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  • Hey folks. Glenn May here with BassResource.com, and today I want to talk to you about the

  • tube bait. This is a really versatile bait. You can rig it so many different ways and

  • it's effective in all of them. I want to go through some of the different ways that you

  • can fish them. I've caught largemouth and smallmouth on this in all across the country.

  • Let me show you a couple different ways to rig this.

  • The first one is using a tube jig. This is an internal jig that goes inside of the weight.

  • I want to show you a couple different ones here. Look at this. There are two different

  • kinds. What I want you to notice here is on this one here the eye is at the top of the

  • bait or top of the jig. The eye here is at an angle on this one over here. There's two

  • different reasons for that. This one here with the eye on the top is going to give that

  • tube the characteristic spiral action that it's known for. It looks like a dying bait

  • fish. I'm telling you, man, the fish love that. Bass just chew it up. That eye on the

  • top is critical. That's what gives it that action.

  • The bad thing about that, of course, is because it spirals it likes to get hung up in weeds.

  • It gets hung up on things under the docks, also, just because of the position of the

  • eye, for me, it tends to get hung up on rocks more often. I end up breaking off a lot. That's

  • where this one comes in with an angle. That's where that comes into play. Can you see that

  • angle a little bit. It gives it less of a pronounced spiral action, but because of that

  • angle it comes through weeds a lot easier and it doesn't get hung up on rocks as much.

  • This is the one I prefer to use more often than not.

  • The way you rig it is really simple. All you do is wet the jig head a little bit and then

  • you're just going to stick it inside the backside of the tube, and slide it all of the way up

  • inside. You can see a little bulge there, and you just poke it right on through. Poke

  • that eye right through the bait if it will go through just like so. I don't know how

  • well you can see that. Can you see that? There you go. That's the eye right there, and you

  • just tie right to it. It's very simple and straightforward, however, if you notice, the

  • hook is sticking out. That makes it so you get better hookups that way, of course, but

  • that kind of limits it such that you can't throw it in weedy areas. You're going to get

  • hung up more. You're going to get hung up in ropes and things hanging off of docks and

  • that sort of stuff. They make that kind now where it's got that weed guard.

  • Can you see that weed guard? All that does is it's a wire that hooks up underneath the

  • barb of the hook. You'd be surprised how weedless that is. I'm bringing my finger right across

  • that point and it's not getting hung up. This works great in really weedy areas and flipping

  • and pitching and stuff, but it can be a little awkward to rig if you don't know how to do

  • it. All you do is unhook the wire and stick it right straight down, let me wet the jig

  • head real quick, this goes right inside the tube, put the wire right inside the tube,

  • slide everything right on up, and you'll see the wire will start to come right out. It'll

  • poke right out. See how I did that? Just push it all of the rest of the way on through just

  • like I showed you before, just like that other jig head. Poke that right on through. There's

  • the eye, and now you can just snap that underneath that barb and it's weedless now. You've got

  • a weedless jig. This works great for throwing into cover, throwing into weeds, or anything

  • you can get hung up on. It's the perfect way to catch fish and not worry about getting

  • hung up.

  • Let me show you another way. For example, you can throw it on a split shot rig, or mojo

  • as some people call it. It's got this cylinder weight here. This goes through weeds and rocks

  • really well. About eighteen inches below that down here, you'll see how far apart it is,

  • down here I've got a little hook. This is an interesting looking hook. Notice the shape

  • of this thing. Look at this part right here. See how that angles down like that? Looking

  • at that can tell you right away that you're not going to put this in the bait the way

  • you normally would. Why do you have that? See this wire? This little wire comes on down,

  • but it hooks on right to the hook just like that. Can you see that? That's what holds

  • the bait in place. The bait lies just like that so you can see the angle of that hook

  • is really weird.

  • You're going to put the hook in towards the top at an angle like this rather than right

  • down the middle like you would a Texas rig. Don't put it down there. You're going to put

  • it at this angle. All you're going to do is right straight through like that. Bring it

  • all of the way on through. This is called a High Performance hook. I think Eagle Claw

  • makes it. Then you slide it right on up. See that wire hook, that little wire we've got

  • right there? That clips back onto the hook like so, and now it holds that bait in place.

  • All you have to do now is put the hook through the body and the point of the hook rests right

  • on top of the bait. It's weedless just like that.

