Illinois Outdoors

Articles

Working a Tube Jig by Don Dziedzina
Articles >>

Over the years I’ve fishing with a lot of different people and I learned a lot about fishing tube jigs. Hearing what other have to say about working tubes reinforces many of my thoughts on tube fishing and improves the catches.

Tubes come in various sizes and colors. When it comes to making a choice, personal preference has a lot to do with it as confidence in the lure plays a major role. If an angler has confidence in what he or she is using, they will catch more fish. Although there are times when the weight used can differ, the bottom line on that is that you must use the least amount of weight as possible on your jig.

Sometimes when fishing in deep water, a heavier jig is neccessary. If there are a lot of weeds, the heavier weight will help navigate the tube through the cover. Lighter jigs, on the other hand will allow you to work the top of the weeds. They may also help keep you from snagging up in the rocks of rip rap shorelines.

Tube jigs come in a variety of styles and sizes as well. But one thing that’s for sure is that you need to get a jig with a quality hook for a good hook set. Wire hooks bend a bit too easy and it becomes a trade off. Do you want to save the jig and tube on a snag or do you want to land the fish?

Jigs that have a cone shaped lead weight built into the shank of the hook are the best. The way you can rig them is first put the point of the hook through the tip of the tube. Work the bend of the hook around so that it point towards the head of the tube but try your best to not puncture the tube a second time. Now push the hook down the body of the tube and work the cone shaped lead weight to the nose of the tube. All you should have is the eyelet of the jig sticking out of the top of the nose of the tube and the bend of the hook should be wedged inside the body. You have just put together a weedless tube rig.

You will notice that the bend of the hook has produced a little hump on the tube body. It’s almost keel like in shape. This really helps the tube to swim to the bottom. The tube will sway to the left and right and it sinks, giving it a life like look. Keep this in mind. When you tube falls in this fashion, make sure that you watch your line. Sometimes it will stop short of the bottom or move off to one side. If this happens, quickly reel in the slack, wait a second or so to feel some heaviness in the line, then set the hook hard. Fish will often pick up the tube on the fall. The little keel shape to you tube will make it more appetizing to game fish.

Once the bait hits the bottom, anglers will have a few different presentations that they can make with the tube. Probably the most successful is the slow drag. You want to make that tube look and act like a slow walking crayfish. If you have ever observed a crayfish in an aquarium or bait tank, you would notice that they are slow movers. You’ll also see that they may walk a distance of about a foot or so then stop. If something seems to bother them, they’ll take off again a little faster pace but not at the speed of lightening.

Too many anglers move their baits way too fast. You have to slow down. Sure, crawfish will jump and swim up off the bottom, but again, try to mimic what you have seen in the bait tanks. Craws will jump up maybe 6 inches to a foot off the bottom then sink again. They may skitter off a short distance before jumping up again. So when making the presentation, try doing a drag, drag, short hop and drag presentation.

Out of the water this would be difficult to practice and see how it works, but if you can give it a try in shallow clear water, you will get a good idea if what you are doing looks realistic.

Sometimes crawfish will sit motionless for extended periods of time. If the craw is found in the area of a lurking bass, there could be a staring contest going on between the two and for almost a minute, neither the predator nor the prey will move. But if you can hold a bait in one spot for a while where you know there are fish, try the waiting game. Wait as long as you can before moving the bait. Once the craw gives up and begins to move off, that’s when the bass will inhale the bait and you have a fight on your hands.

When fish are very aggressive, a quick skitter across the bottom can work wonders for you. Let the bait fall and make the bait skitter across the bottom in an erratic motion. Do your best to keep the movements short though. Again, craws will scurry from one rock to the next for cover, but will they move a distance of 5 feet in less than a second? Try moving your bait at about 2 to 3 feet per second. Observe how you’re doing this in the clear shallow water and you’ll get the idea.

Working tubes is a great way to catch fish. Set yourself up with a number of different size tubes and jigs. When it comes to colors, you can never have enough different colors because one day the green is right while a smoke color will work the next. Tubes will work well into the fall of the year so if you haven’t tried them yet, do it now.

- Back to Index of Articles -

• Back To Top Of Page •

• Site Navigation Map •