Lets talk tube set ups 2025

PatrickKnight reply :

So I have been bitten by some strange bug where all I want to throw at smallies anymore are tubes. I just love bouncing them along and pow feels like it gets grabbed by a train. So what do you guys use when tube fishing? I am currently using the following rig:

Dobyns Sierra 703

Daiwa BG 2500

10 lb lime green 832 with 8 lb mono leader

Also I know this isn't the fishing tackle forum but if you guys want to list certain jigs, tubes, and colors I wouldn't be unhappy but if mods say no I can create another thread in the tackle forum.

Dtrombly reply :

My all time confidence bait, there was once a time where I didn't own any tackle besides tubes and tube jig heads. Simple times... lol. I used a Shimano Crucial 7' M/F spinning rod paired with a Sienna 2500. 10lb mono mostly. Tube jig head with exposed hook, dragging and snapping them around rocks. I've mostly stuck with some kind of variation of green pumpkin and watermelon. BPS Tournament Series are my favorite to throw.

Also, don't be afraid to throw these in ponds, largemouth love em

iabass8 reply :

DX HP 742c

TDZ Type R +

10# fluoro

rippin-lips reply :

Megabass Orochi XX

Daiwa SV103

#30 j braid - #10 cxx leader

Zoom 3.75 green pumpkin

Big bite baits tube jig head

Columbia Craw reply :

Extreme 742SF

Stradic 3000

#10 Invizex

roadwarrior reply :

G. Loomis PR844S

Shimano Stells 2500FD

#6 Seaguar Tatsu

2/0 Trokar Worm Hooh

BPS Tender Tube #71

Sword Lord reply :

Daiwa Procyon 3000

St. Croix Premier SG 7' M

14 lb fireline crystal w/ 12 lb Seaguar fluoro leader

Eagle Claw Shaw Grigsby HP hook

Chompers 4" green pumpkin or watermelon seed w/ bell sinker inside (weight depends on depth, current, etc.)

The action the tube has with this setup is fantastic. It gets the bites.

papajoe222 reply :

I prefer using a baitcaster, but couldn't find a rod that had the action I wanted, so I went the custom route and built one on a spinning blank. I even went one step further and did a spiral wrap. I do, however use a 'traditional' baitcaster for bigger/heavier tubes that I use a lot for largemouth.

There are a number of fine tubes out there, I prefer hand poured, thin walled tubes for clean bottoms and rigging with internal jig heads. For punching and skipping I like Ozark Tackle tubes. If you haven't tried using a tube, they are awesome for both presentations.

NYWayfarer reply :

St. Croix Premier 6',10" ML/F

Kastking Sharky II 1500

8lb Fluorocarbon line

Yum tube

J Francho reply :

I fish some pretty heavy tube jigs when I actually fish tubes. Usually at least 1/2 oz., and more likely 3/4 oz. I use medium/fast casting gear, a high speed reel, and 10-12# Invisx or Tatsu. Keep in mind, I'm fishing Great Lakes, and I'm fishing pretty deep. Over 20 FOW, usually.

BigTerp reply :

Nothing fancy....

Berkeley Lighting Rod 6' ML

Plfuegger President 6930

6# YZ Hybrid

Very nicely balanced setup that I use for everything. I have 2 of the same setups. I've never been a guy to have a rod/reel setup for different presentations. This, for me, is a nice coverall setup.

For tubes I really like Mizmo Teaser Tubes 2.75" in Penrod Purple and Natural Craw colors with a 1/8oz hand poured internal tube jig with #1/0 Mustad hook. Where I fish (Upper Potomac River) the 2.75" tubes out perform the larger size tubes and many other baits.

portiabrat reply :

On 8/15/2017 at 8:31 PM, J Francho said:

I fish some pretty heavy tube jigs when I actually fish tubes. Usually at least 1/2 oz., and more likely 3/4 oz. I use medium/fast casting gear, a high speed reel, and 10-12# Invisx or Tatsu. Keep in mind, I'm fishing Great Lakes, and I'm fishing pretty deep. Over 20 FOW, usually.

Which heads do you use? All the 0.5+ oz heads I've seen have very long shanks.

J Francho reply :

Bite Me Big Dude 3/4 oz. or homemade 1 oz. that I get from a local.

kickerfish1 reply :

ALX Zolo B Maestro spinning rod

Shimano Stradic FK 2500 spinning reel

Sunline Sniper 8#

3 to 4 inch tubes

HookRz reply :

For me it depends where I'm throwing it and the size of the fish. Anything from a flipping stick to a short 6'3' medium light spinning rod.

Some examples of rods I use for "traditional" open hook tubes, all spinning, without any brand shilling. Lots of companies make great rods.

