5 Cool Tricks with a Tube Bait

Tube Baits may be one of the best baits for catching big smallmouth and largemouth bass. Here are five simple little tricks we used this summer to put bass in the boat.

The tube can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. It has thousands of uses. Tactics that work for a tube include drifting, gliding, vertical jigging, flipping, pitching, dragging... You get the picture. Even with all those techniques and options it isn't without its flaws. An exposed hook on a tube jig has the potential to snag when drifting or dragging. A texas rigged tube has problems hooking a fish due to the way the tube is designed. Suspended fish won't leave their mid water position to hit a bottom dragged tube. Once again you get it.

So after a long summer of using a tube here are some tricks we used to catch bass with the tube.

Stuff your Tube Jigs with Sponge and Add Scent

Early on I was having trouble with fish biting and dropping the tube and me missing the fish while I was drifting or dragging the bait. Part of this could be me not paying attention, but lets blame the bait. I would add scent to the bait hoping to get fish to hold longer but it would disperse right away. The cure for instant dispersion was adding a chunk of sponge by running the hook through a small chunk of everyday sponge and inserting it inside the tube. I than used which ever scent I was using that day, usually Yum!, and was able to give myself a few more seconds to set the hook.

Add a Rattle

Adding a little bit of noise to your tube presentation can really improve a fishes ability to find your bait when its on the bottom crawling like a crayfish. Many manufactures right now make tube jigs that have rattles attached. My best advice with rattles is to expirement and let the bass tell you what they want. Some days were better for rattles than others.

Stroke it and Get a Reaction Strike

Somewhere around July I discovered stroking a football jig. I was getting frustrated looking down on my electronics seeing fish suspended two or three feet from the bottom and not eating my drop shot. What I found was I could stroke a football jig up into those fish and get them to react. So one day when the wind was blowing and I was drifting a hump in about 20 feet of water I noticed once again the bass were suspended at about three feet. I immediately began stroking the tube and put five fish in the boat in five casts! Stroking is no more than pulling the bait off the bottom and repeating the motion two or three time before letting it hit the bottom again. The fish react to the quick upward motion and hit it usually on the fall. Rattles really help here because when the bait lands it sets the rattles off.

Use the Tube as a Spinnerbait Skirt

I laughed when I first heard of this. I thought why would a fish ever hit this? Then one day I wanted to down size a spinnerbait and was pleasantly surprised when I used a tube to do so. The trick here is to get the tube over the head of the spinnerbait so all that is exposed is hook and tube. A good pair of bait scissors and super glue will do the job.

Cut the Bait for the Texas Rig

This summer I rarely Texas Rigged the tube since I wasn't doing a lot of flipping but a pretty cool litte trick I learned for Texas Rigging a tube was cutting a slit in the back of the tube and then Texposing the hook. See pictures below.

Those are five of my favorite Tricks to do with a Tube Bait. There are thousands of things an angler can do with these super versitile baits! What are some things you do with your tubes? Let us know in the comments and be sure to like us on Facebook!

4 Reasons Why Fall in Nevada is the Best Time of the Year



hotspotsarizona.com



It's a great time of year to be on the water bass fishing in Southern Nevada on our beautiful River Lakes! Here's Why!

The Fish are Fattening up for Winter

In fall as all anglers know the shad move to shallower water which means the bass are following them to feed up. This means you get to put your finesse rigs back in the rod locker and start throwing baits that move fast in the water like crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and even topwaters so long as they represent shad.

The Pleasure Boaters Have Gone Home for the Winter

This is especially good news if you like having the lake to yourself or sharing it with the other bassers on the lake. It's truly a wonderful thing that happens in the fall. The water cools off and everyone in a ski boat puts it up until June. The ramp is no longer crowded. The campgrounds are empty. You get to experience the lake as God intended!

The Weather has Cooled Off

This in itself is reason to get to your favorite River Lake. You can have a fire at camp, wear a sweatshirt and not sweat all day while trying to find fish. In fact a day on the lake in fall is downright pleasant!

Let's Not Forget it's Also Hunting Season

Southern Nevada and Nevada in general has some amazing hunting. Around the River Lakes but not on the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the Nevada Department of Wildlife has established "guzzlers" for the various upland game species in the area. Dove, Rabbits and Quail all use these structures to drink water and will remain close to them through out the year. Well if you want to get off the water and see more of Nevada, grab your shotgun and go look for these species! Check your Nevada hunting regulations for various rules and don't forget to have your upland game license!

So there is just a few of the reasons why you should get out on the water or near the River Lakes this season! Tell us what you think of Fall in Nevada!

