The last three times out I seem to be pulling the tubes right out of the bass’s mouths. I’m using Strike King Bitsy Tubes with 1/16-1/8 oz “tube” jig heads with sharpened hooks. It seems like I’ll have the fish on for a second or two, then gone. My rod is a solid medium 6 1/2 foot St Croix and I’m using 8# Sensithin line.
I’m catching some of them, but Geez, I don’t ever remember losing so many strikes as I have been lately. Any tips or advice is welcome.
Get a softer tube… Make sure the fish isn’t feeling you first and finally try a bigger hook.
jc
Are your rigging the tube texas style? Are you rigging it weedless? If so, maybe your putting the hook too deep in the tube. I noticed if I use too small of a hook, the catch ratio goes down. Im now using a 5/O wide gap hook on all my tubes, and the hook up ratio went way up. Maybe your hook set isn’t what it use to be either. Whenever Im fishing tubes, I really need to crank on the hook set.
Anyone on this board that fishes tubes weedless will tell you how inportant a good, hard hooks set is. I hope this helps, and Im sure you’ll get some other good advice. 
try to use at least a 2/0 hook, and if possible always rig weedless
Al,
A 5/0 hook in anything will increase the hookup you get but how many bites are you losing? 
Its all a game of percentages.
jc
I agree JC, I found out that I don’t miss many bites using the 5/O, but than again, I can’t see what’s going on under the water surface. Sometimes I wonder if the fish don’t bite because of the size of the hook. But, when they do grab it, the fish usually ends up in the boat. I guess it’s my confidence set up.
I used to use a 4/0 and 5/0 hook, but moved to a 3/0 when I changed tubes (manufacturer). It would be my position that the hook should penetrate the tube just above (1/8″) above the split ends of the tube. Using a 5/0 hook on many tubes, depending on the type, will simply not work. So, instead of choosing just a hook, try matching the hook and tube… think about the “lure system” at the end of the line… whoa. 
Rule #1 when fishing any “jig” for a bass, you have to RIP!! the hookset. Bass have very hard, wide mouths and if you don’t drive the hook home it can quite easily slip out or not hook up at all. I use 2/10 PowerPro on a 7′ Loomis IMX Popping Rod (M/L Ex Fast), I lock the drag down on a Stradic 2000, and when I set the hook on anything heavier than 3 lbs my drag still screams on the hook set.
I fish Chompers 4″ tubes with 4/0 Eagle Claw Shaw Grigsby tube holder hooks. These hooks have an extra wide gap. You can also increase your hook % by pushing the tip of the hook tip through the far side of the tube then pushing the front 1/16″ of the tip back into the tube to make it weedless.
One other thing I pay very close attention to is jig position relative to where I would expect fish to be. I always try to sweep my hookset across the direction I think the fish is. If the line swims right, I set the hook away from the fish to the left, trying to pull the bait to the corner of the fishes mouth. If the bite feels straight on, set the hook straight up, going for the roof of the mouth, and so on.
And make sure you RIP IT!
Everyone’s post are dead on!! 
1. JC convinced me (whether he knows it or not) to bump up to 50lb. PowerPro (He uses 80lb test). Still workin’ my way up JC 
2. I try to use a #5 hook unless my bait dictates me to go smaller. then #3 is as small as i go.
3. SET THE HOOK LIKE A MOFO!!! I bet most of us laugh at the guys on the t.v. when they get a jumping hookset that almost sends them out of the boat, but it’s the only way to ensure a solid hook set. If the lure comes flying back at you at mach 4..first off.–>Duck. But 2nd, you know that you set the hook good, but the fish didn’t have it(hence…wait longer), or it wasn’t a fish…(i hope that last part made sense?)
4. Like somebody said above, don’t bury the hook too deep. I know i’m strange for doing so, but I like to side bury my hooks into tubes. I feel it makes for less plastic to go through, and it can remain weedless.
my poor .02
Kwikstik,
I only use the bitsy tubes in early spring, but if you are still using them this info may help. I rig mine texas style with a bullet weight, and you can peg the sinker if so desired. But, here is the important part, I found a small hook that fits those tubes really well and I hook a high percentage of the bites I get. I know the hook is a featherlite, but the size is odd 1.5/O or something like that. If you want to know the specifics I will have to go searching for the package in the mix of tackle in my boat.
What is the general way to rig them? I have been going tex. rig, passing the bottom of the hook straight through the tube and leaving the point lay parralel to the tube or maybe just “skin” hook it. Is there a different way?????
Well, maybe I need to reevaluate my tube gear. I’m using more of a finesse approach with the spinning gear and light jigheads. I like to cast these light tubes close to the rocks and just let it swim or lightly bounce down the slope of the riprap, etc. It’s simple and I catch (or lose) lots of fish, but the losing part is getting old.
I’ve got some baitcasters set up with 30-50 pound PowerPro and I have a stiff MH spining rod (one of the old Berkley Series One) also set up with some braid. Maybe I’ll try setting up that stiff MH spinning rod with a tube and larger hook.
Are you guys inserting a sinker in the tube? I want about 1/16-1/8 weight so I get a fairly slow drop, yet some control in light current.
There are several ways to rig them, but the probably the two most popular are texas rigged, and the other with a weighted hook inserted into the tube 
. This second method gives the tube a spiral fall on the drop. The hook is generally exposed, but you can get weedless versions of the weighted hook that have a guard on them.
