short strikes on a tube

[JWP]

I was fishing a small tourney yesterday and finally started getting some bites on a tube. I was fishing a texas rigged 3.5" tube with 8 lb floro on a Shimano Crucial. The weight was 1/8 oz bullet, unpegged. Hook was a 1/0 EWG. Very little wind and was getting bit in 8 to 12' of water, so I had decent contact with the bait. They wanted it dragging very slow along the bottom.

The problem was I could never really feel the bite. I was slowly dragging it along the bottom on a ledge on the edge of a drop that has few small rocks it, so I was feeling the resistance of the rocks hanging up the tube slighty then releasing. The "bite"was almost identical, just a very slight resistance. or sponginess. I would set the hook, and there was nothing there but a tube wadded up on the hook. This happened about 8 times before I caught one. I caught a small keeper that was barely hooked in the lip.

After I caught that one, the bite slowed down. I tried using a weedless tube jig with the internal weight but never got a sniff. We were fishing a shaded bank and the sun had risen above the trees at that point and the bite just disappeared.

What should I have done to adapt the short strikers? I think they were just biting the tentacles on the tube... very gently, and holding on to it.

Thanks in advance.

JWP

[haleconst]

I will try a different color when the fish are biting and not eating the color that I am throwing or try a different bait all together. I the case you are talking about swimming a jig right along the bottom could have worked maybe, you might have got a reaction bite on the jig swimming by them.

[phil*va]

could it be that they are not short striking, but that the tube is wadding up and you are not getting the hook buried because its too small?

I used a 2/0 hook on a 4" tube, and found that I was missing strikes much like you.

I upsized to a 4/0 and started hooking up.

Try the biggest hook you can get away with...or maybe rig it with the hook exposed. That might tell you whether its the hook size.

[dowhatta]

Some of the EWG hooks have hardly any gap between the front of the shank and the point of the hook, giving them much less "bite." If you look straight down the eye, the stem of some of them before the bend will even line up with the point. I've switched to straight shank or offset hooks for all my soft-plastics and have eliminated a lot of those pullout hooksets.
Youvella hooks (about to be called something different) are purposefully bent like an old style baitholder hook. Many professional anglers were bending their EWG hooks like this to get the bite back. You'll also see many of them going back to straight shanks whenever they can get away with it.

[preacher ed]

I used to have the same problem with tubes as well as Ribbits. I went to fishing Mustad Ultrapoints that have the little rod on the eye of the hook to thread through the head of the tube (and Ribbits). When the fish hits-the plastics come off of the rod allowing the tube to ride up the shank of the hook and allowing the barb to get a good hookset. I also use this on flukes. The only drawback I have found is that it will tear up the baits a little more at times. However, I would rather get a higher % of hookups and tear up a few more plastics than lose a good fish. The ref. # on the 4/0 is 91768KH if interested. Good luck-

[JWP]

Lots of good tips I will try. Much appreciated!

I think a 4/0 will be too big for my tubes...maybe mine are 3". You 4/0 users must be using magnum tubes.

Anybody else use a wide gap with a keeper off of the hook eye like preacher ed for tubes?

[capticeman]

well JW, since your going with 8# test, I'd say get some open tube heads with lightwire hooks... you might snag some but you got a better chance of hooking up... when you get a strike, just start reeling, let them hook themselves...

[Von]

I ran into the same problem a couple nights ago. Pulled into a spot, caught a 2.5 lber on the first cast. I missed a honest 25 or more bites in the next hour or so. Drove me nuts. Usually it seems with a tube they hammer it. But this night they were either swiping at it or picking it up by the tail and just moving it. As said before, when this has happened in the past I could change colors and get solid hook ups, but not on this night. Changed colors and nothing. I finally let one take the tube for about 7-8 seconds and caught one. Dont know what I was doing wrong.