You know, tube baits have been around for decades, and for good reason. They catch fish. They are just fishing machines. Now, I started fishing tubes back when they first came out, back in the early '80s. And it was a West Coast thing, came with the finesse stuff, and it wasn't really popular in the U.S. So I've had a lot of experience fishing them in a lot of different ways, different situations. So today, I kind of want to go over the best ways to use a tube and how to start catching a lot of fish or more fish using tubes.
One of the first things to know about tubes is that there's a lot of different ways to rig them, and they all work. But the original one, the original way that we used to do it is really, I still think, is, like, the best way to rig a tube. And that is you use a tube jig that's got a 90-degree bend on the eye. So it sticks out of the top of the tube. The key thing about this is you want the weight, the eye needs to be off from the front, the nose of the hook. You want it to be offset.
Why it's like that is what that does is with the tie on the top and with the eye further set back behind the weight, it's in the middle of the weight. It's not the nose. That's what I mean. The eye is not at the nose of the hook. It's a little bit back. What that does is when you cast out, it makes it spiral on a slack line, this death spiral.
There's no other lure that does that to this day, and that is... Bass are...instinctively, they nail that bait because it looks like a dying baitfish. And that's just part of their DNA. So it triggers those bites because of that spiraling action. And that's how you get that using that jig.
Now, there's other ways to do it. We also used to put it behind a split shot rig, and it still works today, and you can crawl it along the bottom.
You know, people can argue about, does it imitate a baitfish? Does it imitate a crawdad? I don't care. What I'm trying to do is have a certain presentation that the bass want that day. So sometimes the spiraling action, a lot of times that works, but other times they want it on the bottom, and that's when I'll use a split shot. I want to drag it on the bottom.
You can also use other jig heads to bring it on the bottom. If you've got a jig head with the...the eye comes out at a 60-degree angle like this one here, that gives it more of a gliding, swimming action through the water. And that's, I guess, more like a baitfish. And that sometimes can be a dynamite way to fish it.
And then you can put it on drop shot. That's another way to do it. Texas rigging with the bullet sinker and flipping and pitching into heavy cover. That's been very, very popular. It's very productive for me especially.
The thing about it is, when's the best time to fish these baits, right? You know, if the bass are slamming and fast-moving baits like spinnerbaits, and topwater, and crankbaits, fish those. I mean, that's what the bass want, fish them.
But when the bite is off, they're in a neutral to negative feeding mode and there's not a whole lot of activity going on, that's when you want to fish a tube.
Now, a good way to know this is it's kind of like birds. If you notice that sometimes when you're fishing fast-moving baits, you see the birds on the shore or in the air, they're flying around, they're making noise, they're very active. Cows, same thing, if you've got cows in the lake you're fishing, they're up, and moving around, and active.
Other times when the bite is off, a lot of times you'll notice the birds are up in the trees, they're sitting there, or maybe they're a bunch of geese and they're just laying down on the edge of the water or just floating around. The cows are laying down. They're inactive. People can say it's lunar times or there's other things going on, but nonetheless, a lot of that wildlife activity equates to the same type of activity level under the water. During those times when it's not as much active, it's kind of quiet, that's when a tube shines.
Because the tube, if you notice, doesn't have a lot of appendages, it doesn't have a lot of action to it, it doesn't make a lot of vibration. It's very subtle and not a whole lot of movement or action to it. And that's a perfect time to use it. This is why the tube really does perfect under tough conditions, like say after a cold front. That's the perfect time to throw it.
Now where to throw it, gosh, because of the many different ways you can rig it, you can virtually throw it anywhere that a lake has to offer. You can throw it on bluffs, you can throw it on riprap, you can throw it on heavy cover, wood, skip it under docks. There's really no limit to it. There's no wrong place or wrong way to fish it in that regard. Just go out and fish it. The idea here is to know where the fish are, and that's a whole 'nother topic, but locate where the fish are. You can throw a tube there. You're not limited at all with tubes. That's the beauty of them. That's why they're in my tackle box and a lot of other guys, because you can throw them in current.
The thing about throwing in current, you need to use a little bit heavier weight. You can still throw it on a split shot, but use a heavier split shot, or you can use a jig head. I find a split shot's a little bit better in heavier current. It doesn't get hung up as much. You need a little bit heavier weight, but if the current's going this way, throw it upstream and let the current, let it just kind of bounce along the rocks on the bottom as it goes by you. And a lot of times, that's when the bass hit it. They'll be sitting behind a boulder or something like that, look for some of the current break and bring it past them that way. Let the current bring it to them and they'll dart out and nail it almost every time. It's just that good. But that's kind of where you fish it.
And I'm kind of going back into how you fish it. I mentioned a couple because of the way you rig them is how you fish it. But also, just casting out there and letting it hit the bottom and you can fish it back just like you would a jig. You let it sit on the bottom for a count of one to five seconds, lift up on the rod tip, and reel up the slack as you let it flutter back down, and then do it again a couple of times. If you don't get bit, then bring it back in.
A lot of times the bites come on the fall, so you got to be on point. For that, watch your line because that's really your indicator when a bass bites is that line will jump on you. You can skip it. This is an excellent skipping bait. You can skip it up under docks or under trees. You get to those bass where maybe other anglers missed.
There's really no wrong way to fish it, although bringing it back really fast, I find that that doesn't really elicit a strike. Some baits you can do that. Some baits you can burn them back and you'll get a reaction strike. Not so much with a tube. So that's probably one technique or presentation I wouldn't do with a tube.
