sbasser
03-20-2004, 12:14 AM
I started to post this reply to Shalom's question on the thread that Stan Fagerstrom started. Then felt like I was hijacking Stan's thread, which I didn't want to do, since I haven't seen or been able to try Outlaw's tubes. I don't normally start new subjects, but here it is.
Since I like thick walled tubes (a lot of plastic, which floats, extra weight helps with casting, but with a slow fall), I have just stuffed a splitshot in there. Yeah, sometimes they fall out. Sorry I can't give you the size, but I'd guess a #4>#6. The key thing (to me) is the flat, spiral fall, but this rigging is less snaggy than with a true Texas rig, and skips WAY better, even if the bullet sinker is pegged. What size splitshot you use, and how you adapt it, depends on the brand of tube bait you like or can get. The thick tubes I know of are Zoom, Luck E Strike and Angler's Arsenal.
McCoy's has the glass rattles with two big steel shot inside, and anyplace that has Mean Green line should be able to get them. I used to wrap those with either lead tape or electrical tape, to make them a bit heavier, bigger diameter and toughen them up a bit. Dozens of these have been smashed :smash: against the side of docks! BPS has something similar, if not identical, and I think Venom has a similar item. I've mostly used glass rattles, and can't recall ever having caught a fish with a plastic or metal rattle involved.
If the splitshot are too small to push-fit into your brand, get some surgical tubing at the Pharmacy, and use a short section of that for a sleeve. I would cut the tubing long enough to keep the shot back enough to get that flat, spiral fall instead of a straight plummet to the bottom. On the other hand, sometimes that fast fall gets a reaction strike, and they won't hit the slow fall. Alternatively, you might use a short section of a worm, and put a regular worm rattle inside, or try wrapping a splitshot in electrical tape. I have not tried either of those ideas, but it might work.
One of the first things I tried was an unweighted G-4 (Luck E Strike). This would float, with an air bubble inside, and I could work it like a twitch bait. Suddenly, the cavity would fill with water, the Gitzit would "pass gas", turn nose down and head for the bottom. It often got intercepted. Some of these new flipping tubes should be experimented with, like that. Could be deadly, on a calm morning. :cheers:
My experience with several good fishing buddies is that I can give them my exact setup, and they will sometimes revise it back to some previous incarnation that I tried and revised. Don't be afraid to tweek the rigging to suit your situation, your equipment and your attitudes. In all cases, you will need to adjust hook size to fit the tube properly, and tube's body length varies a lot from brand to brand and sometimes batch to batch (thinner walls)
I think a little noise is ok, but not in clear water. Once you got it rigged, FUGEDABOUDIT ... ignore it. Your rattle-equipped bait will make enough noise with what you normally do...don't compromise your feeling the bait by concentrating on shaking the darned thing! C&R, Steve
Since I like thick walled tubes (a lot of plastic, which floats, extra weight helps with casting, but with a slow fall), I have just stuffed a splitshot in there. Yeah, sometimes they fall out. Sorry I can't give you the size, but I'd guess a #4>#6. The key thing (to me) is the flat, spiral fall, but this rigging is less snaggy than with a true Texas rig, and skips WAY better, even if the bullet sinker is pegged. What size splitshot you use, and how you adapt it, depends on the brand of tube bait you like or can get. The thick tubes I know of are Zoom, Luck E Strike and Angler's Arsenal.
McCoy's has the glass rattles with two big steel shot inside, and anyplace that has Mean Green line should be able to get them. I used to wrap those with either lead tape or electrical tape, to make them a bit heavier, bigger diameter and toughen them up a bit. Dozens of these have been smashed :smash: against the side of docks! BPS has something similar, if not identical, and I think Venom has a similar item. I've mostly used glass rattles, and can't recall ever having caught a fish with a plastic or metal rattle involved.
If the splitshot are too small to push-fit into your brand, get some surgical tubing at the Pharmacy, and use a short section of that for a sleeve. I would cut the tubing long enough to keep the shot back enough to get that flat, spiral fall instead of a straight plummet to the bottom. On the other hand, sometimes that fast fall gets a reaction strike, and they won't hit the slow fall. Alternatively, you might use a short section of a worm, and put a regular worm rattle inside, or try wrapping a splitshot in electrical tape. I have not tried either of those ideas, but it might work.
One of the first things I tried was an unweighted G-4 (Luck E Strike). This would float, with an air bubble inside, and I could work it like a twitch bait. Suddenly, the cavity would fill with water, the Gitzit would "pass gas", turn nose down and head for the bottom. It often got intercepted. Some of these new flipping tubes should be experimented with, like that. Could be deadly, on a calm morning. :cheers:
My experience with several good fishing buddies is that I can give them my exact setup, and they will sometimes revise it back to some previous incarnation that I tried and revised. Don't be afraid to tweek the rigging to suit your situation, your equipment and your attitudes. In all cases, you will need to adjust hook size to fit the tube properly, and tube's body length varies a lot from brand to brand and sometimes batch to batch (thinner walls)
I think a little noise is ok, but not in clear water. Once you got it rigged, FUGEDABOUDIT ... ignore it. Your rattle-equipped bait will make enough noise with what you normally do...don't compromise your feeling the bait by concentrating on shaking the darned thing! C&R, Steve