I have really come to appreciate fishing with small to medium size tubes with a 1/8 - 3/8 tube jig inserted into the tube, with the hook exposed out of the top.  My question is ... is there a way to rig a tube jig in the manner described that has the small wire weedguards to make the tube more weedless?  I haven't figured out how to get the wires into the tube and out the top since they face the opposite way.  If this is just impossible, then tips on how to make the tube weedless, by KEEPING THE JIG HEAD INSIDE, and THE HOOK EXPOSED is appreciated.  Thanks.

What I normally do is to cut a small slit in the top of the tube, and slide the hook through, and insert the head inside.  Then, position the guards to make it weedless.

If this is not an option, why not try it on a small T-rig?  Just peg the sinker to the top of the tube, and it will have the same effect.

Oldham (i think) sells a tube head with a wire weed guard.  They use to see them at BPS or you may do a search for Oldham. They are out of Wimberly TX. I use these heads and they are great. I guess I need to find some more.

Yea, I have tube jigs with weed guards - how the hell do stick them INSIDE the tube.  If your reply is that you put them outside, or use a Texas rig ... yea, I know.  Inside, with weedguard, hook exposed - looking for someone smarter than me.

Again, I will say, cut a small slit in the head of the tube.  Insert the hook end first, thread the head of the jig inside the tube, so that the weed-guard is on the outside, and the head is just inside.  You may want to add a little lure glue to the head, so that the lure does not foul when fishing it.

This is the best way I have found to fish a tube with the weedless jighead.

Bend the wire up and shove it through the end of the tube(from the inside bottom to top) and then just squeeze the tube over the eyelet and bend your wire back down. I rig almost all of my tubes this way.The way nwgbassmaster will work too but it seems to make a weak spot in the tube and they will slide down more often.

Actually, no, it doesn't.  you have to learn to make the slit no bigger than 1 cm.  It does not take much to make the lead part of the head go through.  That is, if you are actually using the jigheads that are meant to be used with tubes.

Adding the cement to the slit that you make will make it just as strong as it was before the slit was made.   ;D

Im very aware of how to rig a tube on a jighead, I wouldnt be on here giving advice on how to do it if I wasnt

Um, not exactly.  You can, but you will sure enough have the tube slipping off, because most of the football headed jigs have the "bait keeper" system on the neck of the hook.  Unless you cut those off, or add the cement, then, you will have problems.

The jigheads that are meant to be used with tubes have the lead molded into a longer, more slim shape.  That way, you won't have the tube sliding around.

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=20806&hvarDept=100&hvarEvent=&hvarClassCode=10&hvarSubCode=6&hvarTarget=browse

Those are the heads that I am referring to.

Thanks nwga...I think a lot of us were unclear what you were talking about.  I think the tube jig needs a little more marketing time to hit places like Wal-Mart and such.  Not knocking Wal-Mart.  Even our little podunk Wal-Mart here is very choice for fishing tackle.  Prices are good, selection is decent enough to get you by, unless  you're into spending tons of dough on Lucky Crafts and such.  Funny thing that I remember fishing tubes when they first hit the shelves about 15-20 yrs. ago.  But I can't for the life of me remember how we rigged them.  I do remember catching lots of fish on the green pumpkin color but we were on a pond that hardly every saw any fisherman also.

I like to use weedless tubeheads from Falcon Tackle that have fiber weedguards.  Wireguard tubeheads will work as well.

I use a rattle insertion tube such as the one sold by ZOOM for their rattles and put a small hole in the top of the tube where I want the weedguard to come out of the tube.

I then rig the tube head into the tube through the small hole hook first and pull the head inside of the tube.  What you now have is a tube with a tubehead rigged inside, the weedguard sticking out the hole, but no hook eye sticking out.

Next, I slide the tube forward a veryt slight bit and poke the eye of the hook out and tie on the line.  The weedguard is sticking out the holw I made and the tube is straight as an arrow and ready to fish.  No glue ever need to seal the hole, it is not necessary.

It takes quite a bit to tear a tube off one of these heads rigged this way.

Brad

   

     What I normally do is to cut a small slit in the top of the tube, and slide the hook through, and insert the head inside.  Then, position the guards to make it weedless.

      Great idea. I may have to try that. I might also heat a knife and melt the slit back together.

Okay, I just had to sign on tonight to retract my previous statement about my little podunk Wal-Mart. I looked again and they did have some weedless tube inserts. They only had them in two different sizes and styles of weedless, but hey...beggars can't be choosers huh? I got this 5-pak of Arkie 1/4 oz. heads for $1.64.

There ya go. Beat that with the bargain bin. I'm going to try and insert them a couple of the ways mentioned, but on the pack it says just to bend the wire up and insert it into the tube first then use it to poke the hole where you'd like it to protrude. This may work but I know that some of you were using the nylon or fiber weed guard and not the wire type...that would complicate things to where you'd have to cut the slit I guess. Anyway, there's my .02.

i sue the oldham weed guard jogheads a lot (the 3/16 oz. are the most versatile IMO) and you can either bend the guard back enough to insert into the tube and just keep threading the tube over the jig head (it helps the keep the tube bunched up ahead of the jighead or the guard will want to back out) or you can swing or turn the guard so that it is in line with the jig and do it that way.  the second method involves twisting the guard a little and that can weaken and/or break it though if done too much.  i generally use these jigheads with the BPS tender tubes which are very easily to puncture with the weed guard.  

i've used those hole punchers and agree that those holes are often too big which reduces the durability of some tubes.

good luck

" ...but on the pack it says just to bend the wire up and insert it into the tube first then use it to poke the hole where you'd like it to protrude. This may work but I know that some of you were using the nylon or fiber weed guard and not the wire type... "

This seems to make sense, but when I "bend the wire up" it makes that much more distance between the top of the wire (which needs to poke through) and the bottom of the jig head (that needs to be inside), and the tubes just don't have enough give in them to fit.  If I bend it way forwrd and insert, it breaks the guard off.  I'll try the reverse entry from the top and see if that works for me.  Can't see not needing glue, though, since I need to get the entire jig head through the tube, and not just the eye and wire.  Thanks to everyone for replying.

I use the jig insert without a weed guard in relatively open water. For a weedless presentation I T-rig (unpegged). T-rigged tubes have been my most productive lure this summer.