clear tube jigs

[MightyMOE]

Does anyone know where to purchase CLEAR tubes. No glitter, no colored tips, just clear.

Any info greatly appreciated.
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[albinotrout]

Have you tried basspro? They have quite a selection online.
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[MightyMOE]

thanks for the info, but nothin at BPS.
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[gstott]

You could probably get somebody to custom make them for you. I do have a 4" tube mold, but I'm not really in the business of selling my baits (limited time on my hands these days). I know there are people I've met on bait making forums that do make custom baits to order though. I'd check on the Do-It and Bear's Baits forums.
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[MightyMOE]

thanx gstott, will look into it.
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[RonPaulFan]

Make your own!

LurePartsOnline is the company that gets a lot of money from me. Very helpful and knowledgeable people.

Here is the link to one of the clear plastics they offer among quite a variety with everything else you need:

http://lurepartsonline.com/Online-Store/...astic.html
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[gstott]

I like M-F plastic, but I think Do It's is even better, and with free shipping, a bit cheaper too. I did place an order from M-F for some dyes, and he was really cool. Sent me several bottles of extra colorant and a free pint of soft plastic which worked great for drop shot baits.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Possibly your best shot might be [url "http://www.southernpro.com/index.cfm"]SOUTHERN PRO[/url] .

I buy a lot of my crappie plastics directly through them. I just got a 100 pack of 2" clear sparkle for $9.99. Not sure if they sell plain, without sparkle. I custom color the clear sparkle and couldn't imagine how the unsparkled ones would work better. Do you have a special application? Would be interested in knowing what that might be...and what size you need.

They have good customer service. You might want to check with them to see if they can produce what you want.
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[Brian_bkb]

A long time ago they sold dye your own twister tail and tube kits locally. The grubs/tubes in the kit was solid clear. Undyed they was the absolute best "color" I ever used.

I ain't seen any in twenty years or more...
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[RonPaulFan]

I looked. SouthernPro does sell clear without sparkles AND they're on sale now 20 for a dollar:

http://www.southernpro.com/store/store_p...egory_ID=9
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[RonPaulFan]

Perhaps putting together a kit of clear plastic lures with dye to customize them would be our way back to the sixties and TyeDyeTwins might get creative with it, too.

It would allow you to duplicate and share the one that works best at the moment without having to have a lot of each and instead putting together a small kit. I might just place an order.

On a related note, I'm using a similar concept with hard lures, so this appeals to me. I have stick on colored vinyl material and scissors handy. If a lure needs a streak of a particular color to sorta match a pattern that is working, it's a quick modification that can be removed or altered or changed for another color.

Also, I was reading here in BFT that fish eyes are good bait for perch, so I grabbed a dollar package of assorted sizes of eyes for crafts and some weak bond waterproof glue and I can now give lures huge eyes as an experiment.
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[MightyMOE]

Thanks for the info, and for my idea. Was to put glow tear drops and small minnow heads in em ? Size wise 1, 1.5, 2.0.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]You are thinking right. But there are lots of ways to get just the right color or effect without going all the way back to clear colorless plastic. See attached pics.

I started using small tubes when they first came out back in the 70's. Color choices were limited. I began experimenting with making my own colors...buying the clear sparkle and using a permanent marker to make the ends either blue, red or purple. They worked very well and other folks began copying my creations. Now they are available in those colors and hundreds of others.

The last pic attached shows the custom colored clear tubes. I now use a special plastic paint made by Spike-It. It does not bleed like the permanent markers and will not peel off. The second to last pic shows the eyes I put on colored tubes so that I can fish them weightless...dropshot style. The eyes make a big difference.

I mostly fish tube jigs with my custom colored and eyed "minnow head" jigs. That adds weight, color, eyes and profile changes to the plain tube. I probably catch over 60% of the fish I catch every year on small tube jigs...either with the minnow head or by fishing them weightless on a dropshot.

The pic at the top shows the "standard" tube jig head...which fits up inside the tube. They work but they work even better if you add eyes to the tube if it is not clear. If it is clear you can paint the jig head as in the picture so that the color and eyes show through. Ditto for glow. I make lots of glow stuff for ice fishing and it shows through white or pearl as well as clear.

Getting back to the clear plastic. It can work well in its original no-color form...especially early in the summer, in clear water, when there are lots of newly hatched fry on the menu. But in stained water or during low light conditions you will usually do better with colored plastics. And some colors work better than others for specific species and under different water and light conditions. It pays to always have a good assortment of colors and jig heads to fit any anticipated conditions.
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[MightyMOE]

RPF that is such a good idea. I cant believe someone isn't mass producing such a product. Duplicate yes, as for (SHARING) this is BFT ([]) we share the passion, the love and lord knows we share OPINIONS. But the lure no way... I am so kidding. The people here on BFT are great. I don't post very often, but this post was very productive. THANK YOU all for for your time and information.
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[RonPaulFan]

Thanks, MightyMOE!

But, it's TubeDude who has the experience and puts in great amounts of time sharing it with us.

Thanks, Tube Dude!

In the spirit of that, I share what little I know. Actually, it is my lack of experience that inspires my adaptability.

Tube Dude can be minimalist with his experience to just show up with a few lures he is confident that they will be productive.

In sharp contrast, I show up with so much lures that a larger boat is needed and it makes shore fishing and hiking into leaving most of it behind anyway.

I've been wanting to solve that by putting together small fishing lure bags that are ready to grab and go and leave the bulk of the rest behind. They can be smaller, if the variety they contain is just size and action and leaving out variety of color but with the stick on colored vinyls to quickly modify them on the spot.

That seems like a good idea to me, but unlike Tube Dude's tested and proven techniques that he kindly shares with us, this is new to me and still untested though I believe it will work just fine based on using the stick on vinyls for lettering and sign making and noticing it's quick and easy, goes on and stays on, yet peels off easy and leaving no damage nor sticky residue of adhesive.

Also, the larger bulging eyes I've glued onto lures stick on well and peel off with no change to the lure, so I'll test them in different sizes.

I'm learning a lot from others and lately. I always value that by doing it their way as a learning opportunity. When fishing alone, I get creative and test out my new gear. But, my last several fishing trips were dedicated to learning Walleye fishing from a very experienced friend, so I abandoned my equipment, used his fishing rod, reel, lures and techniques to fully take advantage of that learning opportunity.

A Walleye rod! Who would have thunk it? I thought my rods were great, but he said they didn't have just the right action.

I'll experiment again when I'm fishing alone. I have some of my own techniques that are well practiced and tested and proven yet I'm eager to put that aside for rare and valuable learning opportunities from the very experienced who share in hours what took them decades to learn.

Still, I do have a few techniques I've had great successes with that I share. One in particular is I've learned to fish in weeds and rocks that snag lures using long practiced techniques to swim and control swim baits to fish areas that others consider unfishable. Why should I fish these challenging spots? Because that's where the fish are! Fish like cover and I fish it.
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