Monday, November 30, 2009

Tubes

Bass fishing with tubes in early fall
Fishing slow and deep is the way to go in early fall. For largemouth bass in early October, tubes, along with jig and pigs, are some of the best baits. The main advantages that tubes have that jig and pigs lack is their ability to be fished faster, and in shallower water. These baits are perfect when fishing shallow edges of ponds or lakes in the early fall, as they are much lighter than jigs.
Larger tubes are best later in the year. These lures should be at least four inches long, and as with most bass baits, tubes in dark, natural colors (pumpkin, watermelon, smoke, black) are best. Tubes are rigged with appropriately-fitting jig hooks, the heads of which should be pushed up into the cavity of the tube, and the eye of the hook should then be poked through the front of the tube. For large tubes, jig heads that way at least 1/8 oz. are recommended, as they sink the baits down to the fish quickly. Tubes are not weedless when rigged this way, so caution is recommended when fishing around stumps and rocky areas. Yamamoto senkos are great alternatives to tubes in places where tubes may snag, because they are rigged weedless.

Retrieving tube lures is easy. They should be allowed to sink, and then reeled after light twitches on the rod, much like the main retrieval technique for jig and pigs. This reeling method will have tubes looking like crayfish, darting and crawling along the bottom. Although these are great lures, and they really work wonders in the fall, they cannot be used in waters full of debris because they snag too easily.