# The TubeCraw



## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

I've been fishing smallmouth for some years now in the river. I don't know it all for sure but I have learned a few things along the way and fumbled on a few things that work for me. I can still remember the 1st time I threw artificial craw and felt the bite and actually landed a smallmouth. I thought it the weirdest thing that you could catch a Bass on fake food. From that day on I was the one hooked. 

I've tried so many artificial craws for smallmouth and tubes. Can't say any of them are not good. I can't think of a soft plastic that I've tried and put to work on the river that didn't eventually work. Sometimes I think we over complicate our prey. But after so many attempts at it you have to eliminate some for one reason or another and land on a presentation that works and you have complete confidence in. Everyone needs to find there way to that place. The good news is the entire process is darn right fun. 

My go to for the longest time was a 1/8th bullet weight on a 1/0 offset EWG hook with whatever the cheapest craw imitation was I could find. I would stick a toothpick at the end of the bullet weight so the weight wouldn't ride up the line and wrap rocks under the water. This WORKS! From there I continued to experiment. If you never move past this presentation or a simple tube with exposed jig head hook you will still slay the bass! 

But of course I continued to try and improve certain aspects of the presentation. Three things I continued to work on. 1.) Less snagging on bottom 2.) less time to put together or assemble. 3.) the perfect weight 

This all led me to what I currently use and love that solved my three concerns. This is what I use and what I have confidence in. Maybe it will help a few of ya get to your own perfect combination. 

1.) Less snagging on bottom: This has moved me away from bullet weights. Bullet weights are cheaper and they work and are a perfect place to start and even stay but for me didn't address my 3 concerns. The bullet shape is simply prone to snagging. It's flaw is its shape. It's narrow nose will find the 1st crack between two river rocks and pegg itself there permanently. So out the door with bullet sinkers for me. 

Then there is the tube. Most people fish this with an exposed hook... again snags so I've wonder far from them as well. I tex-pose all my soft plastic presentation in the river, craw imitations included. Tex-pose is simply a Texas Rig where the hook is not buried in the plastic but rather just slightly poked under the very top thin layer of the plastic as to hide the sharp point only by a little. 

2.) less time to put together or assemble: less to carry less to put together. This has moved me away from hook and weight terminal tackle housed separately. So now I fish a weight hook (jig) combo. 

3.) The perfect weight: To light and river current will just keep ur lure off the bottom and out of your target area. Too heavy and your lure will fall to the bottom with too much weight finding every crevice the river bottom offers and quickly so and often. So for me the perfect weight to balance this all out was the magical 3/16th.

If you research any thing about big smallmouth behavior you'll find they prefer a smaller crayfish. Over time I've down sized my imitation craw quite a bit. This also helps keep the drag of the river from keeping ur bait off the bottom. 

My go to setup is a 3/16 oz Biffle Football HardHead jig. It has a 3/0 hook and matches up with my favorite 3" green pumpkin Cover Craw by Jackell. You may have seen me refer to this combination as the CrawTube. 










This is my goldy lox combination for smallmouth river fishing. It is jusssst right for my fishing style. Perfect weight to put the lure where I want. Perfect size for pig smallmouth. Perfect hook size. Perfect profile... the football jig head rarely snags and it's easy to carry around and put together quickly.




























Hopefully someone finds the info helpful on thier journey to the perfect craw presentation. 

What's your favorite craw combo and how do you get a pig smallmouth to take it?


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

One thing I've always found fascinating is how people can look at the same situation and approach it so completely differently. Mike Teach might throw his chartreuse spinnerbait or a crankbait while your throwing a caffeine shad or a creature bait while I'm throwing a grub on a jighead or a four inch worm on a neko rig. While Rob might be throwing a chatterbait. That's a great looking bait you have there


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## Dolomieu (Aug 19, 2008)

All of you river smallie guys out there...pay careful attention to this post . You will probable double your jig/tube hookups. SMB has proven it. Thanks for sharing!


