Gonna give the tube thing a try... 2025
IgotWood reply :
Please forgive my ignorance. I know nothing about tube fishing, but I’d like to give it a try.
I fish a shallow lake full of standing cypress , and the bottom is super thick with pond weed. Senkos work very well here, but I’d like to try something different, like maybe a weedless tube.
Apparently there are are hundreds of tubes out there. I guess I got the memo late about how well they work. What is your favorite brand, size, etc? Weight? Tackle? Conditions in which to use it?
A-Jay reply :
3.5 inch SK Coffee Tube on a 3/8 oz tube jig head.
But sounds like you're going to want to use something like the
The Owner Weighted Tube Hook especially if you plan on fishing what sounds like heavy bottom cover.
A-Jay
NHBull reply :
I re-fell-in-love with them last year with great success, but dig get snagged often. Got very similar luck with the hula grub and it was a bit more user friendly.....at least where I fish
Todd2 reply :
On 3/1/2019 at 10:37 AM, NHBull said:I re-fell-in-love with them last year with great success, but dig get snagged often.
I had that problem until I switched to Stupid Tube rigging a few years back, there are some videos out there..makes them as weedless as a T-Rig with some crazy action.
Russ E reply :
when I lived in Iowa the coffee tube produced a lot of bass for me. It was my go to bait when the bite was slow.
I can not catch a Bass on a tube in Kansas. Not sure what the difference is. i can catch them on nearly everything else.
scaleface reply :
To me a tube is a tube . I use them on baitcasting gear just like a Texas rigged worm . One day I left my worm bag at home . I got to digging around my gear and found one bag of black Fatz Gizits . I texas rigged them and caught a bunch of bass , did not miss my other soft plastics a bit .
microotter reply :
I like to fish them in rivers. I usually texas rig them on a 1/0 or 2/0 hook with a 1/8 or 3/16 weight usually pegged. I like browns and greens 3–4”. Ml or medium spinning rod.
Munkin reply :
3.5" in whatever color works for you in other soft plastics.
Allen
J.Vincent reply :
I like all of these brands for various situations: Zoom Salty Super Tubes, Strike King Coffee Tubes, Gambler Flipping Tubes and ISG Dream Tubes
On 3/1/2019 at 10:26 AM, IgotWood said:Please forgive my ignorance. I know nothing about tube fishing, but I’d like to give it a try.
I fish a shallow lake full of standing cypress , and the bottom is super thick with pond weed. Senkos work very well here, but I’d like to try something different, like maybe a weedless tube.
Apparently there are are hundreds of tubes out there. I guess I got the memo late about how well they work. What is your favorite brand, size, etc? Weight? Tackle? Conditions in which to use it?
For your situation I would pick up some Gambler Flipping Tubes, Bullet Sinker Weights , 4/0 or 5/0 EWG Superline Hook and some 20lb Mono or Fluorocarbon line. Texas rig the Tube with a pegged or stopped cone sinker and pitch or flip around the cyprus and isolated wood cover . This should be very effective on days when fish are holding closer to cover.
Glenn reply :
primetime reply :
I texas rig tubes just like any other plastic, Put them on pegged weights, sliding bullet weights, weighted hooks, weightless etc...One of my favorite ways to fish a tube is on a Slider Jig head or Darter style head which is a trick I was shown for Salmon Fishing in deeper water....
For weeds and texas rigging, Trokar had a Tube hook they marketed a few years ago and was basically just a kahle style hook with the plastic barbs to keep the tube in place. I just like using a regular Wide EWG hook..
I have never noticed a brand working better, although I used to use the Gitzit tubes in smaller sizes up north when Tubes first became popular and I would imagine that is never a bad one to start with.
I have tubes from BPS, Venom, Zoom....BPS has the best selection in sizes and colors, styles of tubes imo. You can get them cheap right now and they are as good as any.
I feel like a tube is starting to get popular again especially for punching pressured lakes. Never a bad idea to try new baits to give fish a new look, tubes can be fished like a fluke or dragged..Can't fish em wrong, kind of like a senko or trick worm....
I need to start using them more as well. Too many baits to choose, not enough time.
jaimeastin reply :
On 3/1/2019 at 1:18 PM, Glenn said:
Thanks!!!
Festivus reply :
Seems like there are a ton of ways to rig them but what about retrieves? Seen KVD demonstrate them on a tub jig head and he likes to power fish them with a lot of jigging and twitching. Seems like on the tube jig head you could jig them or even swim them. How do you guys retrieve them when you Texas rig them?
papajoe222 reply :
For the bottom cover you mentioned, I’d go with a light (1/8oz-1/4oz) jig, stupid rigged to start. The reason I say that is that combination will allow the tube to rest on top of the weeds, rather than penetrating. It also will give it more action on the fall. Pop it off them and let ti come to rest on top again.
