The Basics of Fishing Tubes

Soft-plastic tubes look simple—just a hollow body with a frilly skirt—but they’re ridiculously versatile. A tube can be a craw, a goby, a baitfish, or just “something alive” that moves water and collapses easily in a bass’s mouth.

Tube Types & What They Imitate

Standard salt-impregnated tubes (3–4")
The classic smallmouth/spot bait on clear lakes and rivers. Hollow body collapses for great hookup ratios. The skirt breathes on the pause, making them deadly for dragging and hopping.

Flipping/punching tubes (4–4.5")
Thicker walls and tougher plastic resist tearing under heavy weights. The fatter, slightly conical body penetrates grass better than many creature baits and presents a compact craw profile.

Finesse/Ned tubes (2.5–3")
Downsized, buoyant or semi-buoyant formulas that stand up or hover. Excellent on pressured fish or cold water when a full-size tube gets ignored.

Swim tubes (3.5–4")
Same body, different intent: a light internal head or external ball head lets you swim a tube like a subtle paddletail. The skirt becomes a tail, creating a muted thump and a rolling body line.

Solid-core “ika-style” tubes (≈4–4.5")
Skirt in the back but a solid front half. Heavier salt loads give a fast, horizontal glide on weightless or light-weight presentations—perfect around docks and shallow grass when you want a nosed-down fall.

Colors That Cover 90% of Days

• Green pumpkin / watermelon variants for craw/goby/sunfish stand-ins.
• Smoke, goby, and brown-purple laminates for Great Lakes and clear reservoirs.
• Black/blue or june bug to silhouette in stain, grass, and low light.
• Shad/white/pearl to swim in baitfish scenarios or sight bed fish.

Core Rigs You Should Know

1) Internal Tube Jig (Classic “open-hook” tube)

• Use for: dragging, hopping, and vertical jigging in open water or sparse cover.
• Head: 1/8–3/8 oz (go heavier—up to 1/2+—for deep/windy smallmouth).
• Hook: 60–90° line-tie tube jig; the eye exits the plastic ~1/4" back from the nose.
• Why it works: centers the weight, gives a natural spiral/glide on the fall, and the open hook pins fish with minimal pressure.
• Gear: 7'–7'2" Medium spinning, braid mainline (10–15 lb) to 8–12 lb fluoro leader (FG knot); bottom contact “feels” better with braid.

How-to: Thread the jighead up into the body, poke the eyelet through the plastic, then pull the head tight so the nose seats against the lead. Cast, let it hit bottom, and drag-crawl with short shakes; pause often and let the skirt breathe.

2) “Stupid” Rig (Weedless internal weight)

• Use for: the same places you’d drag a Texas-rig, but want the tube’s glide.
• Head: keel-style or 60° EWG-friendly internal tube jig, 1/8–5/16 oz.
• Hook: 2/0–3/0 EWG for 3.5" tubes; 3/0–4/0 for 4" tubes.
• Why it works: the internal weight preserves the spiral fall while the texposed hook point stays weedless.

How-to: Insert the head into the tube, bring the line tie out the nose, tie on, then texpose the hook so the point rests lightly under the skin.

3) Texas-Rig Tube (All-purpose, grass-friendly)

• Use for: wood, brush, laydowns, and moderate grass.
• Weight: 1/8–3/8 oz bullet; peg lightly if needed.
• Hook: 3/0 EWG (3.5"), 4/0 EWG (4").
• Line: 12–17 lb fluoro (cover dictates).
• Why it works: classic craw profile with fewer snags than an open hook; easy to skip.

Tip: Add a 3–5 mm rattle into the hollow cavity when fishing mud/stain or thick grass to help bass key in.

4) Punching a Tube (Heavy cover specialist)

• Use for: hyacinth mats, hydrilla cheese, reed clumps—any matted vegetation.
• Weight: 3/4 to 1.5 oz pegged tungsten (double-peg if needed).
• Hook: 3/0–4/0 straight-shank flipping hook with a keeper; snell knot to kick the hook on contact.
• Line/Rod: 50–65 lb braid, 7'3"–7'11" Heavy/Fast.
• Why it works: the compact tube slips through better than many appendage-heavy baits, yet still looks like a meaty craw when it stops.

How-to: Rig the tube Texas-style on the straight-shank, peg the tungsten tight, and drop vertically. Once it punches through, let it fall to bottom, shake 2–3 times, lift to the mat, repeat. Bites are often “weightless” or just pressure—hammer them.

5) Vertical Jigging a Tube (Boats, bluffs, and winter fish)

• Use for: winter/summer vertical situations—suspended smallmouth, bluff ends, bait schools on sonar.
• Rig: 3/8–5/8 oz internal or external head, open hook.
• Rod/Line: Medium spinning or light Medium-Heavy baitcaster; 10–12 lb fluoro or braid to 10 lb leader.
• Cadence: snap up 1–2 feet, then free-fall back on semi-slack to let it spiral. Watch your line for “ticks” mid-column.

6) Swim a Tube

• Use for: over grass, along riprap, or when shad are present.
• Rig: 1/8–3/16 oz internal or a 3/16 oz ball head; texpose if needed.
• Retrieve: steady wind with occasional rod pops; the skirt becomes a tail and the body rolls subtly—perfect when fish want less thump than a paddletail.

7) Finesse Options

• Ned Tube: 2.5–3" tube on a 1/16–1/10 oz mushroom head; drag, shake, dead-stick.
• Drop-Shot Tube: nose-hook or tiny Texas; 1/4–3/8 oz dropper. Great on rock transitions when gobies/craws are forage.

Situational Tips (When to Reach for a Tube)

• Cold water (late fall–early spring): tubes shine when fish hug bottom and want a muted profile. Downsize to 3–3.5" and crawl it.
• Wind + rock: heavier internal heads (3/8–1/2) keep bottom contact and maintain that deadly spiral on the drop.
• Sight/beds: white tubes show up; pop it in place and watch the fish’s body language.
• Grass edges: swim a tube first; if they only slap, switch to Texas-rig or punching tube and put it in the salad.

Common Brand Name Tubes

Quick Fixes & Tweaks

• Tear-resistant nose: slide a short section of heat-shrink or a tube collar over the nose before rigging to reduce ripping from repeated skips.
• Rattle or scent: a small glass/steel rattle and a dab of gel scent inside the cavity makes a big difference in grass or stain.
• Skirt trim: for punching or faster fall, trim 1/4–3/8" off the skirt; for finesse, thin the skirt by pulling a few strands.

A Simple Decision Flow

1. Need to penetrate heavy cover? → Punching tube, 1–1.25 oz, straight-shank + snell.
2. Dragging rock/sand flats? → Internal tube jig, 1/8–3/8 oz.
3. Weedless but subtle fall? → Stupid rig or Texas-rig (3/16–1/4 oz).
4. They’re chasing bait shallow? → Swim a tube on 1/8–3/16 oz.
5. Tough bite/pressured? → Ned tube or drop-shot tube.

Tubes endure because they do three crucial things: they spiral on the drop, breathe on the pause, and collapse on the bite. Master the internal jighead for open water, Texas/stupid for cover, and go heavy for punching. With those three pillars plus a few smart color choices, you’ll have a tube ready to match the forage and the mood—any day, any lake.