Tube HELP!

[MCTFisher9120]

Im going to BPS this weekend and know everything i want to get except for tubes,im looking for a green pumpkin tube. I had a bunch of green tube's but can't seem to find them and the worst part is i had really good success with them last summer. My question is does brand matter when getting tubes? Im not sure what the BPS in Toronto carries at their store(brand wise), and i know there is a lot of tube fishers here on OFC.

[BillM]

They have pretty much every tube you could ever need. Size, colour, everything.

[bassjnkie]

Over the years I used all kinds of brands, even customs from the UK. It is a personal preference. Strike king tubes are nice with a smaller, soft profile, BPS brand is very similar and cost less. The, can't remember the name, something like Salty Fat tubes are pretty good. Don't spend a fortune on tubes, despite the shape and size they all do the job. Just don't cheap out on the hooks.

 

Daniel

[Fang]

Salt, Salt and more salt.

 

Fished a lot of different ones and those that are heavy salt and salt impregnated always do better for me

 

Make sure you get a selection of 3" and 4". I even throw a fair bit of smaller 2" and thinner tubes for smallies on 1/8oz heads with decent success. 5" and bigger for largemouth.

 

If you can open the packs check out how soft they are. The softer the better. Don't forget to get some goby style baits as well

[misfish]

They have pretty much every tube you could ever need. Size, colour, everything.

 

 

Yes they do,"EXCEPT"the colour I use Bill.

 

Lucky for me,wallyworld carrys it,and when the guys stocks it up,I scoop them all.

[diggyj]

I have a lot of success with Phenix and Yum tubes.

Edited December 24, 2008 by diggyj

[OhioFisherman]

I used a lot of different brands, never really noticed a difference with the brands. From a cost stand point the Dominator house brand sold by Jann`s NetCraft http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/netcraft-dominator-baits/ always worked for me. Quality tubes at a decent price, I used to buy 3-4 hundred a year.

 

They don`t have a lot of colors but the ones they do carry seem to work well, I would buy other colors I wanted from some other places. I like them with heavy salt and garlic, but it`s not hard to throw more into the bags, better though when it`s molded in.

[singingdog]

I'm guessing that the vast majority of "big name" - mizmo, strike king, gambler... - tubes are made in the same place, then just packaged differently. I certainly haven't noticed a difference between the name brands. Some of the "premium" tubes out there (can you say coffee?) are IMHO marketing hype. I look for good prices first, colour second, salt....last. All that salt on the outside of a tube is gone within 10 seconds of it being in the water.

 

Definitly look for some smaller tubes; Mizmo makes a good one. They can save the day when the bite is tough.

[Blake]

For Tubes brand does make a difference. Ask any tourney angler and they know what I mean. The best brands I have used and that have consistently proven reliable are Strike King Coffee Tubes, Phenix Tubes, Bass Magnet Tubes.

[charlesn]

C'mon Blake, brand makes very very little difference if you ask a tournament pro that is not sponsored. And asking a tournament pro anything is really dependent on their sponsor at the time. They flip flop all the time. Product A is better and then they change sponsors and suddenly product B is better. I'm super super sceptical of all "endorsements" by anyone with sponsorship or connections to any company. Look up George Cochran (Bassmaster Classic Champion and FLW Champion) and some of the lies he's told and been caught telling trying to promote Strike King (his sponsor) while being filmed fishing a Lucky Craft Pointer. lol

 

Brand makes essentially no difference as someone pointed out, most are made in the same place. It's just marketing.

 

Colour sometimes makes a bit of difference, and once in a while it has been "proven" (insofar as any fishing bait outproducing another can be proven) to my sceptical self that it can make all the difference. But the norm is that colour doesn't make much difference either.

 

There is not a brand of tube I haven't tried I don't think. They all work. There are a few basic size differences that matter more that are not brand specific:

 

-2.5" - great for sight fishing in clear water especially during the mayfly hatch with a 1/16th oz. leadhead and 2/0 hook

-3.5" slim - e.g. the Bass Pro Tender Tubes - awesome for numbers of fish and a finicky bite. They do not last all that long compared to for example a quadruple dipped Schuberts. The scent impregnated Berkley Power tubes also used to have the slimmer profile which is useful. I also prefer this profile to any other tube for drop-shotting. 3/0 hook

-3.5-4" fat salted - this is the standard, tonnes of brands, none are superior to the others, I like companies that let you make your own colour creations (but you need to buy a 1000 - but that's usually not a problem split up with a few guys). 4/0

-3.5-4" quadruple dipped - I think it's schubert that makes these incredibly durable tubes. For places like Erie it's nice as you can catch 50 fish on it before needing to replace it. You need a wider gapped hook for maximum hook up percentage. 4/0

-5" "flippin'" tube - often used more for largemouth, but deadly for big smallies on Erie in the fall. 4/0 (only because no one I know pours a 5/0 tube head)

 

What is boils down to is confidence. I have approximately 50 lbs of various tubes in various size and colours. Do I really need: smoke/pepper/purple and smoke/pepper/purple/gold and smoke/pepper/purple/silver and smoke/pepper/blue and smoke etcetcetc. No, but I got caught up in the "bait of the day" mindset and everytime someone did well, I went out and bought a 100 pack. Realistically, green-pumpkin/pepper works day in day out and some guys use nothing but that colour. Then again, some guys have 300 lbs of tubes and will cut off a tube that has just caught five 4 lbers in a row to try to catch a 5 lber on a different colour. I'm not at that level.

 

Buy yourself a few packs of different colours in different sizes. That's all you'll need to get started. Don't get caught up in the gimmicks (e.g. coffee tubes), they are usually more expensive and in the case of the coffee tube, less effective.

 

Charles

[Terry]

great reply charlesn

thanks

[OhioFisherman]

Although I have never done business with the folks that run this site http://www.thinksweb.com/dlures/lureheads.html

 

They offer an Erie series tube head with a 5/0 hook, we always made our own, not to hard to put a dremel bit in a drill press and open up the slots to accept a slightly larger hook.

 

Seen others around with a 5/0 hook but it`s been a while since I had to look and don`t remember the manufacturer.

 

3/0 - 4/0 was fine for playing around on Erie most of the time, tournament day with big fish located a 5/0 might be the way to go. Never had much of a problem landing them on 4/0 or even 3/0, finding them on tournament day another story.

 

Mustad 32746BLN were fine for fun fishing, tournament day a Gammie 604, just a stronger hook.

 

Tough bite days I have mixed it up in the past, from 1 1/2 -2 inch crappie sized tubes to 5 inch tubes, for me to slap on a 5 inch tube was unusual.

[misfish]

Nice post Chuck.

 

Merry christmas to you and your clan.

[charlesn]

Thanks Brian and Terry, and thanks OH fisherman for the link, I'm gonna give them a shot!

 

Charles

[OhioFisherman]

No Problem Charles, I knew I had seem them. Maybe even at the local tackle shop here, it is run by some guys that fish most of the area bass tournaments, and they know their stuff. A lot of bass tournaments in the area here, Lake Erie and inland lakes.

 

Although their shop is geared to the bass fisherman they carry a full line of quality tackle.

[Drew_10]

bassmagnetlures.com

 

that's all you need to know.