One Ton Torpedo Tubing
It's unlikely that powerbassing will ever be practiced by the average angler. It takes a certain level of experience, a certain number of years of having caught all the average-sized fish on all the average-sized baits. A certain having been there, done that, want more attitude, and bypassing the smaller, more plentiful fish in the spots that are easier to fish. It's getting into hard-to-fish spots, rarely-fished locations with one-ounce lures in hopes of rousing above-average adversaries. There is no finesse as we think of it, although there is great skill required. It is reaction, hitting hard, a knock-down drag-out brawl. The outcome as to which adversary will win is unpredictable.
Some (not all) examples of such kinds of powerbassing skills are:
- Bombing otherwise impenetrable emergent weedbeds with one-ounce jig-and-pigs to break through the heavy matted surface canopy to reach green-backed Jurassic dinosaurs lurking beneath.
- Launching one-ounce spinnerbaits to slow-roll past deep denizens, or burning and crashing the one-ouncers through dense shallow cover.
- Hurling cumbersome Carolina rigs into the unknown with one-ounce egg sinkers.
- Punt-kicking one-ounce football jigs into the deep, with soft plastic skirts mixed and matched to single- or double-tail grubs.
- Vertical jigging deep with heavy metal slab spoons, often surpassing the one-ounce mark.
- Ripping one-ounce Rat-L-Traps and other hefty slab-sided lipless rattling cranks.
- Whipping Super Spooks out way, way yonder, and whipping them all the way back in a head-slapping frenzy of action.
The above examples, you just aren't going to find the average angler powerbassing these ways all day. Those who do, finish all of their spinach at dinner the night before, and they drag their sorry carcasses into bed early at the end of a powerfishing day. It's tiring and perhaps for the average angler, unrewarding work. Few bass will be caught, only with great skill in difficult spots, but they'll be powerbass. The most magnificent specimens at the peak of their power, they tend to be the best the general population of bass has to offer an angler. That's why the few true powerfishers patiently and proudly pursue them. Now I'm not saying powerbassing is trophy bass fishing for ten pounders. That's something different, but powerbassers do, through a combination of location and technique, bypass the prevalent ones and twos in hopes of selectively hooking the prime three, four and more pounders that exist in any body of water.
In this story, let's add one ton torpedo tubing with one-ounce insider jig heads in tube baits to the powerbassing list of tactics, and let's learn exactly how to do it below.
You may not have heard of the "One Ton Torpedo Tube" until now. However, it's a technique I've been using in fresh and saltwater since the early 1980's.
It's one of the most powerful ways to bass fish with tube baits, and is equally deadly on most inshore saltwater gamefish species that eat small baitfish, shrimp, squid or whatever else.
Torpedo tubing is a heavy tackle powerfishing technique using from one-half to one-ounce jig heads inside tubes. Since the inner hollow of a tube hasn't a very wide diameter, the long cylindrical insider jig head looks like a torpedo. And once you launch one of these heavy babies, you'll feel as if you've got a torpedo running silent and deep on the end of your line too! So leave all that finesse stuff dockside and rev up the engines on the old PT boat. We're going torpedo tubing today!
From top down, left: Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits 4-1/2" (34-series), 3-1/2" (33-series) and 3" (32-series) white pearl tube baits (color #09). Right, from top down: 1 oz, 3/4 oz and 1/2 oz Laketown Pro Model Tapered Tube Jigs with 5/0 Gamakatsu from www.terrystackle.com.
Torpedo tubing tactics are similar to one ton football jigging with hula skirts mixed and matched to single- and double-tail grubs, practiced mainly out West. The name "One Ton Jig" was coined by Gary Yamamoto, so that's where I got the name, "One Ton Tubing" from. But the significant differences between footballs and torpedoes are that the torpedo tube can be cast farther, gets down faster than the football, and fishes faster using more of a barely-above-bottom baitfish approach with the torpedo as opposed to crawling or dragging it around as many tend to do with the footballs. With the torpedo, you can cover more bottom faster than the football. Swim the torpedo tube along, glide it down a slope, hesitate to let it sink, and whip the rod tip up immediately to snap it over obstructions it hits. If it really isn't hitting too much of anything, simply stop turning the handle (and expect to get bit then) to let it fall back to make bottom contact. As the torpedo tube gets closer under the boat, switch over to working it in a vertical jigging spoon lift-and-drop manner. Most hits will come as you get whacked on the downstroke or the fish will already be on, unbeknownst to you, when you go to make the next upstroke.
