Tubes!

[nofearengineer]

Are any of you guys big tube fishermen?

Given we are heading to the Smallie capital of the known world, and I've always seen guys catching Smallies on tubes, I was wondering if a refresher course might be in order. I've never thrown a tube at all, so I'm a newbie at it.

Any tips, tricks, size, color selection, or presentation information would be great.

[Nemesis]

Where are you heading? I can assume that by saying you are heading to the Smallie capital of the known world you are coming up to my neighborhood and fishing Lake St Clair. But people in Minnesota or NY might get offended.

There really isnt too much to fishing a tube. 90% of the time you can get away with dragging. In other words, let the wind push your boat ( you may or may not need a drift sock depending on conditions ) while you drag your tube along the bottom.

At times the tube bite can be tough and you will actually have to work the bait to trigger strikes. Short hops along the bottom might work, sometimes you have snap the tube hard off the bottom to trigger them. other times you have to dead stick it and give it a few shakes from time to time.

You might also consider dropshotting. Not to say that tubes dont work but the bass have seen every color, every presentation, etc of tube fishing and believe it or not, dropshotting is still a very under utilized technique on the Great Lakes.

RoboWorms, Senkos, Gobies, and even Tubes are all productive drop shot baits.

Bring your spinnerbaits, rattle traps, and jerkbaits with you too.

This time of year, the fish really have the feed bags on and they not only like to chase, they want to chase. if you arent getting the results you want fishing the bottom, break out the jerkbaits. If that isnt working, move up to the flats and burn spinnerbaits and rattle traps.

You picked probably the best time of the year to smallmouth fish, no matter where you are going. Hope the weather is good for you. You should be able to figure them out easy right now and smash them good.

Nemesis

[Nemesis]

Oh, i forgot about colors and sizes. 3.5" - 4" tubes will be fine. some people like to throw the 5"ers and those are fine too, but i stick with 4"s myself. Green pumpkin and watermelon and every variation of them work great on LSC and Erie. My all time fav color for st clair in most conditions is a color designed by FLW Pro and local hero Art Ferguson. Its called Work of Art. Basically watermelon with purple and gold flake. It is a killer. I throw a lot of straight green pumpkin and green pumpkin candy. ANything with purple works. Another company called Lunchmoney Lures makes the hottest selling tubes in my area for the GLs. He does smoke tails on the tubes and the fish really eat thos up. His best color is called Lunchmoney. basically gp with purple and smoke purple tails. He has another color that is Killer but i dont remember if it has an actual name or if it is just called green pumpkin holographic gold. I buy those by the 250 counts.

I have not been on LSC at all this year and only been on erie once. I have just been too busy, but nothing has changed from everyone i am talking to except that erie is tough and st clair is putting out 20-26 lb bags regularly.

So, i hope you are coming to LSC as that is where this information is the most valid to the best of my knowledge.

If you have any other questions or if you need some areas to start, email me at brian@nemesisbaits.com i will be happy to help

[nofearengineer]

Thanks for all of the info, Nemesis.

By "Smallie capital of the world", I meant Dale Hollow . I know how territorial Smallmouth fanatics can get, so no offense meant to any other Lakes.

Also, it will be next May. However, I am going to get a few and try it out on my local fishing spot. I will also probably go try it out on Brookville Lake next Spring, as a warmup for Dale Hollow.

It sounds like you're basically doing it like a football jig.

It also sounds like the Walleye at Dale Hollow will like that presentation as well! No problem there!

[WaffleJaw]

One thing to add,I always toss a rattle inside. Its funny you mentioned this cause I've been selecting tube colors all morning, lol. That watermelon, purple and gold flake does sound killer!! I'm gonna see if I can find it.

I like tubes a lot. I'm looking forward to throwing more with the new seasons coming in. Even just slow rolling them around trees and structure close to the surface can strike some great action. Very versatile bait.

My favorite colors are: white/silver flake and watermelon/red flake.

Because those are the only two colors I have

[3dkicker]

Watermelon purple and gold flake is a nice color for smallies. The GP w/Smoke and purple tail is a well known color for St. Clair. Light Watermelon gold or GP gold also catches smallies too. Smoke with blue flake is a color that has gotten some attention lately.

I don't know about Tenn smallies and preferred size or color. I mostly throw 3" or 4" in GP or Melon with red, purple, or gold flake when I fish for largemouth or smallmouth. Sometimes fatter tubes or larger diameter tubes and not longer will help increase limit size.

