"Pat_RI" wrote in message
news:gBXuf.30860$9G.22077@dukeread10...
I want to spend more time fishing tubes could someone recommend some
colors
to start out with and also some brands?



Wow, where to begin. Well, I'm just gonna throw out some basic advice that I
try to follow myself, I am not a pro, so take it with a grain of salt, it is
only *my personal opinion*:

Colors: depends on the forage available in the water body in question. Also
depends on the "color" of the water IMO. I try to match my tube (and other
softbaits) colors to forage in the lake, like shad, minnows, crawdads,
whatever they may be. And to use tubes (without any rattles especially) in
any sort of stained or naturally dark (tanic) water, is a toughy. Go bright
and hope is all I can suggest. IMO, and I am certainly open to correction,
tubes are more of a bait that fish need to see to go for, since by and
large, they don't make a ton of noise, even with a little rattle chamber
attached or imbedded in them.

All that said, my most productive colors this past year (and I was trying to
learn tube fishing myself this past year) were red shad, pumpkin seed, and
pumpkin seed with chartruese tentacles. I don't get the "red shad" being so
productive around here, but the "pumpkin seed" color is pretty close to the
crawdads that inhabit the lakes near me (lighter brown shades, with black
specks). For that matter, red shad worms seemed to draw a lot of strikes
again for me this year too, so maybe there is some forage near that color I
am unaware of, or "red" really does cause a reaction when other colors
won't. I tried "watermelon" as well and got bit, but it just seemed "too
green" for my local fish's preference. It seemed to be the young dumb little
12" dinks that bit the brighter shades for me this past year...I also gave
some dark blue ones a shot (they appeared black to me in the water) and
actually caught a few keeper sized fish on those too.

As for brands, your mileage will vary. I usually like something either made
of that 3X or super tough material (lasts a good long while on the hook,
though they can be tough to actually get onto the hook they're so stretchy
and tough to tear), and something either scent or salt impregnated. I am not
sold on any particular brand as of yet, but the super tough ones get bit as
much as the cheap ones (in my experience) and last much much longer,
especially if there's any abrasive cover in the equation.

Best of luck...