Bass Fishing ArticlesTube Baits (The American express card of lures) By Jim Crowley I call tube baits the American Express card of lures because when it comes to fishing for bass, I don’t leave home without them. Most likely it was over a decade ago when I started fishing tubes. I was still fishing tournaments then and started playing around with them as all tournament guys do, because we all want an edge, another bullet in our gun so to speak. As I remember it, it did not take more than a couple cast to catch a fish. Well as any bass fisherman knows, one fish is worth a thousand more cast! So began my affection for tube lures. I began to rely on them for consistency and to this day, probably no lure that I have has been more faithful in getting a bass to bite. However, I must admit that the tube is no magic bait. It is quite simply a lure and a very simple lure at that. It ranges in sizes as small as one inch all the way up to 8 inches. (That’s not a tube, it’s a squid!) Anyway it comes in all colors and textures. But the basic tube is a hollow body with tentacles that in the water resembles, well it can resemble a baitfish, crayfish, or simply to a bass it can resemble an easy meal. Every season, I am always looking for new ways, ideas and gadgets to improve my tube fishing. I have fished them on both bait casting and spinning equipment. I have used monofilament, fluorocarbon and braided lines. As of late, I mostly prefer monofilament when flipping tubes on bait casting gear and fluorocarbon on spinning reels. However there are times when I skip tubes on braided lines. In the last couple of years, I have been skipping tubes with no weight on braided line to spawning or cruising fish. Skip the lure up under branches in the thick stuff and when the hook is set, most of the time I have to go in after the fish. The braid has held up much better than monofilament in this situation so I use it. The problem being that occasionally when I hard skip a tube, the tube slides down, or balls up on the hook, hits the brush and hangs up. Gluing the tube has been an option, but honestly it’s a pain. Here is where the gadget/great idea comes into play. Gamakatsu (www.gamakatsu.com) has come up with the Skip Gap Hook and the Ringed Superline EWG. The Skip Gap hook is a unique patent pending hook that is designed to hold soft plastics in place no matter how hard you skip the tube. No special rigging required! Its all in the bend of the hook that is designed off their highly successful wide gap hook and built to handle thick tube baits, soft plastic stick baits and regular soft plastic worms. The solid ring in the eye of the new Ringed Superline EWG provides a significant increase in the action of any plastic bait! The ring is easier to tie to and the slick braids have no chance of slipping through the crack that lies in where the hook eye is closed. Also, and a very important feature, because of the ring, fish have less leverage against the hook. As I am writing this, I am thinking about my favorite way to fish a tube that being with the bullet weight, free and not pegged to the tube. I like to hop the tube and as I do, the weight separates from the tube and it has more action and tends to fall a little different on every hop. Because of the ring on the Superline EWG, even more action will result from every hop, and occur on every fall. If it were not 20 degrees in Illinois and snow on the ground, I would be headed to the lake and finish this article later! From time to time, I get asked what kind of tube I throw, and what colors do I use and how heavy a weight do I use. All good questions, but keep in mind that for me the easier and more consistent I can keep my selections, the more I can concentrate on catching fish, not just fishing. So with that being said, and those of you interested in a brand, I have used Prowler Tubes (www.prowlerlures.com) for as long as I can remember. My color choices are as follows; in clear to lightly stained water I use natural colors such as Green Pumpkin Candy (old faithful!) and a color called Erie melon. When the water is stained to muddy, contrasting colors also top the list, black and blue, black and red etc. As far as weighting the tube, as previously stated, I do, on occasion throw a tube with no weight. If you have not tried it, please do. The slow fall of the tube can be mesmerizing to a bass and will quite simply catch additional fish for you. My standard weight of choice ranges from 1/8 ounce to ¼ and usually no heavier than that for what I mostly fish. Yes, you can go heavier and fish a tube deeper. I know several guys who do and clean up fishing a tube deep with a 1/2ounce weight. A tube can be fished at just about any depth and for numerous species of fish, but that is a story for another time. The tube is such a simple lure. Its easy to rig and extremely easy to fish. On lake Erie, anglers have simply dragged tubes for years to catch monster size small mouth. The tube can be perceived by fish to be so many different things, that for me, its one of the first lures I tie on at the beginning of the season and most likely the last one I take off at the end of the season. It is for me the American Express card of lures and I will not leave home without it! |