One of the advantages of being the old guy (that's what I get called all the time) is
that I get to travel the country and get to fish just about any kind of condition. As
you can see looking around us it's absolutely great flipping water and absolutely great
pitching water. If I could only have one bait, take everything else away from me, it's going
to be a ring tube. It's just a soft plastic tube and there's really nothing special about
it. Everything about creature baits you know has kicked; you've got Brush Hogs and all
these different baits. But honestly simple sometimes is better. I like to rig, this is
a Gene Larew Mega Ring Tube and my buddy's are going to kill me for this. But if I had
one bait it's it, this is the deal. The main reason for this is because it is so versatile.
I've fished all over the country, I fished Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Minnesota, and
everywhere you could possibly fish. I've caught fish with this bait every single time
I've been on the water. There's something's I do that might be different than
you do and I'm going to show you how to rig this the way I rig it. Hopefully you'll mimic
it, do something with it, and also catch a few fish that you might not have caught.
What I'm going to do is I'm going to take a Ring Tube and one of the first things I
do is I always use a stopper when I'm pitching. A lot of guys won't do that, but I think it's
very very important to have a stopper and it really kind of depends. This water is fairly
clear but I like using black when I can and basically what you get is a bobber stop, and
you just slide that bobber stop on there. I will give you a little tip on these bobber
stops is that they are different sizes. What you want to make sure you do is when you get
your bobber stop on you're kinking the line a little bit is what you are doing. So when
I get this pulled through just like I did there you're going to see i pulled this all
the way up on here that I put a kink in the line. That is just a piece of line that you
get rid of. I never throw line into the lake; I just put it in the boat and throw it away
when I get back. But there's your bobber stop and that's going to be able to be pulled down
on your weight. Then you want some tungsten. I think tungsten is a good product to use
because it's so dense that you can use a lot smaller weight and still pitch it just as
far. I'll put that tungsten on by just running it right down the center of the tungsten so
it comes to the stop. I like a straight shank hook for this tube for some reason. This is
a 6/0 straight shank hook and the keeper is really important on it. It's also very important
for you to be able to tie a good knot too. Everyone has their favorite but mine happens
to be a San Diego Jam Knot. That's my favorite and I tie it on everything. You just basically
wrap it around a few times, (I won't do it as many as I would) 5 or 6 times and then
just run it right back threw the eye just like that. Then get it a little bit wet so you
don't burn it. I fish a straight shank hook and the reason why is because you don't get
as much line twist. I think with this tube it has a tendency no matter what you do if
you don't rig it straight it will twist. So I like a straight shank hook. I just think
it keels better which means it comes through the water better. I've actually had fish eat
the bait when you're reeling it in. But anyway, we're going to clip off this tag and again
for the environment I never ever leave any line in the water. Then what I do is I take
this tube and you'll notice on this tube if you look up close there's a mold line. That
basically is a line the keeps this bait straight. So when I put it in I'm going to go down to
the turn of the hook, push it out right there on that line so it's going to be right on
that line where that splits at, then you're going to push it up on there, and then turn
it. Not done yet because I also use a rattle. Zoom makes a really good one bead rattle and
I think that's plenty because it basically makes it sound a little bit like a crawfish.
I push that rattle up in that tube and this is the secret part of this is that rattle.
A lot of guys will rig it and they won't put that on there. Then the final step is I'm
going to go ahead and hook it and it's hollow so you want to make sure it's hanging straight
when you look at it. I've got to push it up just a little bit further and that bait will
hang pretty straight. Then last thing, which is the major ingredient that I always use,
is I always tip the tentacles just a little bit with dip and dye. The main reason for
that is because I think it gives it a little bit of flash. When you put that in there you
don't have to get the whole tube, just a little bit of the tube just like that and it gives
it just a little bit of flash. The dip and dyes I use, (you can use any brand you want)
I put just a little bit of blue in it. If you get chartreuse the problem with chartreuse
is it's too bright so i just put a little bit of blue in it. That's kind of a tip you
can use because you can mix dyes up and the main thing you find out is that it is just
a little bit less intrusive. It doesn't blast you like you're catching walleye and that's
something you can do there. That's the rig, which is the deal. It's a good flipping bait,
you can cast it, fish points with it, but that is a great flipping bait. Gene Larew
Mega Ring Tube.