FIVE SECRETS FOR CATCHING SMALLMOUTH BASS

The Tube = Mr. Consistency

EDITOR'S NOTE: Larry Nixon has fished competitively for more than 27 years. He's won the Angler-of-the-Year title on the BASS Circuit twice and the BASS Master's Classic in 1983. He's appeared at 24 BASS Masters Classics. He's also won four MegaBucks tournaments.

QUESTION: What lure do you use when you need consistency?
ANSWER: Day in and day out, you can't beat the Strike King tube bait for going out and consistently catching smallmouth. I prefer the 2-1/2 -inch Strike King tube, and my favorite color is watermelon with black flake, which is good in clear-water color. On most lakes where you fish for smallmouth, some shade of green always seems to be the most-deadly color for bronzebacks. On some lakes, green pumpkin can be deadly; on other lakes, watermelon with red flake tubes will be the most effective. I use either a 1/8-ounce or a 1/4-ounce lead up in the head of the tube. I like to fish the tube with an exposed hook. I like to drag the tube across the bottom. I put the eye of the hook so that it comes out of the side of the tube, which causes the tube to drag across the bottom more erratically than if I have the eye of the hook coming out of the front of the tube. I like to pull my jig on the bottom slightly off-kilter, because that action seems to solicit more smallmouth bites than if I drag the tube straight back to the boat. Many times I'll catch smallmouth when the tube is falling from the surface to the bottom, but some days the only way the smallmouth will take the tube is to drag it along the bottom with the wind.

QUESTION: What is a "dynamite" way to set up this lure on the line?
ANSWER: I prefer 6- to 8-pound test line when I'm fishing the tube. My line of choice is Vanish Fluorocarbon. Remember that the tube bait is a finesse bait. The smallmouth look at the tube longer than they do other lures, and they will follow the tube along the bottom a long way before they make the decision to bite it. So for that reason, smaller, lighter lines will produce more strikes than larger, heavier lines will.

TOMORROW: BET ON THE CAROLINA RIG