Now with the equipment you use, it depends again on how you're rigging it, where you're fishing it. If I'm flipping and pitching, I'm going full-bore bait casting. All right, I'm doing the flipping and pitching outfit. I'm using a 7'1 to 7'6 pitching or flipping rod. That's a heavy power rod with a fast-action tip. I'm using 30 to 50-pound braid. Seaguar Smackdown braid is what I use and it's straight up. I'm not using any fluorocarbon leader or anything on it. It's a straight-up braid. I'm using a heavy flipping hook designed for tubes. A Trokar makes an excellent hook for that. I've got a link down in the bottom so you can take a look at it. I rigged that Texas with a bullet sinker, a tungsten bullet sinker on it, pegged. And I'm flipping it right into heavy-covering bushes.
And Denny Brauer won a classic doing that. I mean, it works. It's an effective way, especially if everybody's throwing jigs around you, throwing a tube or something different. A lot of times you elicit a bite out of that. So a lot of times you guys are throwing jigs that have craws on the end, a lot of action, the skirt's making a lot of action, and the tube jig is a lot more subtle so it's a better presentation in certain situations than a jig. So just replace your jig with a tube and fish it that same way and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Now in the open water, like I told you, when you rig it the original way, so it spirals, that death spiral I was telling you about, that actually works best on spinning gear. That real light line, I use six-pound fluorocarbon line. I'm using Seaguar Tatsu line for this reason. The Tatsu line is super limber. It's silky smooth. It casts like a dream. And the most important thing about it, because it's fluorocarbon and the makeup of that line, it doesn't impede that action, that spiraling action.
Braid will impede it. Braid is more buoyant. It also just doesn't cut through the water as easily as, especially this real nice and limber fluorocarbon line. So I don't use any braid in that at all.
I'm using lighter hooks now, maybe a 2/0 hook, something similar, you know, it's 2/0. What you want is the hook to come right near towards the tail where the tentacles begin. You want the hook to come out just before that so it's actually poking through the body of the tube, not coming out of the tentacles. That way it stays pegged.
Now when you're using spinning gear for this though, a lot of guys have problems with line twist. I gotta tell you guys, I've been throwing spinning gear for decades, I never have problems with line twist. Never. Okay? I got a link up here, go follow it. There's a lot to the technique of using spinning gear so you don't get line twists, a lot more to it than just the way you spool it on your reel. There's a lot more to it. I'm not gonna go into detail here, but if you follow the steps in this video here that I have linked, you won't have any line twist issues either.
So because of that reason, I don't use any swivels, or snaps, or anything like that on the spinning outfit when I'm getting the spiral action. I don't need to. I'm not gonna have any...you don't need to use braid to hide or conceal the twisting. You can use fluorocarbon, 6-pound fluorocarbon like I just told you without any line twist issues if you follow those steps. And it's a fantastic way. And this is probably the reason why I catch a lot of fish doing this. A lot of guys are using braid, are using other techniques, using, like I told you, swivels and things that impedes the action. You want it to fall as freely as possible and let it do its thing. That's the key to getting those bites.
Now what kind of tubes to buy? Gosh, there's a ton on the market, right? The old stand-by, the three-and-a-half-inch-size tube is the best. I've tried the different sizes and I've had some success with the three-inch or smaller tubes and some of the big jumbo tubes that are out there. I've had limited success with those two. It's not that they don't catch fish.
But really what I'm looking for is two types of tubes in that size category. The majority of the ones I throw the most is the thin-walled or the normal-size tubes. I got some links down here, some tubes I recommend. I like that nice thin wall because when a bass bites it, it just collapses and it doesn't feel like this chunk of plastic. It doesn't feel unnatural to them, so they hold onto it longer. A key tip here is to put some scent inside the tube so when the bass bites it, they get a good burst of scent. That enables them to hold on a little bit longer because you are throwing these oftentimes on slack line or semi-slack line, so detecting the bite is a little bit more difficult. So with a little bit of scent on it or scent baked into the tube enables that bass to hold on a little bit longer.
So that thin wall is what I use most of the time. However, if I'm flipping and pitching into thick heavy cover, I'll get a thick-walled tube because it stands up more to pulling through all that heavy stuff. It doesn't tear up so much. Or if I'm just having a day when the bass are just annihilating tubes left, right, and front, and center, I'll get one with a thicker wall because it's more durable. It'll hold up for a few more fish than the thin wall would. But that's really the big difference that I use there. I don't really change up and go with the jumbo-sized tubes or anything like that. It's just I'm looking at the wall thickness.
Color-wise, green pumpkin, it's typical with any of the plastics. Green pumpkin works well. So does watermelon red seed. I like to use another color that some people call baby diaper yellow. There's a lot of different names for them. Old ugly is another name for the color, but it's kind of a blend between green pumpkin and watermelon. It's a different kind of color, but I find that works anywhere in the U.S. I have fished everywhere except for the Great Lakes. That's actually coming up in a few months. I'm going to be fishing the Great Lakes. I'll get that off my bucket list. But I've caught fish all over the U.S. on that color. everywhere. It doesn't matter if it's stained water, dirty water, clear water, great color to use.
So, that's it, man. Tube baits. Hold on, hold on. Now, if you've watched this whole video, then for sure you're going to want to watch one of these two videos here. Now this one here I handpicked for you. This one's the one I think you should be watching next, and this is the one that YouTube thinks you should be watching next. Either way, I'm in both, so I'll see you in a second.