Lake Erie. 7'3" MHF for long casting. 6'8" MXF for more vertical presentations.

Inland lakes. The 6'8" MXF or a 6'9" MLXF, depending on cover. 6' 3" MLXF for docks.

Small creeks. 6'9" LF or the 6'3" MLXF if overhanging brush is an issue.

Big Rivers. 7'6" MLXF.

Braid and appropriate weght Flouro leader for abrasion resistance. As always I'm using true leader material, not flouro designed to be cast. It's much tougher and thinner per pound test.

OnthePotomac reply :

My tube setup is the same as all my plastics on a bait caster. BPS Carbonlite 7' MH fast tip with 15lb Invizx on a Curado 70XG. Mizmo tube on a 3/0 EWG hook with a 3/16 pegged, or unpegged slip sinker, depending on the junk I am throwing in to. I have said before that the 15lb Invizx flouro is the same diameter as other manufacturers 12lb flouro. I like to keep equipment requirements simple.

DubyaDee reply :

I always have this set up ready on deck. I never start with a tube but I always end up throwing it when all else fails.

Fenwick Aetos ML 7'6"

Shimano Stradic FK 2500

10 pound Power Pro to 12 pound fluoro leader

Xtreme bass tubes, sweet green/Canadian mist

Big Bite tube head 1/4-3/8

fishindad reply :

I use similar to what JFrancho uses for tubes but usually fish a bit shallower (less than 20 ft) thus 3/8th and 1/2oz heads. I use a MH casting rod with 12 lb fluoro or copoly and either Bite Me heads or Poor Boy goby heads. Both have big hooks that require heavier gear to drill the hook home and not mess around. Have lost too many big smallies due to playing around with lighter lines and not getting good hooksets. Have not noticed any lack of bites going up in line size and it helps with the zeebs that litter the bottom of my lakes.

moguy1973 reply :

I like throwing tubes on a spinning rod. I just put a Shimano Sedona on a Lew's TP1 Speed Stick with 30lb braid and an 8lb leader of YoZuri or P-Line CX Premium. Working well so far.

I like using either an EWG round shakeyhead without the screwloc stupid rigged or heads with a wire weed guard, both in 1/4oz.

Bluebasser86 reply :

I've been fishing mostly a homemade stupid tube head, 1/8oz with a 3/0 hook and 3.5" tubes. Throwing them on a 7' M/F LTB, Daiwa Zillion SV XXH and 15lb Tatsu. This is the only setup I've found to combat zebra mussels very effectively.

kbeeb374 reply :

6'3'' MXF Cabela's arachnid, stradic Ci4+ 2500 with 10# braid to a 6lb invisX leader. This quickly became my favorite rod this year and I went to look for more and they were discontinued and sold out... of course.

I mainly fish smaller rivers with 2.5-2.75 inch tubes on a homemade 1/8 oz tube jig.

If anyone has any Cabelas arachnid spinning rods I would love to try some of the longer ones as well!!

J Francho reply :

Interesting mix. Seems like zebes and depth dictate heavier gear.

PatrickKnight reply :

On 8/16/2017 at 10:09 PM, J Francho said:

Interesting mix. Seems like zebes and depth dictate heavier gear.

I agree I am really surprised at how different some of the set ups are!

J Francho reply :

Normally these threads are just personal preference, but there's definitely a pattern.

portiabrat reply :

I use a 7'3 M/XF spinning rod. For line, I run 8-10 lb braid with a 12-15 lb fluoro leader. I can't use a lighter leader because of zerbra mussels. My line gets nicked up on just about every cast. I retie, tear my bait, or lose a head about every 5-10 minutes, so tube fishing is painful and expensive, but it works.

Most of the time, I use 1/4-3/8 oz heads, but based on some of the comments here, I might start going a bit heavier and break out the baitcasting gear.

fishindad reply :

On 8/17/2017 at 1:39 AM, portiabrat said:

fishing is painful and expensive...

portiabrat: I fixed your reply : )

At least for me, this is more accurate!

Jeff H reply :

On 8/15/2017 at 8:23 PM, Finesse Wayfarer said:

St. Croix Premier 6',10" ML/F

Kastking Sharky II 1500

8lb Fluorocarbon line

Yum tube

When did St. Croix produce a 6'10" Premier? Is this a 7'er you busted 2" off or...???

A-Jay reply :

The 'tube' rod for me is a Fenwick EliteTECH Smallmouth rod 7'4" Med Fast rod 6 - 12 lb line & 1/8 - 3/4 oz baits.

