MIKE GILES: Hot weather makes it perfect tubing time – for bass that is

Published 9:01 am Thursday, August 2, 2018

With blazing hot weather upon us, children of all ages are hitting the pools, creeks, streams and rivers cooling off. Who doesn’t like to take a cool dip into the water with the temperatures reaching near the 100-degree mark?

Just imagine getting on an inner tube and hitting that water slide, or maybe tubing down the Chunky River, or Chickasawhay, or maybe down Okatibbee Creek.

Man wouldn’t that be fun? But the tubing I’m talking about is done with 4- to 5-inch tube lures. Yes, tubing for bass with small tubes is something that few people do but it’s a technique that was perfected by Bobby Garland out west and later by world champion angler Guido Hibdon in his beloved home state of Arkansas.

Hibdon beat all comers for many years while fishing the deep, gin clear Arkansas lakes and rivers and he did it primarily with light spinning tackle and small tubes, sometimes referred to back then as Gitzits. When the water clears up and the temperature soars and fish quit biting, the slender 4-inch tube is my ticket to success.

Fishing tubes is not for power fishermen, or people who fish fast for aggressive bites from hungry bass. No, fishing slender tubes is for people who are patient and like to catch fish and are willing to do what it takes to catch them.

I like to use a 6-foot-6 Johnny Morris Carbon lite spinning rod and reel combo with 8-pound P-line or with 20-pound braid with a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader.

After you have located the bass, then you simply offer the tube to them and they usually can’t resist. I’ll fish that tube on a Texas rig Gamakatsu wide gap hook, with a 1/8-ounce bullet sinker on top. If the fish are staying tight to cover, or under the edge of grass lines, or pads, then simply pitch that lure up onto the grass and let it fall off on slack line just past the edge of the salad patch.

Ninety-five percent of the strikes occur on the fall with slack line. Part of the reason for using this set up on a spinning combo is to let the line flow off of your reel uninhibited so that there is no tension on the line. It must fall freely. The Texas rigged tube will spiral slowly down like a wounded shad and it’s a pure killer on the bass. They just can’t resist it.

The key to catching the bass is to watch your line. Sometimes all you see is a twitch before it gets to the bottom. Sometimes they will move slowly to either side, so it is imperative to watch that line. If you see it twitch and it doesn’t move, then slowly pick up on the line until you feel the lure. If a fish has it in his mouth it will feel spongy or like it has grass on it.

Set the hook – fast!

Another thing to remember when using light line is to set the hook, but not hard like you would when you set the hook on 20-pound line. You want to use a light wire hook and just rear back hard enough to drive that thin hook in. If you hit them too hard, you’ll straighten the hook or break your line.

I prefer Bass Pro Shops tournament series tubes or Zoom tubes in the 4-inch slender size, not the magnum flipping tubes. Magnum Flipping tubes have their place but that’s a story for another day. For this type of tubing we’re talking about using the slim tubes in a finesse manner.

If you find the fish, you can just work the edge of the cover and you will get bit. After you get a hook up just play the fish slowly and let the rod and reel do its job and wear the fish down. You can’t horse in a good fish on light tackle.

My favorite colors in clear water are June bug, watermelon, and smoke with different variations of red or silver flakes. During my last fishing outing the June bug/chartreuse tube paid off with a 6-pound lunker to top off my limit of bass. If you’re looking for some hot bassing action in hot weather, then look no further than your local lake and break out the tubes and go tubing! You might just be glad you did!

Call Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or email mikegiles18@comast.net.