Using A Tube

[breton26]

can anyone suggest the best way to fish with a tube bait?i just recently bought some but have had no sucsess.

[bassking22]

Try using alka seltzer crushed in side, and using a cotton ball to secure it. You can swim, hop, twitch, and do many othe things with a tube.

[JB]

don't let it psych you out, just fish it the same way as a worm or jig, and try to go with a green shade of tube or some crawdad brown/green mix, with a 1/4 ounce jig head.

[brandonjames]

Hey bassking does that honestly work, and how often are you having to put new in?

[JB]

its an old trick of many moons ago, the selzer bubbles for about half a minute...most guys up here (before scented tubes were availablea) would take cotton balls and soak some baitmate lure scent and stick it into the tube.

[bassking22]

Um, for me no, for my friend yes. The only time I tried to do it I lost the alka seltzer before I loaded the tube, and when i found it, i tried it and got nothing, but thats only one time. My friend has had good results with it though.

[Bender]

I fished an event last Saturday with a guy who fishes Lake St. Clair regularly. Out there from what I hear you use tubes 100% of the time for smallies. He used tubes a lot and caught several fish on the inland lake where we were. The color matche the vegitation of the lake. It appeared that he was fishing them the same way I was fishing a jig-n-pig basically. Let it fall then sit, then hot it across the bottom on the way back to the boat.

[Fishie1]

You can do a couple of things with a tube...
1. Texas rig it.... use as light a sinker as you can then keep adding weight.
2. use a jig head inserted into the tube and hop it violently or drag it on flats
3. dropshot it....use a heavier senker like 1/2 oz or at the minimum a 1/4th oz weight....works great around docks, weedlines, and standing timber...
4. Texas rig the bait but use a really small bullet head and swim it across the tops of grass beds and then let it fall into the holes......bass sometimes like this better than frogs if you can believe it....
5. Carolina rig it.....you might want to also try packing some styro into the bait to make it float off the bottom....works great on points or flats
6. weightless rig it and fish it just like a fluke around rip rap banks....I like salt and pepper for this technique.....works great on Rend Lake in IL for me...

Take advantage of the fall of the tube when you fish it....the more falls typically in a retrieve with a tube the more strikes....add scent to the inside of the tube also.....makes them hold onto it a bit longer....

Another tip is to cut each other strand in the skirt off especially with the strike king kvd tubes. Makes the skirt pulsate more.....also use a large enough hook with a wide enough gap....too lil a gap and its gonna cost you some fish....good luck!

[Fishie1]

Use light line for open water techniques and heavy for when you flip them to brush and stuff.....the lighter the line you can use the more strikes you will get....the bait will have more action......I wouldn't use anything lighter than 8lb with a tube.....maybe the only time you would use 6lb is if you are fishing open flats....for the grass bed techniques....use a braid or 17lb test as a minimum....usually there are too many rocks, or in some cases Zebra mussels to get away with it.....

[pig n jig]

The tube bait is a great bait to add to your fishing arsenal.I like a free sliding weight when fishing a tubebait.Here in NY The Yamamoto tube in #23 color works best during the winter & spring.Other times I use Green pumpkin, or black with red flake colors.I use smelly jelly when the bite is tough. I want to keep the bait on bottom as much as I can when I am fishing it. P N J

[zooker]

only tube i use is the paca craw and it works great t-rigged..

zooker

[bassguy2004]

I like to use the tube on a carolina rig. I also fish it on a split shot rig. The split shot rig is nothing more than a downsized version of the carolina.

[crankybait]

well when i went fishing this weekend the smallies hammered a 3-4 inch tube, rigged with a 1/8th ounce jighead. green pumkin or brown pumpkin (my dad used brown) color