“You’ve Gotta Watch Your Line”

The question from an angler in Washington State posed an interesting question. “What” this newcomer to bass fishing wrote, “do you consider the single most important technique for a guy to do he’s when he’s fishing with a tube type bait. Some of my fishing buddies have knocking the heck out of largemouth in my home lake. They’ve been using those Outlaw Baits Slam-it tubes you wrote about. I’m having trouble telling when a fish picks up. Got any tips to share with me?”

It wasn’t the first time I’ve heard that question. Over the years it has surfaced time after time where tube fishing is concerned. Lots of beginning bass anglers have difficulty with it.

The first thing I suggested to the letter writer was that he concentrate on becoming a line watcher. Sometimes the only indication you’ll have that a fish has picked up your Slam-it is line movement. That line movement may not always be the same. There may be just the slightest little twitch where your line enters the water. Other times your line may sneak off right or left.

In either instance you’re not going to feel the savage jerk associated with the way a largemouth sails into something like a crankbait or a spinnerbait. If you’re not eyeballing your line like a starving heron looking for breakfast, you won’t realize what’s happening.

I’ve often thought that getting a “feel” for fishing a tube bait effectively is a whole lot like learning to drift fish egg baits for steelhead. If you’re an experienced angler who has fished steelhead you know what I’m talking about. It’s difficult to believe how softly a mint-bright 15-pound steelhead sometimes munches down on a gob of eggs.

The best steelhead fishermen I know don’t fool around when they sense something that doesn’t feel just right. They operate with hair triggers. You’ll see them hesitate half a heartbeat then---wham! They set the hook. I’m inclined to take a similar approach with Slam-it tubes though it isn’t always essential. These dandy baits are loaded with salt. Bass often grab them and hang on.

I had another suggestion for the fellow who wrote that letter. I told him using a high visibility line could be a big help in detecting line movement. I often fill my reel with high visibility line, especially for early morning and late evening fishing. That’s when low light conditions make line watching even more difficult.

I attach a few feet of leader material to the end of the high visibility line. The leader is down there underwater with my lure, but the high visibility line is up there on the surface where it’s easily seen.

The deeper you fish a bait like the Slam-it tube the more difficult it becomes to detect those soft pickups. It’s easy to recall when I ran into that situation once while fishing at Mexico’s Lake El Salto. The bass, and there were lots of them, were concentrated in 20 to 25-feet of water.

I usually opt for the lightest weight possible if I have to use any at all while fishing the Slam-it. I didn’t this time. There was no question as to the depth the fish were holding. I didn’t want to waste time getting my tube down where the fish were. I took care of that problem by sliding a 7/8 th-ounce slip sinker on my leader ahead of my tilapia colored Slam-it.

I smeared scent onto the tube and dropped it into the water a rod’s length away from the boat. Almost as soon as it touched down there was that unmistakable little bounce in my line. I took a couple of quick turns on my reel to pick up slack and snapped my rod back. Fish on!

I’d had other El Salto anglers tell me tubes weren’t productive baits at that fabulous Mexican Lake. Don’t you believe it! On two occasions that day I took more than 20 bass on the Outlaw Baits Slam-it tube without the guide ever having to move the boat. All of those fish ran from 3 to 8-pounds.

There are a number of other factors involved in fishing tube baits productively. I’ll get into some of them in future columns. But learning to be a line watcher is a good place to start. Once you get a handle on it it’s a cinch to put more bass in your boat.

 

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