which tubes from wayne's were the hottest for you this year?

[WayneC]

Happy Thanksgiving to both Denise and Dave, in sunny Cholula!

[Wolf_fisherman]

Hay wayne i cleaned up on 3 species this year on the st clair craw and canadian mist tubes....big smallies largies and bonus walleyes on the st clair craw a 4 and 5lber respectfully! thanks for great products once again!

[WayneC]

A wolf catching smallies, largies and walleyes.  Sounds about right!

Fishing those two colors together must have told you a lot about the bite.  They are pretty far apart in color and brightness.

It's nice to hear dinner was included on some of those trips.  I might not have even caught one walleye this year.  That's odd, for all the deep water fishing I do.

Hopefully, you can visit the booth at the show and see the new, Great Lakes Perch.  Color wise, it should fit right in-between what you are using now.  Happy Holidays.

[djkimmel]

I haven't even seen Great Lakes Perch...?? I also haven't seen a dmisaras in many, many moons. No wonder... he was hiding in Mexico.

Maybe I'll run into him in January??

[WayneC]

I think the arrival of the dmisaras will be at a later date.  Besides, what would be the point of leaving all that sunshine now?

[WayneC]

Yeah Dan, I haven't even seen Great Lakes Perch either and will be as nervous as an expectant father before opening the boxes when they come.

[chrisvmo]

what is the best way to rig the tube bait? I fish alot with ratteling jig heads but that gets hard when the weeds start to grow. I havent really tried texas rigging them but im sure that would sole my problem. Also how does everyone use them. slow..jigging..etc.

[WayneC]

Your question has nearly an infinite number of answers. 

On Lake St. Clair, I'll use an open jig hook most of the time.  A lead head tapered tube jig with a 4/0 black nickel hook will do the job.  A rattle is an option I'll go to under certain conditions.

When I rig a tube Texas sytle, I learned the hard way that the worm style hook I use for my worms and twin tails won't do.  The gap isn't big enough.  Once I switched over to an 4/0 EWG (Extra Wide Gap) hook the problem was solved.  There is extra room for the tube to get out of the way of the point when the bass mashes down on it.  I'll go Texas rig with both 4" and 5" tubes.

With the same EWG hook but 5/0, I'll rig 5" tubes weedless/weightless and use them like a soft jerkbait.  This is a great option when bass key in on the color but a switch in presentation is called for.

One little used rig is the 3-Way rig.  It's a live bait rig converted for use with soft plastics.  I'll drop the weight 8 to 10 inches and run the line out to the 4/0 EWG hook about 2 feet.

I'll let someone else tell you about the Carolina rig...not my forte.

[skeeterman190]

 I always use an open hook! Texas rigged tubes are not in my arsenal!!!! when i flip it  ALWAYS w/ a JIG.. tubes are smallie baits in certain situations they might be the deal!  but not  too often...i love waynes tubes!!!!! best smallie bait out there!!! other then the 3" goby from NEMisis!!!

[Cy]

When I am fishing an Xtreme tube I am fishing it on a Texas rig 99% of the time.  I use tubes for flippin' and pitchin' regularly.  I like them with a bullet weight, sometimes pegged.  I like them with the internal style weight and I like them weightless.  It is one of the most versatile baits out there.  Mark Zona once said if he had to choice any one bait it would be a tube.  You make a tube look like anything.  I agree with that.

[chrisvmo]

thanks fellas, I would only use tubes in the spring....lots of options now.

[dashaver63]

I like to carolina rig tubes, especially 5" in the spring when I am fishing blind in a known spawning area. Great search tool to home in on the sweet spot, find the isolated rocks, wood, or weeds that might be there. Depending on depth, I'll go as heavy as an ounce and a half, but generally 1/2 to 3/4 is sufficient, just make sure to maintain solid bottom contact. I put the weight and bead about 12" in front of my tube in shallow water, less than 10' of water and maybe as far as 2' ahead of the bait in deeper water up to 20+'. I prefer to keep the bait a little closer to the weight because the weight makes so much comotion and is what actually attracts the fish, so I want my bait there when they start investigating. Rig the tube weightless texas style with the 4/0 EWG hook, I'll sometimes put a foam earplug in it if I need it to float above the weight a little higher.

[Waterfoul]

I did pretty well drop shotting the small 3" tube.  On some lakes the St. Claire crayfish did very well... while on others it was darker colors.  I will definitely be buying some more when I get to the Novi show this year.

We also did very well using them for smallies on the Grand River above the 6th street dam this year (a VERY underfished and unutilized fishery I might add... but stay away... it's MINE!!!).  Used Wayne's tubes and the new Coffee tubes from Strike King.  I believe Wayne's tubes outfished the Coffee's around 2-1 most days.  Even got a nice pike on one!!

[dashaver63]

I'm just looking forward to seeing Waynes new perch color. I'll be grabbing up some of those in the 5" size.

[WayneC]

That was the Carolina rig I started with first.  InFisherman had it on a show about 15 years ago and that's the type of weight they were talking about.  Since then, I kept trotting it out and try to build some confidence in it.  I could get bit and couldn't hook up, in spite of many tackle changes.  Last year was the first time I came close to building confidence and it was with a 1/4 oz. weight with an X-worm behind it, wacky rigged.  It worked great on the sand at Walpole.  This was quite the relief for me.  It's great to hear about your confidence in the 5" tube.  Folks have been getting away from that size over the last couple of years but the smallies still run to it.

Thanks for checking in with the St. Clair Crayfish drop-shot tube.  Of course Mark Frickman smoked 'em this year but across the board, the drop-shot tubes made for some easy and exciting fishing.  Feel free to contact me directly if a 2-4-1 pass would help you for the show.  The new color, Great Lakes Perch will also be available in a drop-shot tube as well as a 4" and 5" bait.  It will be worth the trip to the show just to see this one.

[Cheetam]

I could get bit and couldn't hook up, in spite of many tackle changes.

It could be how you're setting the hook.  Setting the hook with a carolina rig is different than how you would do it with a texas rig or tube jig.  Set the hook with your rod parallel to the water as opposed to setting the hook "up" and you will see a big change in the amount of hook-ups you will get.  If you set the hook like you would with a texas rig or tube, you pull the weight off the bottom, which will create slack between it and the hook.

[dashaver63]

You're exactly right on the hookset. I use a 7'6" medium heavy action rod for the carolina rig. 20lb mono mainline and 12 to 17lb. florocarbon leader. A big sweeping hookset is the only way to do it, and with a 7'6" rod, I can take up a lot of line which means , for me, near 100% hook-ups.

[WayneC]

Yeah and I've heard using a Carolina Rig is so easy a caveman can do it...

In my heart of hearts I truly believe that for 99% of the population the rig is easy.  Sure I wince when someone says, "I just rigged a Carolina Rig up for my kid so they could catch some easy fish."  It can't be rocket science but for whatever reason it's not my thing.  A split-shot rig sure, a mojo rig absolutely but no confidence yet with the C rig.  Wait, I just remembered something.  I was dragging a Berkley power leach with it at Mullett Lake and caught a sucker.  How did I forget that?

That's the one thing awesome about GLBass.com is how anglers pull together and share info. to help each other.  The technical stuff you guys mentioned was spot on and the sweep set with the 7'6" rod was tried at one time.  The leader material is not something I've tried so perhaps that is next. 

Never give up, never surrender!

[Cheetam]

I prefer to use mono as my leader when using a carolina rig because it floats.  I want the bait to be as far off the bottom as possible.  I think flouro drags the bait down a little too much.

[chrisvmo]

So basically there is a tube for every situation. What is the best way to fish thick weed cover?