Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/958
The first time I saw a tube lure being used successfully– wildly so—it was a setup. It was nearly two decades ago at the local mid-winter boat and sport show, where I stopped to watch a guy fishing up on the Hawg Trough fishing demon- stration tank. I almost walked on by, figuring the fella' was just another bass pro Bubba from down south tossing spin- nerbaits while rambling on to us Yankees how many big bass they catch back home. When I noted the absence of both an accent and an ego and saw the fellow at the top of the trough actually explain- ing what he was doing instead of telling fish tales, it caught my attention. So did the number of fish he started to catch— and not just the bass in the tank. EVERYTHING was follow- ing and striking the non-descript bait he was tossing, from bluegill and crappie to the walleye in the tank. I waited until the talk was over just to hear what the lure was called. The host referred to it as a tube bait, a term I was not familiar with, and when someone asked what brand, his answer drew some giggles from the crowd: "It's called a Fat Gitzit," he answered, straight-faced as he could be. Funny as it sounded, within an hour of the demon- stration, there wasn't a tube bait—let alone a bona fide Fat Tubular hooked 24 Houseboatmagazine.com By Dan Armitage