Photo by John D. Silva
How to Catch Striped Bass with the tube and worm and why the tube works so well:
There are quite a few theories floating around about what the tube and worm imitates. It's pretty easy to understand why. What on earth could a two foot long, gyrating piece of rubber, moving slowly through the water column actually resemble in the marine world?
Throughout the years folks have come up with some interesting explanations as to what the tube and worm resembles in nature. One of my favorite theories is that the tube and worm mimics an eel swimming backwards with a worm in its mouth.
I wonder how many times striped bass encounter this scenario in their aquatic environment!
Of course who knows, it is possible that bass believe they are consuming an eel when they bite a tube, however I personally believe this to be rather unlikely. Instead, I like to think that the tube and worm resembles the very creature we tip the tube with-a sandworm.
If we accept that the tube and worm does imitate a sandworm, then we can begin to explain all sorts of striped bass behaviors, which will in turn make us better fishermen and more adept tube and worm trollers.
Let's take a look at why it is reasonable to assume that the tube and worm imitates a sandworm, and how this can help us improve our level of success.
Small Bass Biting Big Tubes
"I got one!" is what I remember saying to my father years ago as we trolled tubes from our small family skiff.
I had just started trolling the tube and worm, and was excited because I knew there had recently been some big bass caught on tubes. This fish, however, was not putting up much of a fight.
"Are you sure you have a fish?" my father asked.
"I think so" I replied, in a somewhat disappointed tone-realizing that this certainly was not the bass of my dreams.
I remember reeling the line in, half expecting to find a giant clump of weed latched onto the tube. To my surprise I did have a bass-an enormous 18 inch schoolie!
"How the heck did that fish expect to swallow that tube!" asked my father.
I really had no answer for him at the time regarding this deadly striped bass fishing techniques We had been trolling obnoxiously large 36 inch long tubes. The bass I had dangling on the end of the tube was barely half the size of the tube it had attempted to digest.
Since that day I have caught many small fish on tubes. Quite a few of these bass had attacked tubes much larger than themselves.
When targeting schoolie stripers, the usual protocol is to "go small." Little jigs, poppers and swim baits typically out-fish large pencil poppers, bunker spoons and swimming plugs when it comes to catching bass less than 24 inches in length.
Knowing this, I was puzzled as to why such a small bass would go out of its way to bite such a large offering.
If we accept that bass mistake the tube for a sandworm, these "small bass-big tube" instances are a bit easier to understand.
Sandworms are very fragile creatures and break apart easily. A small bass would have no problem nipping away at a large sandworm as it wiggled through the water. A three foot long sandworm represents many small meals for a young, opportunistic striped bass. With this understanding it is easy to see why small bass are routinely caught using large tubes.
With this knowledge it is now clear why the hook is placed at the tail end of the tube. When attacking worms, it is reasonable to assume that bass instinctively nip away, starting at the worm's tail. Conveniently this is where the tube's hook is located.
If bass did not behave in this fashion it would be much harder to hook a bass with a tube. It may even be necessary to place hooks along the entire length of the tube.
Fortunately this is not the case!
