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Crappies tube revisited.
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I mostly started out using any brand of tubes, as long as I could get a bag of them "cheap".And yes I too inserted the jighead into the hollow tube ... even buying a mold to pour that type of insert jighead. Had to keep buying tubes and making the jigheads, because ... well, they snagged so easily when fished around cover, and the cheap thin walled plastic tubes spit open quite often when the head was inserted and the line eye popped thru the tube.
I kinda "fixed" the snagging part of the equation by buying weedless jigheads. Then I started buying the Bass Pro Shop Squirmin Squirts tubes (1.5"). I enjoyed many years of catching Crappie on those two items. But, there was still the problem of the tubes splitting open, either after a few fish being caught or sunfish yanking the tube down on the hook. I tried using Super Glue products to bind the top of the jighead to the front end of the tube, and that worked "OK" for awhile, but it meant having to tie on a new jighead or scraping the remains of the tube & glue off the head of the jig whenever the sunfish finally got around to nipping off all of the skirt tentacles of the tube.
That prompted me to start buying only solid body tubes of various brands. I haven't went back to hollow tubes since then. And in recent years the tube I've used most often is the Strike King Mr Crappie Thunder Tubes. And I still cast them on a 1/16oz weedless jighead. But, truthfully ... I've gotten away from using tubes, for the most part, and use stinger shad shaped plastics most of the time when casting.
My experiences & observations on "line twist" have shown me that there are two main reasons why the line twists when casting. One is when the cast is made quickly and with the snap of the wrist, which often times sends the jig spinning in the air all the way to the splashdown. That's using a spinning reel, though, as I don't use baitcast reels for casting. The second is when the jig is allowed to fall on a slack line and the jig spirals down, rather than falling straight. I've attributed that spiraling motion to a slightly off center hooking of the plastic bait in most cases.
As far as the insert style heads .... the closest one to the style my mold makes is the Arkie Insert head. The "baseball bat" shape of the lead head does far less damage to the tube when inserted.
