Wintertime tubes

[snowplow]

Guys I'm throwing tubes for the first time and loving them. Super cool action. Wa fishing is killing me so no fish yet though. I was out today tossing a netbait 2.5" and wondered if lm off base. 

 

When bass guys say to "use tubes to finesse fish", how big are we talking? I know they get really big so I'm assuming all tubes aren't considered finesse? If lm wintertime finesse fishing how big would you go?

 

Thanks for the education people 😁

[paulmandude]

Yes 2.5” tubes are finesse. 

[T-Billy]

I use 2.5 - 4" for bass personally. Depends on season, species, and the size of forage I'm looking to imitate.

[Mr. Aquarium]

I use mostly the strike king coffee tubes. I think they are 3 or so inches. I absolutely love them. I just started throwing bigger tubes. Stupid tube 4 inch. 

[heavyduty]

2.5-2.75" are what I throw in the winter for smallmouth in the river. Fish them SLOW, dragging them along the bottom a few inches at a time with LONG pauses. Stay in touch with the tube, no slack line. The bite will often be very lite. Any change in what you feel, set the hook.

[PaulVE64]

All Time Top 5 smallie lure 

[TnRiver46]

Strike king bitsy tube winter , summer, and anything inbetween 

[roadwarrior]

BPS Tender Tube #71

Internal weight, 

 

[snowplow]

Thanks guys. I had about 5 strikes (l think) but no hooks on the 2.5". I stupid rigged them with wide gap wacky hooks and a split shot. I'm not sure if maybe they were little strikes from bluegill, my hook situation wasn't sticking them, or being new to tubes l was just mistaking bottom but l don't think it was the last one. I was thinking of throwing one bigger to discourage bluegill and that raised this question. 

[Dwight Hottle]

Trokar makes a tube hook also.

 

[Glenn]

Fellow WA angler here.  Use a 3.5" tube, green pumpkin.  Splitshot is probably your best bet this time of year.  Here's how:

 

 

 

and since you're new to tube fishing, you're going to want to watch this:

 

 

Good luck!

 

[scaleface]

Tubes are a lure I dont fish enough. When I throw tubes , I catch fish.

[snowplow]

Thanks guys 

[Munkin]

On 2/20/2024 at 12:54 PM, TnRiver46 said:

Strike king bitsy tube winter , summer, and anything inbetween 

 

The bitsy tube is about as finesse as you are going to find. A lot of the other 2.5 to 3.5" tubes are fat compared to the length. Depending on the water depth a 1/8 to 1/4oz inserted weedless tubehead will work best this time of year.

 

Allen