Go to a T-rig (3/8oz. Or heavier)if you want to penetrate the weeds. Be sure to peg the weight.
KVD uses tubes on hard, rocky bottoms the majority of the time. You’re fishing over ripe tomatoes compared to his apples.
countryboy65 reply :
Mustad max flipping hook, 4/0 fits a 4” tube perfectly. For your situation as light a weight as you can get away with
Crestliner2008 reply :
They also work well when put on a drop shot hook. 
roadwarrior reply :
This is what I use:
https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Phantom_Weighted_Tube_Hooks_4pk/descpage-OWTH.html
Darren. reply :
I've had mixed results using tubes where you/I fish. I have
caught bass, crappie, pickerel there.
I like the Gitzit tubes, but they're not weedless. I'm looking
at doing the TX rig thing with some SK tubes I've had for
years, sitting in a box, unused. Actually did a major change
for tackle storage (back to boxes) and made a box with those
tubes. Plan to try use them this year.
Log Catcher reply :
One thing I would recommend is using a barrel swivel and a leader with a tube. They tend to spiral on the fall and and will cause line twist problems. The only time I use a tube anymore is if everything else has failed to get a bite. I have caught fish on tubes but not enough to make me want to keep using them on a regular basis.
MIbassyaker reply :
I recently re-watched these episodes of Zona live in Michigan, one with KVD from 2017 and one with Davy Hite from last year, where he's fishing on my side of the state, mostly for spring largemouth. In both videos, Zona spends a lot of the time working a tube with an open hook through developing cabbage beds, letting the hook catch and ripping free. he works it fast, scooting the tube forward in short-distance bursts like a crawdad, with slack-line pops of the rod tip. This is something I don't ever think to do (at least I don't do it this way), but am going to try this spring:
moguy1973 reply :
I like the Bass Pro 4" Magnum flipping tubes. Last a long time, good price, and they work. I rig them stupid style and they are pretty snagless.
Jigfishn10 reply :
4" Yum tubes t-rigged as light as possible. Fat Ika is a good substitute.
FryDog62 reply :
Ajay and Roadwarrior mentioned above... This Owner Phantom Hook keeps you snag free like Texas rigging, but is better because it’s center weighted and has the right lazy, circling fall like a tube should - not nose weighted, like a standard Texas Rig, that falls straight down.
A tube can be better than other plastic presentations - if it falls right.
zeth reply :
- ISG tubes
- keitech tubes
Bankbeater reply :
I have had good luck fishing tubes in the spring. I t-rig them and fish them around vegetation. Lightest weight possible.
Brad Reid reply :
Sort of odd to me how very regional tube fishing is. We rarely hear them talked about, much less see them used here in Texas. It could be two contributors are we have so few lakes and rivers with smallmouth bass . . . and we are more apt to have weedy bottoms, less gravel and rocky bottoms.
If I were fishing where the OP describes, knowing Senkos work well, I'd definitely not want the relatively shorter tubes to disappear in the weeds. I'd also want a slow fall rate for more visual exposure in what is described "shallow" lake.
My suggestion would be to throw your tube weightless, T-rigged and skin hook the point, using spinning tackle with 6 lbs. straight braid. It'll cast very well doing so. It should sink slowly; and, if not bitten on the slow drifting drop through the water column drop, try to anticipate when it comes in contact with the bottom weeds, then move it like a jerk bait or use an otherwise slow jerky worm-like retrieval, as you try to skim it along the top of the weeds.
Anyway, the last thing you want is to have a 3.5" or so plastic disappear out of sight. Bass in shallow, weedy lakes will very likely be "looking up" for their next meals.
Brad
IgotWood reply :
Wow lots of great info here. Thank you all very much for helping! I plan on trying either SK or Gitzit tubes. I’m thinking a green and maybe a brown ought to do it. And it sounds like the stupid rig is the way to go, or perhaps the Owner Phantom.
Do do you guys fish these in cold water? And what type of gear do you fish them on?
On 3/2/2019 at 12:03 AM, Darren. said:I've had mixed results using tubes where you/I fish. I have
caught bass, crappie, pickerel there.
I like the Gitzit tubes, but they're not weedless. I'm looking
at doing the TX rig thing with some SK tubes I've had for
years, sitting in a box, unused. Actually did a major change
for tackle storage (back to boxes) and made a box with those
tubes. Plan to try use them this year.
To be honest, I’m not super confident in it. But the bite was way off last year for me, and I also noticed a lot more fishing pressure there. I just want to try something different, that perhaps the fish don’t see very often, if at all. I think it may be more effective as the water warms and the grass starts to really get in the way.
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