Tubes...tricks And Tips

[eric1978]

With fall rapidly approaching and dropping water temps right behind it, I've been thinking ahead a little about catching those finicky cold-water smallies. I have to admit that I am more partial to fishing during the warmer months for all the obvious reasons: comfortable weather, more active fish, and the pleasure of watching a big fish take a lure near or on the surface. I do love the colder seasons, too. There's nothing like the serenity of being alone on a clear Ozark stream on a crisp, cool day.

But for me, the catching is tough. I just haven't put in enough hours on the rivers during these months to really establish any tactics I have tremendous confidence in. I've taken some good fish on jerkbaits, and when the water gets really cold, I've had some luck on hair jigs & trailer and Senkos. I honestly have never had any good experiences with tubes. I've tied them on many times, but after just a few casts I take them off, hence my lack of confidence in them. I just feel like they are so plain and lifeless, I might as well tie on a baby carrot and throw it in the water.

I know for a lot of you the tube is your default bait, and will swear it's just magic in cold water. I want to give it another shot this winter and was hoping you tube veterans could enlighten me. All advice is welcome including particular brands, sizes, colors, rigging and techniques.

I know this topic has been covered many times before, but I thought it would be okay to reopen it since it is a staple smallmouth bait. Thanks all!

[Flysmallie]

I rarely use a tube for smallmouths anymore. But they do catch fish. The most success I have had, especially when the fish are sluggish, is fishing them carolina rigged. Now this can be done with a bullet weight to keep it down or something as simple as just enough split shot to keep it just on the bottom. Dragging this out of some fast water into some slack water can really trigger a strike, but most times it will be a really light take. And you need to be slow in your presentation in really cold water.

Fishing a jig and float style rig has done pretty well in the past too. I am mainly using this with a fly rod but it was originally designed for conventional tackle. I use various jigs and flies with a small strike indicator (bobber) several feet above to detect the strike. To me this is a better way of producing a strike when things get really tough. Plus if you get it in the right water, like a big eddy, you don't have to make as many casts. You can let it sit there and float around and around in that eddy forever.

If you are going to fish cold water you have to have patience and make slow presentations. But moving into the really cold water we are going to go through a period that should produce some great fishing. Yeah I know what others have said about fall fishing. Don't worrty about that too much. Those fish are there and they are going to feed. There will be days that the fishing is horrible and you will start to believe what they say, but there will be other days that dreams are made of. And leaves or no leaves, don't forget to throw a good crankbait no matter how cold the water is. Sometimes that's all they want.

[Dutch]

As stated you can crig a tube. You can put a bit of styrofoam in it and make it float off the bottom.

You can Texpose them if you fish where it isn't real brushy. Otherwise Trig them.

A way I sometimes fish them is with a bell sinker inside the tube held in place by a worm hook.

Most of the time I fish them with a tube insert rigged weedless.

You can use about 4 colors and do just fine. I recommend melon'pepper, white, smoke, and pumpkin seed. I buy at Bass Pro in Spfld or Fin and Feather in Spfld and don't know who makes them, just that they are salty and produce fish.

Where will you be fishing?

[eric1978]

As stated you can crig a tube. You can put a bit of styrofoam in it and make it float off the bottom.

You can Texpose them if you fish where it isn't real brushy. Otherwise Trig them.

A way I sometimes fish them is with a bell sinker inside the tube held in place by a worm hook.

Most of the time I fish them with a tube insert rigged weedless.

You can use about 4 colors and do just fine. I recommend melon'pepper, white, smoke, and pumpkin seed. I buy at Bass Pro in Spfld or Fin and Feather in Spfld and don't know who makes them, just that they are salty and produce fish.

Where will you be fishing?

Primarily on smaller rivers closer to St. Louis, usually the Meramec and it's tributaries. I try to get down to the Current and Jack's Fork occasionally. I hardly ever fish reservoirs and basically never do in the winter. I fish some smaller lakes and ponds for largemouth in winter but have several tried and true methods to catch those fish. However, the more I fish stream smallmouth, the less interest I have in anything else. So yeah, I'm really looking for info on catching smallmouth in stained to gin-clear streams during periods of cold weather, since this is where I have the least experience and confidence. Thanks for your tips!

[Al Agnew]

I always use the same rig with tubes...insert a big split shot into the tube. Use an EWG hook that is the right size to go through the nose and out, then insert the point just in front of the tentacles, through both sides of the body and out, then skin hook the point.

In really cold weather, go to small tubes...2 inchers. Otherwise the 3.5 inchers will work.

I mostly drag them slowly across the bottom in cold water. No hops, no quick raises of the rod tip. I want the tube on the bottom most of the time. Frequent pauses. Occasionally if I think it's sitting in a prime spot, just jiggle the rod tip. I use a spinning rod and 2/10 Power Pro braid in the clear water of winter.

Perhaps the biggest key to fishing tubes in the winter is that the fish will NOT move more than a couple of feet at most to take one. You really have to almost KNOW where the fish is lying. Some of my best spots to catch big wintertime smallies on tubes are big, sunken, isolated logs that lie in the middle of pools in fairly deep water. Anchor or hold the boat a cast length off the log and fish it carefully. I have less luck in and around big rocks on tubes, for some reason, and I seldom even try to fish them in rocky bottoms that don't have something that stands out. I have a few choice logs in my favorite stretches that have produced multiple big fish in the winter, and most of them are not obvious until the water gets extremely clear...they are too deep and too far off the banks. And I do have a few specific spots around rocks that I know to within a few feet where the fish are going to be, and I'll catch fish on them with tubes. But I have never had much luck using the tube more as a search bait. For some reason, hair jigs have worked better for me when I'm just prospecting a pool for winter smallies.

[eric1978]

Great tips, Al. I really appreciate the kind of precise, analytical feedback you always provide. I've seen you mention before that you always try to match the color to the bottom of the stream...I assume you use the same approach with tubes? Are there any brands you like better than others?

I too have had decent success with hair jigs in winter, and they have really been my go-to bait for the cold months. But no matter how carefully I fish them, I just seem to get hung up a ton with them. I can't bring myself to throw the jigs with the giant ugly weedguards and silicon skirts, and the wire guards on the hair jigs seem to do nothing to prevent hangups on rocks. But I just take a dozen or so and deal with it, since it's all I really have confidence in during winter. When I get really frustrated with the snags, I'll fish a small Senko much like you described fishing the tubes. I've had some luck with that, but tend to catch mostly the little guys.

[Dutch]

eric have you tried Float n Fly for your winter smallies?

[smallmouthjoe]

I've been wanting to try the float n fly method for a while now. You just attach a hair jig with a bobber a foot or so above it and pop it along the surface right? Is there other techniques or set-ups?

[Flysmallie]

You can use a hair jig, fly or anything else that you want to drift around in the current. The placement of the float depends on you or where you would like the lure to be. You can adjust it for various water depths or at depths where you know the fish are holding. I very seldom move mine when river fishing, just let the current carry it along.

[smallmouthjoe]

You can use a hair jig, fly or anything else that you want to drift around in the current. The placement of the float depends on you or where you would like the lure to be. You can adjust it for various water depths or at depths where you know the fish are holding. I very seldom move mine when river fishing, just let the current carry it along.

What do you suggest in the way of a bobber? So some work better than others?