Kwikstik,
If you use the bitsy tube and try the hook I was telling you about, and considering the presentation you are explaining, put a sinker 12 to 18 inches above the tube. This is what I call the mojo style, this should give you about the same presentation, with a better hook-up percentage. Some reason that style of hook, yet being so small still has good hook-ups. Just my 2 cents worth.
I probably should have mentioned that I’m mainly targeting smallmouth bass. Are you guys using the 4/0-5/0 hooks using these hooks for smallies, too?
We have found when we all of a sudden have been getting a lot of pickups and as you said have pulled the tube out of the mouth…. we soon catch a walleye or a larger panfish. We at first change our rigging in about ten different ways and it still continued…then we actually went to crawlers and still it kept up and then a couple of walleye, or larger panfish came into the boat.
We are talking the exact same scenario 10-15 times over the last month and a half. So now we assume that is what it is and move. Unfortunately sometimes you have to move some distance…but right away when you get away from the big numbers of these two critters hook-up is not a problem.
I have no idea if this is what is happening to you or not.. the only other situation that even comes close to what you are asking about is the finicky bite you get in an area that has been fished heavily very recently. In those cases we soon get some fish that apparently haven’t been bothered that bite so hard they set the hook themselves..In this last instance we do not catch walleye or panfish .
Hope any of this helps.
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Are you guys using the 4/0-5/0 hooks using these hooks for smallies, too?
If we can get these hooks into a SHEEPIE’S 
mouth, smallies will have no problem!!
Have you tried some crawfish scent like Realclaw? It will help.
3.5″ tubes, 2/0 hook & Bang-O-Lure scent.
I guess I’m the odd man out in that I feel I do much better with smaller tackle -I only use 20lb Power Pro 
!
Quick, some one get a chair for JC!
Thanks 
,
Quote:
Quote:
Are you guys using the 4/0-5/0 hooks using these hooks for smallies, too?
If we can get these hooks into a SHEEPIE’S
Ya, those sheepies hve been eating these Bitsys like candy. I seem to hook THEM every time.
I’ll try some of the many good suggestions, including the scent. I can’t wait to get back out there!
How do you know that it isn’t Sheepy or other rough fish playing with your lure? My point is to Lawrence’s to some degree… I was getting bit in an area that hold sbass regularly… I mean a LOT of pick up’s that I was losing. FINALLY I “snagged” one by exposing the hook… GAR!
Couldn’t you open up the gap a bit too to help?
Crawford better lay on the floor. All I use is a 2/0 hook I don’t have any problems hooking them but I have notice I am getting a few more spitting them about half way to the boat. May have reevaluate that hook.
i fished the basswranglers tourney this weekend and had a problem with missing the first few fish. same as everyone else they would have it for a second then come unbuttoned. im using a 6.5 foot techna av spinning rod and a shimano stradic with 20# power pro. my tube is a gander mtn salty tube with a 4/0 hp hook and 1/8th oz internal sinker. first i tightened up the drag (i dont know about you guys but when i would set the hook i always peeled a little bit of drag. zzzzt) that helped a little. then i stoped (skin hooking) the tube and just let the hook lay on top of the tube. (still pretty darn weedless)that helped a little more. BUT the big thing was scent when i started filling the tube after every fish or 10 to 15min i was amazed how much more the fish really held on to the bait and im meen held on!! i even landed those few fish when you say to your self (nice hook set you sissy) and the hook was just buried. but just one man opinion. side note we got 6th place
Wallerbass1,
Do you have or know where to find the final results of the River Days Tournament?
I looked through my hook inventory and I had forgotten how many hooks I had on hand. I had wide gao Gammies 0/1-0/5, some Shaw Grigsby clip jobs in 2.5 and a few others. I guess I started down this road a couple years ago.
I found the 1/0 Gammy seems to fit the Bitsy Tube pretty well. I experimented with a BIG split shot stuffed up in the tube. I also rigged up my old MH series one rod with a 3 3/4 inch tube and a 3/0 gammy. On this one I pinched on a “bullshot” (bullet shaped pinch-on) sinker. I git bit OK and caught a few bass, but it seemed like the tube was always getting whacked out of position and I was constantly messing with getting the hook back into position. The thing I like about the tube jigheads is the fact that they stay rigged so well. Tradeoffs I guess. I’ll need to keep trying different ways to rig the bigger tube hooks. I noticed that when you do stick a bass on the tube hooks (gammys, etc.) you get full penetration.
Actually, part of the problem yesterday was when I got on the river there was a very overcast sky and a stiff breeze and I quickly found some eager surface feeding bass. My first fish was a 18 3/4″er that took a chug bug on a rocky point. I kept catching bass, three 15″, three 14″, and some smaller ones until the sun came out for good. Then the surface bite quit and I messed around with the tubes. My wife was with and the ankle biting flys were starting to get to her, so I didn’t get enough time to get the tube rigs tweaked.
Kwikstik,
Read your post last week and I too have experienced the same problem. Was out on my favorite Metro lake tonight skipping tubes under docks (just got some b-fish-n tackle 4″ butt tubes to try). After missing two really nice largemouth (on for a couple of seconds and then spit the hook) the wife says what you need is another hook. The light goes off. I attached a stinger hook to the main hook. This works well with the above mentioned tube as it has lots of tenticles to hide the hook. Two casts later and I landed a fat 17″ bass hooked by of course the stinger hook. Two docks later two strikes and two fish in the net. Why are women always the ones with the great ideas? Give it a try and gaurenteed it will increase your hooking percent immensly. Good luck
Zoomer
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