Ok so are Tubes productive for large mouth bass never see it in the top 10 are the big tournaments unless they’re being flipped I’m talking about tubes that are dragged on the bottom

Tubes will catch about anything that swims.  I have caught lots of largemouth on them.  However, it has been my experience that overall the size of the fish will be smaller if you use tubes instead of jigs.

I fish a lot of Texas rigs . One day I got on the lake and discovered I forgot to bring  my soft plastics . So digging around I found a pack of dark brown Original Fatz Gizits . Thats all I had , so Texas rigged them and didnt miss a beat , catching largemouth both deep and shallow that day using them .

I’ve had a lot of re-newed activity with the tube the last couple years. I’m a fan of Maxscent for Senkos and drop-shotting so when they came out with a tube this last Fall I grabbed some 2.5 and 3.5 inchers. Smallies of course, but they do catch decent sized largemouth too.

 

A lot of times I fish the 2.5 like a slightly up-sized Ned and drag slowly on the bottom around rocks, laydowns, etc.  If a lot of snags or sharp rocks are present or I want to go a little deeper, sometimes I throw the 3.5 on an Owner Phantom hook.

 

They don't always have to be pitched into the weed line. 

4" Stupid Tube is one of my favorite baits for fishing structure for LM. Especially in cold water. Green Pumpkin is the only color required. I buy Big Bite's tubes in the bulk bags. I go through a bunch spring and fall.

Tubes are right up there with craws on my list of favorite soft plastics. 
Dragging is a presentation I use more in colder water. I’ll drag it a few inches and pause almost like short stroking a C-Rig, but slower. My favorite rigging is with a football jig rigged internally. A light weight one (I use Siebert’s). If the bottom is rock strewn, I’ll go heavier and rig it like a trailer on a skirtted jig. 
As I said, it’s a cold water presentation for me, but I throw tubes all season long. 

18 minutes ago, papajoe222 said:

Tubes are right up there with craws on my list of favorite soft plastics. 
Dragging is a presentation I use more in colder water. I’ll drag it a few inches and pause almost like short stroking a C-Rig, but slower. My favorite rigging is with a football jig rigged internally. A light weight one (I use Siebert’s). If the bottom is rock strewn, I’ll go heavier and rig it like a trailer on a skirtted jig. 
As I said, it’s a cold water presentation for me, but I throw tubes all season long. 

I never caught a fish on a tube untill a week ago fishing a dam. Nothing else was working untill i put a 2 1/2 tube on 1/4 oz round jig head and caught 3 walleye on it in 10 minutes. No bass they must have moved out.

I use tubes for both largemouth and smallmouth.  I use larger versions for largies and smaller ones for brown bass.  Both with a tube jig and texas rigged using a skip gap hook.  Zman makes a tube out of their elaztech and it works pretty good with a mushroom head jig.  Plus being elaztech its extremely durable.

 

Berkley has introduced a maxscent tube and I will be purchasing some this winter to try next season.  Thanks to @FryDog62 for that tidbit of information.

Denny Brauer developed 4 1/2” solid Flip N tube winning several tournaments. Out west in the 90’s Giant 8” Tora tubes were the hot lure for big bass.

Tom 

I fish tubes on either a t-rig or a split shot rig.  Most of the time I fish them around vegetation, but I like to drag them across the bottom around wood, and fish them across rip rap.

Watch Zona’s cracking a tube video on YouTube. ?

I don’t understand why they’re so overlooked for largemouth fishing. A lot of guys throw them weightless or on a light Texas rig around docks, shallow submerged weeds. I do that too, and it works great. 

 

What I hear less is people targeting deep, structure largemouth with a tube jig. I feel like rigged with an internal jighead, it can make a great hard bottom/structure bait. I don’t have that kind of largemouth fishing around me, so I haven’t given it a shot. I’m thinking ledge fishing on the Tennessee river and stuff like that. A tube jig imitates so many things well. It looks like a scuttling crayfish, a goby and a dying baitfish. Just match the colors to your liking ??

