productive for catching fish for you. I searched here on site and the web. So far I’ve got the yo yo technique, twitch in place, swim and jerk like a fluke and the finesse along the bottom or the pitch and flip method.

I just want to try the one that every one has caught fish on the most. I will eventually fish them all, but would like start with the one that I’ll have better odds with..

I’ll be fishing the St Johns River and the Ocklawaha, so please let me know which one has worked better for you, or any other method.

Thanks 

G

 

 

[PaulVE64]

No one here can really answer that question, only the fish that see it on the day your throwing it.

[Bird]

Imitate a crawdad, hop a little, drag a little. 

Have always used a big enough hook where the point hides under the skirt without bending the tube.....weedless. 

[heavyduty]

^^^^^ what Bird said

[T-Billy]

14 minutes ago, Bird said:

Imitate a crawdad, hop a little, drag a little. 

Have always used a big enough hook where the point hides under the skirt without bending the tube.....weedless. 

^^^ This^^^ I stupid rig them most of the time. You want a jighead with an EWG hook for stupid rigging. I use 3/0 for 3.5" tubes and 4/0 for 4".

[A-Jay]

My standard 'way' to fish tubes is the same regardless of depth - I fish them like a jerkbait.

Meaning there's a couple of twitches & a pause.  How many twitches & how long a pause can be dictated by the water temp and the mood of the fish.   I might keep a tube moving along with a series of twitches where the bait travels 2-3 inches, pauses for a split second and then moves another 2-3 inches - I may continue this for 4-5 feet and then pause . . . . . . for like 10 seconds . . . . . . and then do it again. 

  Of course, the old stand-by of 'drag & stop' can be all one needs to do to get a savage take. 

There's also what's often referred to as "Snapping a Tube", where a heavier head is used and the bait is literally 'snapped' 3-5 feet off the bottom and then allowed to fall back on a slack line.  The tube will spiral back down to the bottom - which is where the vast majority of the strikes will come from.  Can be deadly but will also twist the heck out of your line - I'll often use a small swivel to help with that when doing this.

A-Jay

 

[TnRiver46]

I usually do absolutely nothing with a tube. Got two on back to back casts with one over the weekend

 

i have also tossed them into smallies busting shad on top and reeled them in rapidly and caught them. But mostly I just let them tumble in current or sink into 100 feet of water in slow moving reservoirs 

[Glenn]

You should probably start here:

 

[Bankbeater]

I fish them on a Texas rig, and hop and drag the bait back.  I fish tubes in the same places where I would fish a jig and craw.

[OkobojiEagle]

My most certain and consistent hook-ups with a tube have come from a hook point exposed rigging.  Most of the retrieves listed above have been effective.

 

oe

[EWREX]

hop and drag, depending on water temp and situation/cover. i also like to flip a 4" tube in grass with casting gear and a heavier tunsten weight.

[gim]

I use tubes for both largemouth and smallmouth.

 

I generally downsize when targeting brown bass because, well, their mouths are smaller.

 

Generally, when I am largemouth fishing, there are weeds present.  If they are relatively thick, I rig my tube with a gamagatsu skip gap hook and a bullet weight.  The skip gap hook is specifically designed for a tube and the hook point will sit just outside the tube wall so it is weedless but still allows for adequate hooksets.

 

For smallmouth, I use a tube jig.  I like the northland tube jig in various weights depending on how deep I'm fishing.

 

As for tubes themselves, I have always liked using berkley power tubes.  Z man makes an elaztech tube which gets some use for smallmouth.  My latest purchase is a berkley maxscent tube in October, which I will be using this spring.

[scaleface]

I like to hop it on a jig with hook exposed if the snags are minimal using  light line and a spinning reel .  Weedless and light line has not played out well for me so then I go with heftier baitcasting gear and heavier weights and fish them like a worm or jig .

[Buzzbaiter]

I start with an aggressive retrieve but go down to a more finesse retrieve until I found out what the fish want. That usually means ripping the tube aggressively and then letting it spiral down (rip rip, pause) and intermittently slow dragging or dead-sticking it. As I continue without bites, I like to increase the amount of slow dragging and decrease the amount of ripping until I’m just dragging and dead-sticking the tube. If I still don’t get anything, I tie on something else

[river-rat]

15 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

I fish them on a Texas rig, and hop and drag the bait back.  I fish tubes in the same places where I would fish a jig and craw.

