Chucky Hamrick is a fan of the magnum tubes in the summer, but not in the traditional sense.
“I like to Carolina-rig tubes,” Hamrick said. “I’ll use the magnum tubes on a Carolina rig and put rattles in them, and they’ll float higher and they mimic small shad. Sometimes a slow-falling tube will be just what a bass needs to entice it into biting.
“It’s just a little different presentation that the bass are not used to seeing, and sometimes that’s the difference between catching fish or going home empty handed on high pressure lakes.”
Hamrick usually matches the size of the tube with the size of the bass he’s targeting or catching in that area.
“I’ll use a big tube with a 5/0 hook if the big fish are biting because I want to be able to handle them and give them a big meal,” he said. “If they’re smaller, I’ll use the smaller tubes to finesse them into biting, too.”
And he’s not immune to use the pattern shallow.
“Sometimes you need to do something a little different, and I like to use slightly different techniques when I get the chance — and shallow-water Carolina-rigging is one of the often-overlooked techniques, especially when you use a tube,” Hamrick said. “I’ll modify the Carolina rig and have a foot to a foot and a half leader (sometimes 2 or 3 feet) in shallow water and bring it through pads, grass and wood, anything I can find that might hold a bass.”
Hamrick uses PowerPro braid with a 12-pound mono leader, and he likes a 4/0 or larger hook.
He also skin-hooks his tubes to allow for better penetration on hooksets.
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