I have done good with them with a tube head rigged and swim em around shad . Always use lighter colors when targeting Largemouth . It shows em something different 

3 hours ago, Finessegenics said:

What I hear less is people targeting deep, structure largemouth with a tube jig. I feel like rigged with an internal jighead, it can make a great hard bottom/structure bait.

One of the reasons I don't use a tube jig for deep structure is the loss of bottom feel. I'm normally looking for changes in bottom composition, or weed edges. With an internal jig, I all but loose any information transmitted up the line.  They are, however a killer on a C-Rig or split shot.

You all have forgotten the Garlands Original Gitzit bass tube bait was designed for LMB in deep clear Colorado River lakes; Mead and Mojave prior to any Smallmouth bass in those lakes. 

Tom

When punching was new, a tube was the go to plastic.  Timmy Horton and Shaw Grigsby each won a BASS event punching tubes.  I like to pitch craw tubes for largemouth.  

9 hours ago, WRB said:

Denny Brauer developed 4 1/2” solid Flip N tube winning several tournaments. Out west in the 90’s Giant 8” Tora tubes were the hot lure for big bass.

Tom 

Remember Robert Lee flipping and pitching tubes on the Delta Tom?

I remember Mike Lee was from Angles Camp in the foothill area p, didn’t know he a tube pitcher.

Tom

2 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

One of the reasons I don't use a tube jig for deep structure is the loss of bottom feel. I'm normally looking for changes in bottom composition, or weed edges. With an internal jig, I all but loose any information transmitted up the line.  They are, however a killer on a C-Rig or split shot.

Fair point!

3 hours ago, WRB said:

You all have forgotten the Garlands Original Gitzit bass tube bait was designed for LMB in deep clear Colorado River lakes; Mead and Mojave prior to any Smallmouth bass in those lakes. 

Tom

They also worked pretty dang good in the city park ponds/lakes. Caught more than a few good LMB. The water in those ponds/lakes were all stained water too.

21 hours ago, WRB said:

Denny Brauer developed 4 1/2” solid Flip N tube winning several tournaments. Out west in the 90’s Giant 8” Tora tubes were the hot lure for big bass.

Tom 

Tom, I remember using those, pretty sure they were the Tora tubes. Up here, we used them for snapping white ones off the bottom in deep water for lake trout and a lot of guys threw them for muskies before all the Medusa style baits came along. They worked! 

I love fishing tubes in just about every way you can fish them.  

I love tubes, catch a lot of nice largemouth on em, even with smallies in the lake I’m fishin. Hell more largemouth then smallies. 

One of my favorite baits, but I typically throw it in lakes that could have smallies as well.  ie, shallow metro weed filled lakes it isn't my jam, but I get up North and I will always have one tied on.  I like to fish them "like" a jig, but when I have more patience for a slower fall.  In general things that stay on the bottom a long time I like to avoid though.

On 11/16/2021 at 6:08 AM, GoneFishingLTN said:

Ok so are Tubes productive for large mouth bass never see it in the top 10 are the big tournaments unless they’re being flipped I’m talking about tubes that are dragged on the bottom

Not much more to add and you probably already understand all this jargon........ In regards to weedless tubes, as previously mentioned stupid tubes are a great weedless rig that maintains that classic tube jig fall. If it didn't call for cutting, re-rigging, retying, I'd probably still use them exclusively for weedless situations unless flipping. 

 

For flipping or working a weedless tube in whatever structure you want, the Lazer Trokar Tournament Tube Hook.........to my knowledge, I have not found another wide gap flipping tube like it. After discovering both the stupid tube and this flipping hook, they both totally changed the tube grass game for me.

 

And yes, they're very productive for dragging on the bottom for largies. I personally use bite me goby heads in the regular and jr size depending on the tube size when dragging for largies. Excellent maintenance of bottom contact, I can feel the structure fine, and minimal hangups for me personally. 

 

 

On 11/16/2021 at 9:35 PM, WRB said:

You all have forgotten the Garlands Original Gitzit bass tube bait…

I remember, a friend turned me on to the mojo-rigged gitzit tube in the 90’s for fishing weedy flats, I should have utilized it more but it just didn’t fit my style of fishing at the time.