 

 

The only way I use a tube is on a Texas rig. I use a 4/0 Mustad Big Mouth Tube Hook and insert a tube rattle. I don't normally peg the slip sinker but will do so in extremely heavy cover. I always have a rod rigged with a flipping tube in the boat.

 

I have used tubes in Florida and have done well on them.

 

 

[ChrisD46]

*I always thought Tubes were a Northern deal for Small Mouth - you don't here much about them down South . It doesn't mean they won't work and for sure the Largemouth and Spotted bass here have not seen much in the way of Tubes before . 

[Mbirdsley]

Depends if there is no cover than a tube jig with exposed hook is the best way.  If there is cover or weeds than t-rigging it is the best way 

 

if I’m rigging it with a tube jig. I’m usually using a very steady and slow retrieve so it ticks or scoots along the  along the bottom. I may give it a hop or sweep of the rod every no and than. It will kick up sand clouds this way 

 

Texas rig I’ll pitch or flip it.  Usually I’ll hop it more and a bit faster retrieve 

[GRiver]

On 1/26/2022 at 9:25 PM, Glenn said:

You should probably start here:

Thanks Glenn,

Hadn’t seen this one, I watch your other video on tubes.

A lot of ways to rig it, and work it. 
 

[GRiver]

Thanks everyone for their input, any more advice or input will be greatly appreciated. 
The bottom has a layer of decay matter on the sand, I think the bouncing off bottom and let it spiral down on slack line would work good.
I’ll try all the ways everyone suggested on how to retrieve a tube.

[Cdn Angler]

The most common way to fish a tube is on bottom and to fish it like a jig more or less. 

 

I've had success fishing it mid-column like a jerkabit with minimal weight - not ideal, but that's what I had when I needed to do it and it worked.   

 

You can also pitch and flip a tube, work it like a jerkbait, deadstick it. The possibilities are endless. I think the main thing is just to think where in the water column you want it to be and then weight it/work it appropriately.  Most times that's going to be a tube jig weight that puts it on bottom. 

[papajoe222]

For retrieves, I rely mainly on two. The first is a lift-drop, similar to hopping a jig but more subtle. The other is a drag and pause. For both I use an internal jig with the hook exposed. I will, occasionally, rig them weightless with a worm hook, working them like a jerkbait.

 

Don't forget using one on a C-rig, or split shot rig. For some illogical reason I don't consider those traditional presentations, or I would have listed them first.

 

[roadwarrior]

The Gitzit was invented in Arkansas and originally designed as a "do nothing" lure.

Cast out, set your rod down, light a smoke and pop a top.

[TnRiver46]

17 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

The Gitzit was invented in Arkansas and originally designed as a "do nothing" lure.

Cast out, set your rod down, light a smoke and pop a top.

Back many years ago, I was guiding a smallmouth float in one of those big rafts. One of the guys kept hopping a tube aggressively, I couldn’t convince him to leave it alone. So I told him the story about my buddy that catches big SMB all the time by casting his tube out and setting the pole down, fiddling with the music on his speaker, chasing his dog around the boat, casting other lures on different rods, etc etc. 
 

so we anchored up in some shoals and he tries it, just cast and let it tumble. You could tell he was a little skeptical, then you could see his rod tip bouncing…… he got 3 in a row hahaha

[Basser2021]

On 1/26/2022 at 6:12 PM, Bird said:

Imitate a crawdad, hop a little, drag a little. 

Have always used a big enough hook where the point hides under the skirt without bending the tube.....weedless. 

This is my technique as well. However I fish smaller rivers and creeks that are LOADED with crawfish, so another technique might work in your neck of the woods

[PotatoLake]

On 2/3/2022 at 7:53 AM, TnRiver46 said:

Back many years ago, I was guiding a smallmouth float in one of those big rafts. One of the guys kept hopping a tube aggressively, I couldn’t convince him to leave it alone. So I told him the story about my buddy that catches big SMB all the time by casting his tube out and setting the pole down, fiddling with the music on his speaker, chasing his dog around the boat, casting other lures on different rods, etc etc. 
 

so we anchored up in some shoals and he tries it, just cast and let it tumble. You could tell he was a little skeptical, then you could see his rod tip bouncing…… he got 3 in a row hahaha

That’s the only way I’ve ever had bites on a tube. Dead sticking.