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[font "Technical"][#0000a0][size 3]Looking to expand my fishing styles, [/size][/#0000a0][/font]
[font "Technical"][#0000a0][size 3]I have heard of fishing tubes in rivers and lakes from shore to represent baitfish. I am used to jerk stopping rapalas and haven't ever felt confident tossing tubes. [/size][/#0000a0][/font]
[font "Technical"][#0000a0][size 3]How do you rig for this and what style of retrieve works. I have a hard time because I want to jerk it like a rapala but I don't feel good about the action that it imparts. What techniques work for you plastic masters. [/size][/#0000a0][/font]
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I like to peg a sinker anywhere from 2-14 inches from the tube. I like to hook the tube so its mostly weedles, but with the point of the hook just starting to penetrate the plastic. I just cast it out, let it sit, then pump the rod 3 times, I usually do a big one, followed by two small jerks. Then I let it sit again. You can mix it up however you like. The idea is to make the tube dart around, and then glide back down. Catch alot of largemouths like this,
Eric
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hey hopper,
email me and we can plan a trip together. this is my forte.
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[font "Technical"][#0000a0][size 3]Sounds like a good technique ebass, I will have to give it a try. What size and color of tubes do you like to use? I think I just need to slow down a little more and stop thinking of it as a rapala. [/size][/#0000a0][/font]
[font "Technical"][#0000a0][size 3]Xman, I dropped you a line and look forward to fishing with ya. [/size][/#0000a0][/font]
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I like purple and pumpkin colored tubes. I usually fish a 3.5 inch tube. Yea, try not to think of fishing it like something else, treat it individually. Whenever I use a new lure, I cast the lure a few feet out, and expeirment moving it around. I watch to see how reacts. Once I like the way it looks, I pay attention to what I'm doing, and then try to emulate that same movement on a long cast. Only takes a few minutes to learn, but until you catch a fish, you'll probally doubt yourself the whole time. Its what all of us do. I remember when I was't confident with any bass bait, even crankbaits,LOL.
Eric
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[cool]They call me TubeDude. It ain't only 'cause I fish from a donut neither. I sling a mean piece of plastic too.
Seriously, I started using Bobby Garland's Fat Gitzits when they first came out, back in the early 80's. I was sold on them after watching Bobby himself pull fish after fish out of some trees in the back of Hall's Creek on Lake Powell. That was back in the days when there were still lots of largies to be had there.
I got a huge assortment, of every color made, and have since used them all over the country and in salt water too. If there ever was a universal bait, tubes would have to be closest to qualifying.
I suspect you are referring more to the smaller sized tubes...for stream fishing for trout...and other species. Same deal. Small tubes are killers. I started using the 1 1/2" and 2" "Minijigs" made by Canyon Lures of Southern Utah about the same time as the Fat Gitzits. Since then, many other manufacturers have gotten into the game and there is an even wider range of sizes and colors of plastic tubes.
I first started throwing mini tubes on Deer Creek. The two tone colors, in red/white, yellow/white and brown/white were good for perch and rainbows. I used chartreuse in cold or murky to good effect. But, my best color was a smoke sparkle mini that I custom colored by running a black line down the back and three vertical black bars, with a permanent marker. Fished on 1/32 oz. heads, after the perch spawn in the spring, these things not only got lots of perch, but a whole bunch of big browns too.
I also took tubes to Pineview, Willard Bay, Utah Lake and Yuba. They caught every species in the lakes...often better than anything else I could toss...including spinners and plastic twisters. I found tubes to be ideal for fishing low and slow, when the fish were affected by cold water or other conditions that put them in a neutral or inactive mode. They are especially good during late fall and early spring...and work great under the ice.
For stream fishing, tubes can be made to imitate anything from aquatic insects to small crawdads to minnows. With the range of exotic colors on the market now, and with a knowledge of the stream's forage base, you can do a fair job of representing anything you want.
The method of fishing ties in with what you want to imitate. Like any lures fished in moving water, you can cast upstream or quartering upstream, and just allow the properly weighted jig to bounce down through the runs and holes...waiting for the abrupt stop that signals success...or snag.
In eddies and holes, where there is not much current, you will often do well fishing minijigs like you were in a lake. Cast them out, and let them sink to the bottom. Then vary your retrieve to either hop them along over the bottom, or swim them steadily back at different depths, until the fish tell you how they want them served up. In the same stream, on the same day, you can find several different methods that will take fish. Or, as often happens, you will find that there is a "pattern" and you can't buy a bite unless you fish it just right.
Proper balance between the size of the tube and the sizes of the jig head and the hooks can be critical to your success...especially in stream fishing. If the head is too heavy and the hook too large, you will spend too much time playing with snags. If the head is too light, the current will sweep your jig over the heads of the big fish waiting for dinner to be served on their level. If the hooks are too small, for the tubes you are using, they will not rig or swim right, and you may sacrifice hooking ability.
Tube fishing, and jig fishing in general, is as much art as science. It works best after a lot of practice...after some qualified demonstrations upon the waters, from someone who is well experienced. I am grateful that I had some good fishing partners early in my angling career that got me properly started.
Hey, PH, I have emailed you a multi-page writeup I originally put together for Kent Jasperson, on jig fishing. It includes some more stuff on fishing tubes and minitubes. If anyone else would like a copy, email me at [url "mailto:pscouten@qwest.net"]pscouten@qwest.net[/url] and I'll fire it over. It is a large file...285 KB Word document...so be sure you have a server that will handle it. The BFT Private Message service will only allow up to 250 KB.
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I like the 2.5" tubes in the smoke colors with pepper or sparkle or both .I fish them with a jig head inside the tube . I fish it mainly quartering up stream and on the bottom .I use to fish rapalas this way too , but broke the lips off or lost them to much . In the spring time there is less moss to hang up on . Just like any fishing you don't want them to see you most of the time .When the rivers are full with runoff you only need to fish the edges or slow water .The fish will hit it and not move much and this can be hard to detect in runoff . Where permited I will add a worm and they will not let go , most of the time . tight lines
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theres a lot of ways to rig tubes. You can put a football jig head on them and drag them right on the bottom for smallies. rig them weedless with splitshot, insert a roundball in them. Whatever, theres a ton of ways. I would say the species and location should determine how to rig them.
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[font "Technical"][#0000a0][size 3]Thanks Ebass, Xman, Predator, TubeDude, and Hellsangler, I feel a lot better about casting tubes out horizontal instead of limiting their use to vertical only. Great write up TubeDude. [/size][/#0000a0][/font]
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as you should , both techniques work well depending on conditions and presentation to the habits of the fish for the day. i believe jig fishing is the most versatile and technical way to fish, my humble opinion, only because of the variety and ways to change so many different angles of the technique based on conditions. hence im a 100% jigger now and have been for many years. its enjoyable to me because im a over energetic person anyway and need something to keep my energy going while fishing. never was much into cast sit and wait. i look forward to hitting the water with you too hopper. make sure you hook up with me because if and when we hit the salt and greys i will show you how to do it up there.
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