Thread: float tube

I am heading to hefner in the morning to see what the crappie are doing. DC Crappie Kid and I are going to try for 5-6 hours.

I guess in the winter if the wind's out of the north or northwest, fishin' close to the rip-rap on the dam would be a good spot to tube. Not this weekend tho!

When I was younger I used one lots for Crappie and Bass fishing. They do limit your mobility and on larger lakes I only used them up a creek or in a cove. I long ago went to a canoe or kayak and find them better for my purposes, even on relatively small ponds. Even with them the wind is your enemy more than your friend. Got back last night from my last Pheasant trip of the year so I'm switching to a Crappie mind-set now. There were some Slab Bandits here that I ordered before I left. George, how did the trip to Hefner go?

IkenI - I had to cancel our trip because of some business matters that came up. I was disappointed and so was DCCrappie Kid. The dam was calm enough to vertical fish from my boat. I do not know when we will get another warm calm day soon to try again.

Well, I converted one of my rods to a slip-corkin' rig and went out anyway. The rods I brought were not bred for that purpose, but worked ok. BTW, George, you're right about those corks being balanced at 3/8 oz. Spot-on! I fished most of the afternoon all-along the dam from 15-25 ft and didn't do any good. Should have at least called Jones Tackle and asked for a depth since I hadn't been out there in months. As I was leaving a guy told me 26-27 was the last place he'd had any action, but by that time I didn't have any motivation left. Still, considering today's weather, it was nice to be out Friday!

Tubing at Hefner is the way to go, especially in fall, winter, and early spring.
If you want a good tube, there is a lady in Yukon who makes great tubes.
U-tubes are easier to get into and out of, especially if you use flippers. Some guys have larger tubes (some made out of styrofoam) that can handle a trolling motor.Most guys use fishmaster kickers, although they are hard to find. Flippers definitely give you more thrust and will move you longer distances faster than kickers. I once fished with my college buddy in Montana. He said we had to kick nearly three miles up this narrow lake to get to the good fishing. His flippers got him there about 75 minutes faster than me. We killed the cutthroats on a #16 Blue Dun dry fly.
You can buy a strap and pvc tube rig that will let you use a Bottom Buddy depth finder on your float tube.
You will need something to hold your fish. Some people use floating wire baskets, some use envelope-style mesh baskets, and some use an open mesh basket with a styrofoam ring to keep it floating (my favorite). Be careful not to let your basket rub up against your tube. Crappie or sand bass fins will put very small holes in your tube. You won't sink in a hurry, but you will have to do a patch job.
The major advantage of tube fishing is that you can keep your hook in the strike zone, whereas cast-and-retrievers and slip corkers pass through the strike zone quickly. I have done a lot of fishing all three ways, but tubing is my favorite.
Crappie are not the only fish to be caught from a tube. Sand bass, walleyes, and catfish are easily caught from a tube. Warning: If you fish walleyes or cats, they will put bigger holes in your tube, so use a longer stiffer rod to keep them from swimming into your tube.
Technique will catch more fish than colors or style of jig. The Hefner crappie will change what they want in a presentation from day to day or hour to hour. If you don't get bit doing a slow jigging method, try raising your jig slowly, troll the jig, swing back and forth, drop the jig several inches at a time, or just deadstick it. You can also cast your jigs and let them slowly drift back under you. Strikes will often come as the jigs are nearly under you.
All kinds of jigs will work for you on Hefner. Bobby Garland, Fin-S, Bass Assasin, Beavertail, hand-tied feather jigs (see Carl Jones if you don't tie your own), roadrunners, tiny flukes, etc. all work well. I have taken my wife's yarn and wrapped it around a hook, without even doing a real tie job and killed them. Again, technique is what counts.
Currently, they have been between 28 and 30 feet down. I have been getting 10 to 15 crappie per hour, plus sandies, small hybrids, small walleyes, and large bluegills.

How long are the bluegills????

I didn't measure the bluegills but the ones I got were eating size. We were getting lots of taps without getting a hookup, probably schooled up gills rather than crappie. They were in the big curve and west of the big curve, at 28 to 30 feet. After the sun goes behind the wall, I move in shallower. The gills were everywhere from 15 feet on down. You could probably catch a lot of them with a small hook. I use a 1/120th ounce jig with a size 16 hook that I got from the old BandB store years ago. Bait with the Berkley 1/2 inch grubs.