I'm usually on one on big clear water lakes, where I'm making long casts with 3/8 - 3/4 oz heads because of the depths I'm fishing, the winds is up or both. The rod is light enough to detect the bite and stout enough to deliver a heavy weighted cast & drive home a hook from a long distance. I'm usually using an 8-10 lb leader on the front end of a 10lb braid mainline with this one.

The Fenwick rod is no longer in production but if I had to replace it, I'd be looking at the Daiwa Tatula Elite AGS Spinning Rods.

Hope this helps

A-Jay

joe chum reply :

Loomis NRX 852S/Dobyns Champion 702SF

Shimano Stradic 2500FI

PP #10 Yellow w/ 8lb. Sunline Sniper

Dry Creek Double Dipped Tubes/Dry Creek Tournament Tubes

TheFishWrangler reply :

On 8/15/2017 at 9:09 PM, BigTerp said:

Nothing fancy....

Berkeley Lighting Rod 6' ML

Plfuegger President 6930

6# YZ Hybrid

Very nicely balanced setup that I use for everything. I have 2 of the same setups. I've never been a guy to have a rod/reel setup for different presentations. This, for me, is a nice coverall setup.

For tubes I really like Mizmo Teaser Tubes 2.75" in Penrod Purple and Natural Craw colors with a 1/8oz hand poured internal tube jig with #1/0 Mustad hook. Where I fish (Upper Potomac River) the 2.75" tubes out perform the larger size tubes and many other baits.

Don't know if you can send a direct message on this site since I'm new and I know this is kind of forum jacking but I picked up on your old Sleepy Creek thread BigTerp. You must be my neighbor here in Falling Waters. If your ever interested in getting together to fish, I would be more than excited. Moved here like 2 years ago but have no one to go with... Much thanks and sorry for posting into this thread guys.

Further North reply :

It's odd...or I am...but I just can't get into fishing tubes...

evilcatfish reply :

My go to tube setup is a Daiwa Alphas SV paired with a Major Craft Nanoace Don Iovino rod. 15# PP with a 8 or 10# floro leader, though I have been experimenting with straight floro and have had nice results. Don't really throw any tubes over 3.5" on this rig though and mainly use it on Ozark rivers

NYWayfarer reply :

On 8/18/2017 at 1:52 AM, Jeff H said:

When did St. Croix produce a 6'10" Premier? Is this a 7'er you busted 2" off or...???

Sorry, it's a 6'6" rod. I actually had to go to my basement to check the size. I could have sworn it was 6'10"

padon reply :

I think the variation in set ups that jfrancho pointed out has to do with geography and lake type. when your fishing big northern lakes with gobies you want a large profile tube with a heavy tube head. and you want that joker on the bottom of deep water with the wind probably blowing. then you have guys like me who are using the tube for river smallies or as a somewhat finesse presentation for lake bass. I like a 7 ft legend tournament bass spinning rod. im usually using a 1/16 -3/16 head with 10lb braid and 8-10 lb fluoro leaderand 3.5 - 4 inch tube. btw the guys who say they don't like fishing tubes or don't use them anymore are the kind I depend on. lake largemouth around here don't seem to see them much anymore and they like them!!

gimruis reply :

I mostly fish tubes with a spinning setup and braided line with a fluorocarbon leader. I use them for largemouth and smallmouth, probably more so smallmouth. I use smaller tubes with tube jigs for smallies and texas rig it with a skip gap hook in the weeds for largies. They are effective in many colors too, for both species. My favorite is the Berkley power tube in root beer or green pumpkin.

Oregon Native reply :

Have always used a 7' spinning rod for the most part. I prefer 10 lb Power Pro with 10 or 12 lb fluro leader. I'm different then most than I like to use an internal weight ....used to be called a gitzit glider. Use mostly all Dry Creek tubes in pumpkins and candy in 3 1/2". 3/0 or 4/0 wide gaps finish the bill.

Love this set up....can't find the weights anymore so me and a friend make them.

roadwarrior reply :

http://www.basspro.com/shop/en/owner-phantom-tube-hook

.ghoti. reply :

Spinning gear for smaller tubes. Daiwa Steez, 7' ML rod, Daiwa Certate reel, spooled with 7.3lb Seaguar Finesse Fluoro.

Casting gear for larger tubes. Custom rod I built on a Setyr blank, just for this application. TDZ spooled with 10lb Seaguar Rippin mono.

NathanDLTH reply :

My current set-up is:

Daiwa Cronos 7'1 MLFast

Revros 2500

15# braid

This works fine in lakes, but rivers with current and strong fish it's less than ideal. I lost a few to many fish this past week due to lack of hook set strength or drag set to tight. I'm investigating a casting setup and a MedXF for spinning.

3137

Lets talk tube set ups 2025

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