®
Spring 2024
page 20
up the shank of a jighead, like the
tube when it falls on
Northland Fishing Take Nedster jig.
This set up can be fished in the same manner and
The Bassmaster Classic winning Smeltinator Jig.
its initial descent and then when you pause your retrieve is a great
areas that a Ned Rig can.
way to trigger tight
It is a great alternative
lipped bass into biting.
when fishing along a
To rig a jig head inside
weedline or making casts
a tube, you begin by inserting the
to isolated rocks. The
hook point into the tube body where you want the
streamlined design of the
eye of the jighead to come out. Then you thread the tube
tube allows it to fall quickly and inhibited, meaning it will
up the hook shank, until it meets the head of the jig. Here is
get to the bottom quickly and if being cast to just inside the whereby lubricating the jighead with saliva or fish scent will
weed edge, it will fall through the weeds without getting
make shoving the head into the tube cavity easier. Once
hung up.
the jighead is inside the tube, make sure the eye of the
Tube baits also have a very erratic action that is rarely
jighead is sticking cleanly out of the plastic, so you have a
repeated on the next fall, meaning that every time you
clear area to tie your line.
make a cast to a fish holding spot, those bass will be seeing
You can change up the size of the soft plastic tube bait
something slightly different. This will keep a school of bass based on the size of the bait the bass are eating, along with
biting, long after other lures have worn out their welcome.
the water depth, current, or wind conditions that day. If the
The stupid tube is also a great alternative for anglers
bass are feeding on smaller shad, swimming a small 2.5-
that are fishing for bedded bass in the spring, as the
inch tube is a great choice, whereas if the bass are eating
tantalizing fall of the tube bait can enticing a finicky
perch or bluegill, you can up your tube to a 4-inch.
spawning bass into biting on the fall, or once it hits the
Finding a jig that works for swimming a soft plastic
bottom, the bait can be left motionless on a bass’ bed, and
bait is very important. If the jig head doesn’t have a well-
the slight twitch of the rod will make the tube’s tentacles
balanced head, the bait will continually roll and its
move and get a bass to commit.
profile in the water will be ruined. I like using the
Skipping docks with a wacky-rigged soft plastic
Northland Fishing Tackle Smeltinator Jig, as it was
stickbait, jig or pitching a Texas-rigged creature bait all
designed for swimming soft plastic baits.
work, but sometimes those dock welling bass need to
The jig is available in 1/8-ounce up to a
see something different to get to bite. Here again is
1/2-ounce and has hook sizes in it that
when making the call to stupid tube can garner some
go from 1/0 to 5/0, so you can
bites when the traditional dock fishing lure offerings
select the right jig head to
have yielded no bites.
complement your tube bait.
SWIMMING A TUBE
It is known that smallmouth anglers will drag a tube that has a jig head that has been inserted into the hollow body cavity of the tube, but another way to fish a tube with a jig inside of it, is to swim it.
Swimming a tube works when bass are cruising rock or sand flats, or along a weed edge, and likely when they are feeding on baitfish or perch. The streamlined profile of the tube, coupled with the erratic action of the