[nofearengineer]

Yeah...I was thinking about using my jerkbait/fluke rod for these tubes...seems to be a presentation suited to light fluorocarbon line. My only problem is a lot of my jerkbaits are Rapalas. I seriously hate retying that dreadful knot haha. So I decided to use one of my spinning combos instead. What do you think about 8-10 lb clear mono? I'd think about fluorocarbon, but I'm not too sure about it on a spinning rod.

[3dkicker]

10lb mono on a spinning rod works well with a 1/8 oz jig head and a 3 to 3.5" tube. Hop, swim, or drag it along. Be ready to re-tie often if there is a lot of rock or wood cover.

[swimbaitkid]

Dry Creek Outfitters has the best tubes,my favorite colors are hot black,watermelon craw,bama craw and green pumpkin. Those are the only tubes I use and they have salt in the plastic so the scent never leaves,fish them like a crawdad in short quick hops and you will catch fish all the time.

And I use 1/4oz jigheads in the them most of the time, its a good weight year round.

[nofearengineer]

Whew! Those Dry Creek tubes are EXPENSIVE! I still may try them out though. Thanks for the advice.

[MIbasser]

nofear, I use mainly the Strike King Coffee tubes and a lot of the Extreme Bass Tackle tubes (local guy in MI). I try to find jigs with a 4/0 hook and typically use 1/4 or 3/16 oz and if it's windy or I'm in a channel (St. Clair area) I'll use a 3/8 to 1/2 oz.

As for set-ups I use two 7' M rods (St. Croix Mojo and a Falcon rod) and have Pflueger President's (6735) on both. They are spooled with 10lb BPS Fluoro. I don't have issues with the line and for me I like using spinning set-ups for my tubes.

Hope this helps a little.

[nofearengineer]

Thanks, MIBasser. I have heard that the smaller test fluoro doesn't spring off the spinning reels as bad. I might try some if I get to that point.

[BeaverIslander]

Tubes are my #1 confidence lure for smallies. They can be fished in countless ways for SM and LM bass. I rarely drag them, but I fish 1/16 oz, 3" Berkley Powertubes like a jerkbait and it's worked for years. A 3-4" tube with a 1/16 oz head has a deadly erratic spiraling action on a slack line.
Just a slow swim with subtle rod twitches is usually effective and a good way to cover water at medium speed. The recent Bassmaster issue tells of Great Lakes bassers using 3/4 oz heads and ripping them 3-4' at a time. Never tried that but I will when I get my hands on some heavy tube jigs.
My other recommended lure would be X Rap jerkbaits, lipless cranks, 4" jig/grub and small buzzbaits and spinnerbaits. My favorite tube colors and watermelon/gold flake, smoke/red flake and pearl white/black flake.

[Mac2]

I prefer using 1/16 ounce leadhead tube insert jigs on tubes. Another way to rig them is using an EWG hook and crimping on a splitshot underneath the tube.....when dragged on bottom, creates a catch and release effect and rocks the tube and flails the tail. I tear out every third tentacle on the tail for much more movement on all my tubes.

Tubes can also be wacky rigged, often overlooked presentation.

Friend at Wal Mart Sporting Goods rigs white tubes with cyalume lights inserted into the ice color tubes by zoom and fishes them at night with the green glow for stripers, should also work on smallies and largemouth. Also uses 1/16 ounce jigheads.

[Jim80]

Originally Posted by nofearengineer

but I'm not too sure about it on a spinning rod.

You should not have to much trouble with fluorocarbon on a spinning set up man , I have used 10lb triline 100% fluorocarbon on my spinning set up all season with no problems .

Jim

[zooker]

As clear as dale hollow is 40+ feet of visibility. A smoke colored bait with red, blue, green, black flake will be the producer.

zooker

[TnTom]

Originally Posted by nofearengineer

Are any of you guys big tube fishermen?

Given we are heading to the Smallie capital of the known world, and I've always seen guys catching Smallies on tubes, I was wondering if a refresher course might be in order. I've never thrown a tube at all, so I'm a newbie at it.

Any tips, tricks, size, color selection, or presentation information would be great.

Nofear
I really like fishing the tubes as much as a worm. Most or the time I seem to get bit on the fall. I like jigging them as well as flipping them into heavy cover or laydowns but be sure to rig them weedless.
Dale Hollow is a great tube lake. Dale hollow is a great lake period. I always heard that Erie is the Smallie capital though Dale has the record. Love to try it out someday to (Erie). How many folks are coming to Dale. Sound like it will be a lot of fun. I'm about a hour and a half away and looking forward to the trip. Havent gone this summmer. Been hanging on Cordell Hull.

[BeaverIslander]

Tubes make a good drop shot as well.