Today’s anglers usually won’t be caught dead without some brand of tubes in their tackle box. This is good. They are a good all around bait. Most of the time they are tossed in to cover fished then reeled back in. Leaving a valuable area of water uncovered. That is unless you are pattern fishing and have fish location pinpointed.
I like to use a 6-6 medium heavy rod with a fast retrieve speed reel. As always use the best quality line you can afford. Ten to twelve pound test should do fine. Sinker weight is always the lightest you can get away with. The first thing I do is paint my sinker the same color or very similar to the tube color. If it is a super clear water presentation I will paint eyes on them with silver model paint. I do not know if the eyes help for a fact, but it gives the bait a more natural look. Next I tie on a wide gap hook. When it comes to the tube you have a rainbow of colors to choose from. Green pumpkin is probably the most common for me. During this application I feel that the tube resembles bluegill. This is where I take my Sqworm Tube and give it a little customizing. Taking a chartreuse die pen, I put several light vertical stripes on the tube just to give it that extra edge, when swimming solitary out in open water.
There are several places I feel this technique works best. First one would be to throw your bait out past cover or vice versa. The goal is to cover the open water that the bass may be suspended in before the cover. Just try to swim the bait at a mid dept before and after a piece of cover. The second is my favorite; I love to hop tubes over grass beginning to come up on shallow flats in spring. These spots of grass hold heat and attract fish. Hopping the bait high, and then swimming it for a second letting it drop like a hot rock and repeat.
Also, try carolina rigging. Most anglers reserve this for lizards and centipede type baits, but the compactness of a tube can seal the deal on a great day of fishing. When carolina rigging I do switch to a 7-0 medium heavy rod keeping the same reel and line. A long leader is important for fishing this in water over ten feet. I start with about four and go down or up depending on the aggression of the fish. The more aggressive the shorter I will make leader. Try to search out cover and structure away from the bank. I don’t mean miles off shore, just say eighty to hundred yards off shore. Typically anglers get with in casting distance of the bank and that’s all they fish. At the time they don’t realize that the water underneath them is just as productive.
In conclusion think of ways that have not been approached by other anglers. This could change the outcome of a trip with just one minor adaptation of what you are doing. Good luck!
Brian Carson
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