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## co-angler (Jan 3, 2010)

Great, great stuff SMB.
If I may add one thing though, the hook set. 
Big (older) smallmouth have a tougher mouth "structure". I am often asked why I set the hook like there's money on the line!
Setting the hook with authority drives that hook deep into the jaw, roof of mouth or cheek of even the toughest fish.
Obviously we are talking plastics here and other presentations do not require such extreme measures.

You are quite the contributor to this page. Hell, you are a huge reason that I 
(s-l-o-w-l-y ...as I'm a slow study!)graduated to where I am now.

If only I could get the whole 5 o'clock shadow thing down!

Good job!


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## jcubzzz (Mar 25, 2015)

Wow what a wealth of information. Those three questions you posed are exactly what I ask myself whether I am live bait fishing or lure fishing in the river. Other questions I consider is cost and in-store availability. The best luck I've had with not getting snagged (as much) and productive presentation has been a bitsy bug jig with a craw trailer that I rip in half to shorten. Also a strike King mini King single blade spinner bait. I feel like the single hook pointed up from this spinner gets hung up less than the treble of a rooster tail. Both of these lures I can get fairly cheap at just about any Walmart. Cheap is great cause even though I get hung up less with them, I still get hung up and donate them to the river bottom. I really like your rig set up. I have great confidence in Texas rigged plastics but the weight does get hung up on rocks for me also. I'll have to try your rig out! Confidence is everything.


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## savethetrophies (Jul 4, 2014)

SMB thats awesome bro!


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## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

Lately I've been using2 3/4" tubes on a 1/0 weighted swim bait hook. Works great for me. I used to use the expose jighead but I was losing gear every other cast.


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## oly55 (Oct 2, 2014)

I like 1/4 oz draggin heads


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

oly55 said:


> I like 1/4 oz draggin heads


Are those by Big Joshy?


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## oly55 (Oct 2, 2014)

SMBHooker said:


> Are those by Big Joshy?


Confidence Baits


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## oly55 (Oct 2, 2014)

Monday had to whip out the old black bucktail to get bit


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

co-angler said:


> Great, great stuff SMB.
> If I may add one thing though, the hook set.
> Big (older) smallmouth have a tougher mouth "structure". I am often asked why I set the hook like there's money on the line!
> Setting the hook with authority drives that hook deep into the jaw, roof of mouth or cheek of even the toughest fish.
> ...


Thx for the kind words CA. I'm still a bit made at ya for not posting a thorough report on those MONSTERS you got into last year! You really had some trophies in the fall. 

Great observation CA, I remember when I 1st read this in an article yrs ago. I really didn't think there was much difference between the Jaw make up of lmb vs Smb even after reading about it. But back then I was fishing completely differently too and only catch 12"ers and smaller for the most part. But once you compare the bigger smallmouth to largemouth there sure is a big difference in thier DNA..... smallmouth bigger than 15"s really do have a set jaw much thick and tougher than largemouth. Flannel stuck a MONSTER last weekend with a pretty good hook set. The fish jumped and threw the hook & lure a mile. I bet he'd like to get that one back and really lay a swing into the rod. Fish was prob a 19"er.......tough as they come!


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Here's another form of the same set up but with different plastic and hooks. This is a shacky head jig 3/16 oz with a river bottom lure craw. What's nice about this setup is it stands up in the water and the river bottom lure's craw pinchers are buoyant so they stick up too like a real craw would. I took this set up out on my 1st wade in the river earlier in the year around the end of March early April and had my 1st fish, a nice smallie to start my yr.


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## bellbrookbass (Sep 20, 2013)

Thank you for posting this! Will give this a shot


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

SMBHooker said:


> Thx for the kind words CA. I'm still a bit made at ya for not posting a thorough report on those MONSTERS you got into last year! You really had some trophies in the fall.
> 
> Great observation CA, I remember when I 1st read this in an article yrs ago. I really didn't think there was much difference between the Jaw make up of lmb vs Smb even after reading about it. But back then I was fishing completely differently too and only catch 12"ers and smaller for the most part. But once you compare the bigger smallmouth to largemouth there sure is a big difference in thier DNA..... smallmouth bigger than 15"s really do have a set jaw much thick and tougher than largemouth. Flannel stuck a MONSTER last weekend with a pretty good hook set. The fish jumped and threw the hook & lure a mile. I bet he'd like to get that one back and really lay a swing into the rod. Fish was prob a 19"er.......tough as they come!


