In our club tournament Sunday, I was pitching 4" Yum tubes to bushes and brush in about 1-4' of water. For the life of me, I don't know what was wrong but I easily missed 10+ fish. It could have been other things but I want to know what size and type of hooks and how you rig them when flipping and pitching 4" tubes. I started with a Gamakatsu 4/0 EWG and then moved to a 5/0 Owner EWG (actually hooked some fish with this one, but still missed more).

In our club tournament Sunday, I was pitching 4" Yum tubes to bushes and brush in about 1-4' of water. For the life of me, I don't know what was wrong but I easily missed 10+ fish. It could have been other things but I want to know what size and type of hooks and how you rig them when flipping and pitching 4" tubes. I started with a Gamakatsu 4/0 EWG and then moved to a 5/0 Owner EWG (actually hooked some fish with this one, but still missed more).

I doubt your hooks had anything to do with it, those are pretty much the "standard" for a 4"-5" tube. If the fish are short striking the bait often, that tells you something ain't quite right with your presentation. Maybe you were fishing it to fast or to slow, or maybe you had too heavy or too light of a weight on and it was falling to fast and/or slow for there mood. I would have changed bait size first, insted of hooks, gone with a 3.5" tube, you were obviously getting the fish's attention with your color choice, so that would also be one thing I left alone. And if down sizing you bait didn't help, switch baits all together, like to a worm or jig, and the first one the fish were really taking well I would have stuck with.

Most of the fish were actually swimming away from the cover with the bait   :-/

Most of the fish were actually swimming away from the cover with the bait :-/

That really dosen't mean much, you would be amazed on how 5lb fish can pick a 4" tube up by the tail, swim off with and never have the hook in his mouth. Bottom line is the fish were not commited to "EATING" your bait, sure a few might have, but most , by the sounds of it were not. Which is why, just me personaly, in the same situation would have gave them alittle something different to see what they would commit to.

I had the a very similar situation this weekend, sat. I was getting them pretty good in a small bay off the main lake on a 1/2 oz trap, well that night I weak front blows through, drops water temps a few degrees, and coupled with them seeing the bigger bait on sat. sunday the same bait was not working nearly as well. I knew the fish were still there as I had a lot of short strikes, and the few fish I did catch were barely hooked, switched to a 1/4 oz bait, and it was back on.

Is it possible they were 'removing' them from a nest area, as they were in a protective rather than a feeding mode ?

Most of the fish were actually swimming away from the cover with the bait :-/

That really dosen't mean much, you would be amazed on how 5lb fish can pick a 4" tube up by the tail, swim off with and never have the hook in his mouth. Bottom line is the fish were not commited to "EATING" your bait, sure a few might have, but most , by the sounds of it were not. Which is why, just me personaly, in the same situation would have gave them alittle something different to see what they would commit to.

I had the a very similar situation this weekend, sat. I was getting them pretty good in a small bay off the main lake on a 1/2 oz trap, well that night I weak front blows through, drops water temps a few degrees, and coupled with them seeing the bigger bait on sat. sunday the same bait was not working nearly as well. I knew the fish were still there as I had a lot of short strikes, and the few fish I did catch were barely hooked, switched to a 1/4 oz bait, and it was back on.

Tell me about it! Last week I had what felt like a nice bite and set the hook only to have the trailer legs gone on my jig.

If the fish are bedded cut the tails OFF or mostly off.