3 Reasons You Should Help us Support Fish Habitat Enhancement on Lake Mohave

The Lake Mohave Habitat Enhancement Project is a project that started in 2007 in four different coves throughout Lake Mohave. (Carp, Box, Shoshone and Arrowhead) Since that time the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the Arizona Department of Fish and Game and Lake Mead National Recreational Area Personell have expanded the project to four new coves. (Solicitor, Bass, Princess and Prospect)

The project consists of placing different fish structure on the bottom on the lake to provide habitat for the bass, sunfish, bluegill and catfish within Lake Mohave. Structure consists of PVC structure, Brush Bundles and A-Frame pallets (no longer used). Personell are also working on new habitat types. By all accounts fish are really utilizing this structure and from personal experience it has really provided excellent fishing for both Largemouth and Smallmouth bass. In my opinion this is due to the fact that these structures attract bluegill and green sunfish which bass feed on.

This is not a widely known about project outside of our little area in the world and I would like to highlight 5 of the reasons you should help this project continue its work.

1. This Project Helps you Catch Fish

Every person in the world wants to know whats in it for them. Well you as angler that either regularly fishes Lake Mohave and the River Lakes or vacations to these wonderful fisheries can rest assured that these fish structures improve fishing for all species within the lake. They provide cover and protection for prey species that bass feed on through out the year. So even when fish move deep off shore, you can still find quite a few bass on these structures ready to feed.

2.Increases Healthy Fish Populations

This project, I believe, is the next best thing to simply practicing catch and release for healthy, strong fish populations. Bass need the right amount of cover to maintain healthy populations and to increase in size. Lake Mohave has a shortage of deep cover and by providing that for the fish the agencies above have helped increase healthy, strong fish that you and I can use for years to come.

3. Supporting Wildlife Takes Burden Away from Tax-Payers

If you are anything like me you hate that your tax-payer dollars go towards odd projects that don't really effect you anyway. I feel in order to keep this project going we need to make charitable donations to it so someday it is not shut down due to tax-payers not wanting to fund it. Let's face it. We are not all outdoor enthusiasts like it or not and many people may not want to pay for it. With your support the above agencies can continue to work on these projects.

How can you help?

We at River Lakes Bassin have started a T-shirt campaign over at this link Catch and Release or River Lakes These shirt campaigns are only available for a short time so get in and help now. 50% of all sales profits will go to the appropriate agencies to ensure the Lake Mohave Habitat Enhancement Project continues for a long time!

The Fluorocarbon-Braid Connection

The Top 5 Baits on Lake Mohave for 2013

As I prepare for my 2014 bassin, I want to discuss the top five baits that I caught most of my bass on in 2013. Now, this is from my own personal experience on this lake and I invite anyone wanting to put their two cents in to please do so and include their friends in on the conversation. 

 5. The 4" Senko.

Simple but effective

One of my favorite baits in any water. They really shine in the clear waters of Lake Mohave. You nearly have to do nothing with this bait and it will catch both Largemouth and Smallmouth. The best time I found for this little gem was right after the post spawn period. I would cast to where I thought the fish were and just let it sink. Thats it! After it hit the bottom I wouldn't twitch it for at least 3 minutes. I just waited for the tell tale tap tap that was a bass eating it up!

I usually rigged it texas style as that kept it from hooking on the rocks at the bottom. Sometimes I would wacky rig with an O-ring, but I would mostly use a 3/0 worm hook.

4. The Suspending Jerkbait

Rapala X-Rap

      

This bait was money on days when the wind was blowing or in general the fish weren't committing to anything we were throwing.  Twitch, Twitch, Twitch, Pause. The pause part was the key to getting hit. We would sometimes have to pause for up to three minutes before twitching the bait again. With me being totally A.D.H.D it was the hardest part, but it paid off. My favorite jerkbait was the Storm Twitch Stick. I thought it matched the size of the Threadfin Shad that are a prime target of bass in Lake Mohave. 


3.  Roboworm Drop Shot

Some Color Options

When the bass go deep in western lakes the drop shot is the go to rig for every angler on the river lakes.  We usually fished them vertically but had some success casting them and slowly dragging them back to the boat.  Pink was the best color, but we also used several other colors.  The straight tail was best for the vertical presentation and if we were dragging we'd use the curly tail version. 

2.  Tube Bait

A Small Mouth Favorite

Kind of a no brainer on the river lakes and any lake that has a great population of Smallmouth bass such as Lake Mohave, Lake Mead and Lake Havasu.  Using it on a tube jig and dragging the bottom was the best way to use a tube bait, but we also used it to pitch to rip rap and along bluff walls, in which case we would texas rig them.  Most colors would work, but red and green were my go to colors. 

1. Rapala Scatter Rap 

Evasive Action Is Awesome!

  

What an amazing bait!!!  This was my number one search bait through out the summer and fall.  The evasive action of this bait was magical!  I would watch a bass hit it and could see three or four of his buddies following it back to the boat with him.  Bluegill color was my favorite and I think the fish liked it too.  The best way to retrieve it was slowly then add a really quick turn or two to the reel just to make the fish react to its evasive action.  

I have always been a huge fan of Rapala and I think they nailed it with this lure!

Thanks for stopping by and reading!  I would love to hear from the readers of this blog about the baits they used throughout the year to catch bass on the our beautiful Colorado River Lakes.