Sometimes smallies clamp down very hard when they hit...hold their mouth shut..think you have them hooked...they jump and open their mouths....gone...


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## IGbullshark (Aug 10, 2012)

Even though I don't really conventional fish, this is a great post! Posts like this are one of the main reasons I keep up with this site!


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

SMBHooker said:


> ...Great observation CA, I remember when I 1st read this in an article yrs ago. I really didn't think there was much difference between the Jaw make up of lmb vs Smb even after reading about it. But back then I was fishing completely differently too and only catch 12"ers and smaller for the most part. But once you compare the bigger smallmouth to largemouth there sure is a big difference in thier DNA..... smallmouth bigger than 15"s really do have a set jaw much thick and tougher than largemouth. Flannel stuck a MONSTER last weekend with a pretty good hook set. The fish jumped and threw the hook & lure a mile. I bet he'd like to get that one back and really lay a swing into the rod. Fish was prob a 19"er.......tough as they come!


Pretty good? PRETTY GOOD? That fish was lucky I didn't pull his face off!


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## BaitWaster (Oct 25, 2013)

So I had many issues with throwing jig craws mainly due to the snagging. I had a decent set up on the 1/8 shaky head using Gary Yamamoto baby craw in green pumpkin. I haven't thrown the lure at all this year though. I get super frustrated losing lures not because of the loss of money but because of the thought of depositing more trash in an already fragile ecosystem. So when I read this post I was stoked to absorb the knowledge of the Hooker! I am posting a response a little late because I wanted to give a trial run to the new rig. I purchased the Larew jig in 3/16th and instantly saw the difference. Not only were there less snags.... if I get caught up on a rock it's usually much easier to get popped out. I paired the lure with the Keitech 3.5 crazy flapper. I make sure to disconnect the appendages on the pinchers/antennae from each other to maximize the action of the lure. Loved the way this bait looks in the water. Thank you to SMB for this write up. I have been gaining information from this angler since day one. Always produces fantastic results. First fish on the new craw jig was impressive.


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## YAK_THE_FLIPPER (Jan 2, 2015)

I wanted to try out your rig; however, I could not find the Jackall Cover Craws. I ended up pairing a Zoom Speedcraw with the hard head jig. I was able to catch a quality smallmouth with this setup and missed another good smallie that crushed it and ran under my boat before I could get a good hook set. Thanks for sharing your setup!


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

YAK_THE_FLIPPER said:


> View attachment 211197
> I wanted to try out your rig; however, I could not find the Jackall Cover Craws. I ended up pairing a Zoom Speedcraw with the hard head jig. I was able to catch a quality smallmouth with this setup and missed another good smallie that crushed it and ran under my boat before I could get a good hook set. Thanks for sharing your setup!


That's a pig man ! I've had some luck on the speed craws too ... What she measure ?


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## streamstalker (Jul 8, 2005)

SMBHooker said:


> If you research any thing about big smallmouth behavior you'll find they prefer a smaller crayfish.


My version of your bait is a Reaction Innovation Smallie Beaver on a Bitsy Bug or some other skirted jig...doesn't look too different. It's often difficult to find the color of Smallie Beavers I like in store, so I buy the larger Sweet Beaver and trim it down to size. Tried the bigger ones one day when I was out of Smallie Beavers and wasn't getting any bites. Trimmed it down to size and they started hitting it.

I have a short rod at all times in the yak with one of these rigged for the right opportunities. It produced my two biggest smallies last year just shy of 20", and I really only throw this about five percent or less of my casts. It also produced my biggest fish today, an 18" that hit it after I dragged it over a clay ledge.

