tubes, how do you fish them

[naturalnbama]

I have recently tried fishing the tubes I have read so much about on here.  I guess its because the jig head is tucked inside the tube or something but even with a heaver head 3/8 oz.  I just cant really get a good feel for the bottom.    I thought about trying it behind a Carolina rig with just the hook in the tube but I was afraid it would have a negative effect on the action of the tube itself.  please give me some suggestions on how to use the tube to be effective on smallmouth.  I usually fish on the Tennessee River either above or below Wheeler Dam.

[roadwarrior]

I suggest weedless T-rig, unpegged. The river is too gnarly to fish exposed hooks. (I tried two weeks ago and went through a dozen jig heads on one drift!)

Fishing the tube unpegged allows erratic action by the lure. You will still get hung-up, but not nearly as often as with an exposed hook.

[baer108]

I've never tried them on with a T-rig.  Something i might have to keep in mind for this weekend after the duck hunt.  I usually just fish them with the jighead inside the tube, and I get hung up a good bit on rocks and stumps and everything else imaginable at the bottom of the river.

[JCrzy4Bass]

I use 1/8oz jighead inserts so mine doesn't really sink that much.  I normally toss it into the current and let it go downstream.  It will get caught up in rocks or grass occasionally depending on the bottom however thats what I like about the wading I do, I'm normally in an area I can walk over and get it out of, unless its a deep hole.  But even then if you let some line out or wiggle your rod tip and wait a few seconds a lot of the time it will come out of the hang up.  When throwing into an area with boulders or a lot of underground structure I like to lift my rod tip up every few seconds or when I feel it come in contact to help guide it over what I'm throwing to.  Normally on the lift on when I get over a piece of structure is the time I will get a bite.  I've only fished two smallie rivers and caught a few handfuls of fish the few times I've been out but this technique seems to work well.

I like zoom and venom for the tubes i use but I know tehre are better ones out there just these are the easiest to find around here.  I never tried texas rigged, just seems weird to rig it like that unless they are solid bodied and not hollow.  

[Jig Man]

I have recently tried fishing the tubes I have read so much about on here. I guess its because the jig head is tucked inside the tube or something but even with a heaver head 3/8 oz. I just cant really get a good feel for the bottom. I thought about trying it behind a Carolina rig with just the hook in the tube but I was afraid it would have a negative effect on the action of the tube itself. please give me some suggestions on how to use the tube to be effective on smallmouth. I usually fish on the Tennessee River either above or below Wheeler Dam.

A friend and I did a tube experiment last week.  We only fished tubes and rigged them the following ways:

Insert w/o weedguard

Insert w/ weedguard

Tex-skin with bullet sinker regular tube

Tex-skin with bullet sinker plastic craw tail glued in head

Tex-skin with bullet sinker w/plastisol injected into the head

Tex-skin with bell sinker inside the tube

In our six hours of fishing mostly rip rap and rock piles we found that by far the hangup and loose was the insert w/o weedguard.  Next was the insert w/ weedguard.  The different bullet sinker rigs were all about the same.  The bell sinker was the one that would hunt in the junk and come back to the boat.  The downside of it was it was also the hardest for us to detect a strike.

The reason for the different bullet sinker types was trying with and without bait clips.  We found that we like the bait clips and of the three types we were using they all worked.

...............

As for your Carolina thoughts, a friend of mine fishes tubes Carolina rigged except he puts a piece of styrofoam in them so that they will float off the bottom.  I haven't tried it yet but he swears by it.

[Crestliner2008]

I use 1/4 oz. tube jigs inside 3 1/2" tubes very successfully for smallies in 25' - 35' of clear water. You must use a good fluoro line (6# or 8# test).  Cast it out and let it hit the bottom.  Once the line goes slack, give it a decent jerk up off the bottom and follow it back down. You'll learn how many sec. it takes for it to get back down. One of those jerks will have a large smallie on it....I promise  

[roadwarrior]

Here is another thread we had running recently that I'm sure will help:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1167358924

[bassnleo]

Here is another thread we had running recently that I'm sure will help:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1167358924

One of my favorites

[Del from philly]

I always fished these guys either weightless through the nose, or maybe with a drop shot, but still through the nose

you'd be suprised, if you fish it the right way, its actually not that bad with weeds and stuff,.,,,

you gotta let it fall a certain way, and the hook flips on itself as it falls...it like collapseson the bait as it falls....

you could use a Octopus troguh the nose too....i heard they work pretty good...

im pretty sure their is another thread on this.....

[bass109]

T-rig works  8-)

[Boett43]

I always have sucess with tubes ..look up something called a stupid tube but i for get what angler used it but it made it practically snag-proof if i rember right

[bassnleo]

Federation angler Terry McWilliams, I think, made the term "stupid tube" more popular when he used it in the Bassmasters Classic in 2006 on Lay Lake.

[Ryan_Johnson]

I just got some Owner phantom weighted tube hooks, and they seem really nice.   I rigged some up and tested them in my 75 gal aquarium, and I like the results.  

Here's the link to what they look like

http://www.***.com/descpage-OWTH.html

What you do is run the hook point through the bottom of the tube, out the top, and back to the bottom.  Then you poke the eyelet out wherever you want the line to enter, tie on, then push it back into the tube.  Looks to be a very good weedless setup.

Of course I'm finding all kinds of stuff now that my boat is stored away for the winter.

[Ryan_Johnson]

I just looked up the stupid tube, and it is essentially the same thing rig as the phantom hook.  The stupid tube uses a jighead with a wide offset eyelet as seen here.

http://tackle.redshad.com/proddetail.php?prod=WNS&cat=24

Click on rigging instructions in the description and there's a diagram of it.

[Jig Man]

I just got some Owner phantom weighted tube hooks, and they seem really nice. I rigged some up and tested them in my 75 gal aquarium, and I like the results.

Here's the link to what they look like

http://www.***.com/descpage-OWTH.html

What you do is run the hook point through the bottom of the tube, out the top, and back to the bottom. Then you poke the eyelet out wherever you want the line to enter, tie on, then push it back into the tube. Looks to be a very good weedless setup.

Of course I'm finding all kinds of stuff now that my boat is stored away for the winter.

You can get the same results with a bell sinker and a worm hook for a fraction of the cost.