  • That works perfect for a split shot rig. I'm using a six to ten pound test medium light

  • weight action seven foot rod. It's a little light weight, but don't limit yourself to

  • that. You can throw this behind a Carolina rig the exact same way. What that does is

  • this weight comes down, it sits on the bottom, and then this weight just flutters on down.

  • It floats behind it. It floats a little bit above it. You can take a number ten corky

  • people use for salmon fishing stuff that inside the bait, and now it floats. It'll float above

  • the weight here. It is candy sitting up there like that.

  • Here's a little trick we use up here in the North West. Take a toothpick, break it off,

  • stick it right in the end so it holds the opening open, blow all of the water out before

  • you cast it, throw it on this mojo rig, and throw it out there. What happens is the rig

  • weight will hit the bottom and sit there for a minute. This bait will sit on the top floating.

  • The bubble tension will rise, and eventually it will give. It will burp a little bit and

  • fall. What happens is that smallmouth or largemouth will come right up and just look right at

  • that bait. Looking, looking, "I don't know if I want to bite it.", then he starts to

  • back off, and it burps and falls. It's candy. It is candy. Man, the fish love that. You

  • can do that. Like I said, put a little number ten corky in there and that will just make

  • it a floating bait. Put it behind a Carolina rig or what have you. It's the same sort of

  • concept.

  • Another way to rig it is using a drop shot rig. I'm just going to pull this bait out

  • real quick from how I had it. All I do here is I just nose hook it. Here I'm going to

  • go straight from the top on down just right on top of the bait straight all of the way

  • through. That's it. I'm done. That, my friends, is how I rig it on a drop shot rig. It floats

  • freely behind here. It's uninhibited by the hook. It works wonders. I like to put a good

  • amount of weight behind it here. Again, you don't have to limit yourself. I'm using a

  • six to ten pound test seven foot medium light action rod, but you can also use braided line

  • on a flipping stick, on a heavy weight on the bottom, and turn that drop shot. I call

  • it a bubba shot. You can now, because the weight's on the bottom it's really easy to

  • pitch, pitch that into some heavy cover like matted weeds or matted hydrilla. Punch it

  • through, it will fall through, and now the weight's on the bottom and the bait is sitting

  • up above that. The fish underneath those mats eat that stuff up.

  • Another hook very similar to that HP hook I showed you is like this one. If you notice,

  • instead of having a wire to hold that hook in place it uses little plastic prongs there.

  • The concept is the same. See the bait's going to sit flush with this hook point right here.

  • Look at this angle, you've got to go through the top not through the middle, through the

  • top. Here I've got it on braided line. Here's the bait. I've put a bullet sinker in front

  • of it, a little tungsten weight. I flip and pitch this into wooded brush, cover, and all

  • kinds of stuff. It's weedless. I just text pose it. What I do is I just back the plastic

  • back on top of the point there, but it's completely weedless. I run my finger and I'm not getting

  • hooked up at all. You don't catch and weeds or any garbage or gunk. Those little prongs

  • hold the bait right in place. This is the perfect little setup for flipping and pitching.

  • There are so many different ways you can fish a tube it's not even funny. There's internal

  • weights you can use, again, with those little clips and those angles. You put the weight

  • inside and the hook goes through it. There's a little opening in there and it holds the

  • weight inside the bait. Another way to throw it is with darter heads. That's very similar

  • to these except that the head is pointed. I don't have those, but the head's pointed

  • instead of a ball. Then, the tube itself instead of putting it inside and threading it inside

  • the bait you rig it like you would a Texas rig, on the outside like this. Then, what

  • you're doing is with the weight on the outside it does a couple of things.

  • First off, if I can do this, now the jig head's on the outside with the eye tie up here with

  • it further in front of the bait and that's going to give it an even more pronounced spiral

  • action. It's really going to spin as it falls. This is another great way to rig it. I don't

  • like it as much because it slides off of the hook a lot easier. I just find it burns through

  • my baits a lot faster because I'm tearing them up as they're sliding off this hook,

  • but it's a great, easy way to fish it.

  • Don't be afraid to experiment; look at all of the stuff you've got in your boat and play

  • around with it. The point here is that there's really no wrong way to fish this bait. There's

  • a lot of different ways. Get creative, have fun with it and catch a lot of fish. I hope

  • those tips helped. For more tips and tricks like this visit BassResource.com.

Hey folks. Glenn May here with BassResource.com, and today I want to talk to you about the

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