I evolved to this presentation from texas rigged Berkley Power Craws I started fishing creeks with about twenty years ago.


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## YAK_THE_FLIPPER (Jan 2, 2015)

ML1187 said:


> That's a pig man ! I've had some luck on the speed craws too ... What she measure ?


18 inches


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## Flannel_Carp (Apr 7, 2014)

YAK_THE_FLIPPER said:


> 18 inches


That is a stout 18 inches; I would have believed 19"+ easily. Congrats on a great fish!


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## YAK_THE_FLIPPER (Jan 2, 2015)

Flannel_Carp said:


> That is a stout 18 inches; I would have believed 19"+ easily. Congrats on a great fish!


I have been blessed with tiny hands that make fish appear bigger than they really are.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

BaitWaster said:


>


BW, nice job getting it done. That's a stout smallie. I like that color of craw imitation btw.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

YAK_THE_FLIPPER said:


> View attachment 211197


Another beautiful beastly smallmouth taken by the CrawTube. Nice work.

Wow, It is neat seeing everyone tweak the rig with their own adaptations and having great success. Keep them coming.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

It's a good time to throw the CrawTube. I was out for a little wade with my buddy (my 10 month old son) today and we were pitching the CrawTube a bit. We had a few fish and he had a blast. 

Saw tons of molting crawfish in the shallows. They're pretty vulnerable right now so the smallies should be hitting good on them.


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Great thread and info SMB thanks for sharing, but I dont know how you guys with Yacks do it, a few of us rented Yacks on the WWR last weekend and did 13 miles, we were throwing a variety of lures, although I was the only one throwing tubes and craws, and I might add the craws where on flat headed shakey head. Others were throwing bladed jigs, flat bill cranks etc.. after 13 miles I caught 2 small mouths, with many missed hook ups it seems for me its hard to slow down enough on a yack to watch the line and feel the bite, I had them biting off the tails of my craws and had many missed hook sets, also seemed like most fish were caught in the deep pools.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Summer is prime time for The CrawTube. I'm itching to get out again. It's been several weeks since I've been. Thought I would stop and update the thread with some new twists on the CrawTube presentation I've twicked and had good success with on the river smallies this yr. 

Still in the persuit of perfecting my ultimate CrawTube setup I've tried a new soft plastic that I think is close as ive gotten yet to smallmouth crack candy. 

Same hook/jighead setup but I've been pinching on the hook a Stike King Menace Twin Tail Grub to it. 

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Strike_King_Rage_Twin_Tail_Menace_Grub_8pk/descpage-SKRTTMG.html

This thing has wicked action. I think it's miss named in my opinion as it has a better craw appearance than a grub. The main body has excellent thickness to present a good portioned meal for pig smallies. It is a bit to long for me so I bite off some of the plastic at the end, usually about 3 to 4 rings.

Here is a couple of the many smallmouth that have taken to liking this new plastic CrawTube. 16 and 18".



















Here you can see what it looks like after taking off some plastic. Those are three different colors. From left to right: 1.) Honey Candy 2.) Green Pumpkin Sapphire 3.) Green Pumpkin 









Sapphire has been my favorite but the smallmouth have taken all three. The above pics came off the sapphire Thou. Here u can see the Candy and Sapphire compared up close. I prefer the Candy in clear water and the Sapphire in slightly stained river water. 









Here is the regular Green Pumpkin compared with the Sapphire. 


















The Menace Grub has a great line up of color choices. I've noticed with their ribbed claws the action entices alot more strikes on just a simple retrieve back to the boat. This NEVER happened with the Jackell Cover Craw.


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Wow, the candy colors they have look amazing, I actually bought some 3.5" tubes today in a similar color, headed to Ky this weekend for some more wade fishing.


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## dytmook (May 3, 2015)

Those do look good. I have some yum brand grubs that are similar in root beer with green flake. I love the action they get, though my success pales in comparison.


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## RiparianRanger (Nov 18, 2015)

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