Problems with tubes

[DropShotr]

OK Fish-Hawkers......I have a problem.
I like to fish tubes & I use them a lot. However this year I am having serious hook-up problems with smallies. Normally I fish the tube tex-posed. Typically a 1/0, 2/0 or 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook and a 1/16 or 1/8th oz. Bass Pro Shops XPS tube weight. Not a problem on largemouth, but this has been an issue on smallies. I've gone as far as tweaking the hook a bit. I take a pair of pliers and give the hook a little itty-bitty twist at the start of the bend in the shank and another 3/4 of the way into the bend. The end result is a hook point that is a few degrees higher and a bit more "grabby". This did seem to improve hook-ups somewhat on Charleston . I was using that set up with a 1/8 oz tube weight on the St Lawrence. I was working a bank with willows and missing smallie after smallie . Quite frustrating to say the least.
The kicker was Tuesday on the Rideau River. I put on a Bass Pro Shops 1/8oz. tube jig head, comes with a Gamakatsu hook w/60 degree eye. I thought wow, now that IS an exposed hook, how can I not catch fish with this set-up . Sure enough I had strike after strike but only get the fish half way up to the boat and boom, nothing....fish gone .
The only similarity of any sort between the incidents I can see is that they were river fish. Maybe they were starting to key on crayfish and I needed to give the fish a second or two to "kill" the bait then set the hook.
Any suggestions or tips will be greatly appreciated . This one has me really confused

DropShot'r

[Terry_F]

DropShotR
Did this used to work well for you or has it never worked out.
Supposing it did work, what has changed?
Lots of factors for hook set, rod sensitivity, line stretch, (angler getting old ).
For me once I have that hook set, things seem to go well, problems happen when I set late or weak, this seems to be independant of wether I'm using a jig or fishing a senko, so I have rulled out hooks and rigging.

Give us a bit more info about things that have changed.

[toobinator]

Your problem might not be as much in the hook as the rod and line. I would reccomend a long rod, 7' or more with a soft tip but lots of muscle through the midsaection. Also, for line, I like braid with a fluoro leader. This may (or may not) help you get those smallies in the boat.

Ed

[DropShotr]

Thanks for the replys. This is the second year for the tube rod. 6'9" BPS Pro Finesse casting rod with M/L action. 40lb Power Pro with normally 8lb flourcarbon leader, that was switched to 15lb fluorcarbon because I started to tube the banks and slop around Rideau Ferry and never changed back to 8lb. This was the rod I used to miss the bass on the St. Lawrence.
I used my D/S rod (6'6" BPS Pro Finesse spinning rod with 8lb Fluorcarbon line)to tube on the Rideau River because my normal tube rod up was the wrong way to fish the "hole" I was in. I was in 13 1/2 ft of water right on top of the fish, so I switched to the tube after a smallie made a mess of my D/S rig.

DropShot'r

[Terry_F]

DropShot'r
Looks like Ed and I agree.
It seems to me that hooks and line is not the issue, as that is a no stretch line, you run the risk of ripping the hook too hard in fact, but I'd go for a stiffer rod, M/H with a fast tip.
I use a 7' Shimano Convergence CVC-70H, that's Power-HEAVY and Action-FAST, rigged with 17lb mono for the slop and a Shimano Convergence CVC-610MH, thats Power Meduim-Heavy and Action-FAST, rigged with 10lb mono for most other applications. I prefer the mono as it does give a little stretch, I prefer the give to be in the line rather than in the rod.
Good Luck.

[XXXL]

I switched from a MH/Fast to M/fast action rod this year for tubes and I've had a much better hookup rate. Using a 1/8 tube head, I think I was missing a lot of pickups with the MH. I like a braid flouro setup cause you can feel everything, but that's all I've ever used for tubes. I also found that rod angle made a big difference in hookups, I try to keep it between 10:00 and 11:00 always staying in contact with the tube. This makes sure your hook is in the right position to sting em in the top of the mouth when they pick it up. You might also want to try experimenting with 60° and 90° tube jig heads and hook size. I find a lot of tube heads come with hooks that are too short for a 4" tube.

[Jigs]

What Terry F said about the Shimano rod. I have my reel spooled with power pro, tied directly to the tube jig, and the heavy action rod gives a dandy hook set. The heavier rod tends to tire me arm out quickly, so I sometimes switch to the ol dependable Rhino rod which is faster tipped, but very strong, and also gives a terrific hook set - also spooled with PP 20#.

XXXL has several good points with the angle, and hooks being too short. Really though, if the fish are hitting, do you find they don't hit far enough up on the tube to connect with the hook?

Everyone has problems sometimes with hook-sets. Smallmouth have been known to be a tad more finicky than largies. This could be part of the problem. Maybe count to 3 after you feel the "tic"?

We used to lake fish smallies mostly anchored, still-fishing with minnows. My old mentor always told me............"letemrun, letemrun, letemrun!!" .............NOW!!! Just about jump out of the boat when he yelled: NOW!! Unfortunately letemrun not an option using artificials.

Sad thing about fishing trips is they end too soon.

[XXXL]

I definitely find hook length has an effect on hook up ratio but I guess it all depends on how you fish a tube. Get 10 guys in a room and they'll probably give ya 10 different ways to rig/fish a tube. Flippin in to slop for largemouth and dragging them over rocks for smallies is too totally different scenarios which require a different approach and different equipment. I know for a fact that I was missing pickups and hits using a 6'6 MH Crucial rod last year dragging for smallies, not saying that I didn't catch any fish using that setup... and you're right when the bite was on and the fish were aggressive, no problems feeling those hits. But when fishing those "finicky" smallies I found I hooked up a lot more when I downsized my setup. This year I've been using a 6'6 M/Fast Shimano V-rod or my 7'2 Crucial dropshot rod.

I'm not familiar with the BPS ML rod you're using or the BPS jig heads but maybe it doesn't have enough backbone to get a really good hookset if you're losing them on the way to the boat? especially if those heads use a heavier gauge hook.