I’ve been running a St. Croix Mojo 7'0" M/F spinning rod that is designed for tubes ( MBS70MF • Tubes & Grubs)  that I bought about ten years ago (pretty sure it’s older than half the lures in my box). Been having an absolute blast with it lately! Figured I’d ask what your tube setups are—spinning or casting—just to see if I should finally grab a casting setup and reel. If I go that route, I’m thinking something around a 7:1 ratio.

 

Or maybe I should just stick with the old spinning rod and beat the hell out of it. 

Stick with the old spinning rod and beat the hell out of it!  Especially if you’re having a absolute blast with it.  Why change?

What size tubes and the weight? Line you use?

Tom

 

 

The majority of my setups use 3.5" tubes with a 3/16 oz Stupid Tube jig head. I pair that with 10 lb braid and a 10 ft section of 8 lb Yo-Zuri leader.

I throw tubes on a Kistler LMH (light medium heavy) Helium with whatever 7.x:1 reel I’m in the mood for.

 

I’ll use the same Helium spinning rod in really cold or windy weather too.

Ive been pitching tubes with a 5/16th or 1/4  oz weight on my bait casting wormin rod.     The Z-Man EZ tubes are what I have settled on. They are thinner than flipping tubes and even though thats a lot of weight to be using with them, I catch a lot of bass  The thicker flipping tubes I missed a lot of bites. I also use a parasite clip to keep them from balling up. The hook-up percentage is pretty good.

 

Stupid tubes on bait casting gear also got bit but I had a difficult time working them through brush or newer lay-downs. Older timber minus the little limbs, they worked excellent. 

 

 I use tubes with an exposed hook on spinning gear and lighter weights. 

I'd stick with what you have.

 

For me, I like dragging a tube but in my lakes, you can get hung up a lot. So I don't throw them as often as I could.

 

I do throw a heavy tube occasionally. Sometimes a heavy stupid tube is good to throw around laydowns and docks. It can be easy to skip and sometimes fish like it better than a jig. 

 

I also throw a Fat Ika as a substitute. 

St Croix 7’1” MLF Mojo Bass casting rod paired with Ark Limited Ed BFS reel ($150) spooled with 8 lb FC line would give you a modern casting combo for your tube fishing.

Tom

Tubes are about the only bait that I prefer to use spinning setups over bait casting.  I use a Gloomis rod with a Shimano Stradic 2500.

12 hours ago, FishTank said:

I also throw a Fat Ika as a substitute. 

 

Oh yeah, those are awesome !!!!! 

I guess you all managed to convince me to stick with my current setup after all.

 

There is nothing wrong with it, Just was looking for a reason to get the monkey bait off my back, I guess I will turn into 16 GB 5060 TI video card instead

I truly think with tubes there’s a lot of plastic in the hook gap and you need to lay the wood to them when they bite… baitcasting all the way for me..

I agree on a spinning rig for tubes, I just prefer the feel of it as I’m sliding and gliding it around. As far as hooksets…a tube isn’t any different than anything else and there have been countless Great Lakes smallmouth taken effectively on spinning tackle with tube jigs. Like always in any fishing; if it feels right and works well…then it’s the right rig period 

For me, tube jig fishing limits itself to smallmouth with a spinning outfit.  Casting a fairly heavy tube (1/4 to 1/2 oz head) with open hook in a large river is what I do.  I use a NRX 852 and a Stradic that for me, is the ultimate combo.  

I use both…. A 7ft M-H ugly stick with a Pflueger president 3500. I used it for docks, overhangs or anything that requires skipping, I can’t skip a bait caster at all.

When I’m in the open throwing tubes or in the pads I use a 7 fr M/H Bass pro with a Shimmano chonarch 7.5 

I don’t throw them much but when I do it’s always on a bait caster as everything is. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

I used baitcasting for tubes and mostly t-rigged them. Had pretty good luck with them until I started using Strike King coffee tubes. Then it didn't matter, I practiced casting baitcaster and a spinning rigs with no luck. It was so bad that the tube would eventually tear up and fly away from the endless casting.

 

If bass only knew how good coffee tastes....HMMM  

Depends how the tube is rigged for this guy.

 

If I have them rigged with the hook exposed on a tube jig, then a spinning setup gets the job done.

 

If I have them rigged with a skip gap hook Texas style, then a BC works better to get a better hook set.

On 11/12/2025 at 8:26 PM, WRB-2.0 said:

What size tubes and the weight? Line you use?

Tom

The world may never know

I use the same stupid tube jig head and actually use that as a backup on my 6'10" mlxf when I'm too lazy to tie on another drop shot. Almost all of my casting rods are fluoro and not sure I'd enjoy throwing one on that type of a setup and braid to fluoro on a spinning rod seems like a better option to me since you don't really need to worry about line twist as much. Plus the entire weight for that lure was .41oz last time I checked so a casting setup might be overkill anyway.

Interesting. I've not gotten into tubes yet, but it's something I do want to learn. I have a pack, and I've fished 1 tube until I lost it.

The tube is so versatile, you can fish it pretty much anywhere - from flipping heavy cover to finessing in 40' clear water.   That means both spinning and baitcasting gear can be used. It just depends on where/how you're fishing it.

 

Here are several ways to fish it:

 

 

 

For Texas rigged, casting.  Spinning for everything else.

Strike King used to have a line of tubes made from Elaztec (sp?);  they floated.  I found them to be great for the shallow stream Smallmouth I pursued at the time when fished as an ultralight topwater.  Rigged them with a fine wire wg hook and twitched across the surface.  This post has me thinking I still have some cached away;  if so, I may try them on my lake with BFS.

Most of the time I fish a tube on a Texas rig.  If the weight is 1/8 or less then I use spinning, anything heavier I use casting.

I use a 20 year old St Croix Avid 68MXF with 8 or 10lb floro.

 

Allen