I do not always use it with a very fast "lift-and-fall" or what's now classified as the "stroking" technique. Sometimes I just lift and drop it like a jigging spoon (not the more aggressive "stroking" method). Try both the slower lift-and-drop as well as the more aggressive stroking snap, and let the fish tell you what they want. If I am jigging or stroking the bottom, and I see fish on the graph, but no takers, I'll speed reel the tube 10-20 feet off the bottom, then suddenly stop and bounce it with the rod tip. You get some chasers that will take it after the bounce, and if it's in the transducer cone, you can watch the whole thing happening. After that, I'll either speed reel to the surface and stop it right under the boat, as if it's seeking security close under the hull (yes, a boat is a form of cover that bait and bass use, and as an angler, you should use your boat that way too), or else I free spool back to the bottom, and see which approach triggers fish.
You may tend to consider one-tonning with torpedoes as a deep ploy, but the one ton can be a winning shallow water technique too. Indeed I've caught many shallow bass on one ton torpedo tubes. They work from six feet to sixty deep.
Speed reeling works especially well in shallow water, even with a one ounce tube, even in as little as 5-6 feet of water. Just cast out across fish-holding shallow water, hold the rod tip up and immediately start reeling like there's no tomorrow. Sounds odd, but try it. You'll be absolutely amazed at what you catch! Just speed-reel it along the bottom, even in as little as 5-6 feet of water with the one ounce model. This is similar in concept to burning a white on white spinnerbait. Yes, I usually do use a white tube to "speed reel". In fact, I often start with a white tube, and it's the overall best color in fresh or saltwater, although black, green, other colors have their moments. As you speed reel, any time it contacts anything, snap stroke the rod up (like you're setting the hook). The knack you'll need to learn is to do that a split-second before the torpedo tube gets snagged. Just be careful you don't snap your rod, and learn how to do this safely. It should be a controlled, powerful stroke, not done haphazardly or wildly. Be careful, maintain carefully calculated control, and with a little practice, you'll get the hang of it. And if you find you're getting a lot of strikes when you snap stroke the jig over obstructions it contacts, then start stroking it every few turns of the reel handle - even when it's running clean, not bouncing off anything. Yes, stroking a one ton torpedo (or any jig) can work even in shallow water. So you see, stroking a jig isn't just a deep water ploy.
White is almost always a reliable color in fresh or saltwater, day or night. Black can be good too, especially in saltwater at night.
Add your choice of smokes, browns and greens, particularly for freshwater.
Rod and Line Required
With one-ton torpedoes, I prefer a stout baitcasting rod and 16 lb. test Sugoi line, which is low-stretch fluorocarbon. Other brands of fluorocarbon have more or less stretch. So, if you don't use Sugoi, it's important to use a low-stretch fluorocarbon. Low stretch is important since this is pure reaction fishing and bass seem to initially snap or slash or take a punch at one tons. If you do not hit them back immediately, they do not necessarily hold onto them too long. They don't necessarily hold onto or mouth a one ton tube like a weightless Senko. At times, it's almost as if they knock themselves silly when they hit into these heavyweight jigs. Especially the torpedo tube is solid inside, not soft. I think it is heavy and hard for them to inhale one tons with suction created by flaring their gills as they hit it, and it's so heavy it can drop like a rock falling out of their mouths the instant they slash at it. Of course, if you're blessed to live and fish in big bass country, the bigger bass haven't too much problem inhaling torpedoes into their huge maws, but you will at times tend to feel the dinks bouncing off the one tons as if they ran into a brick.
If you miss on the initial reaction bite, you can let the one ton fall to bottom and lie there, expecting a pick-up on the way down or off the bottom. This follow-up bite may now feel like a little extra weight has been added or total weightlessness or a mushy feeling on the line. You've got to reel any slack out, haul off and whack them fast and hard. That's why low-stretch line and a heavy rod that can drive a good sharp hook home is a must, since the heavy wire Gamakatsu hooks in Laketown's 3/4 oz and 1 oz jig heads have heavy wire. The 1/2 oz model has just a little less hook wire, yet still requires a powerful, hard hookset.
Heavy action spinning rods work swell too, especially with braided line. Of course, braid may be used on baitcasting also. Since one ton torpedo tubing is a reaction strike, the visibility of braid is moot, and no leader is required unless you're fishing a rocky area or where the braid may encounter sharp shells or any sharp, hard edges which may cut braid like butter. In those cases, use a small strong swivel with 12 to 18 inches of fluorocarbon as a leader, and you'll alleviate most line cuts on braid. An abrasion-resistant fluoro leader will not cut as easily on hard, rocky or sharp edges. In very rocky lakes, around rip rap or jetties, however, a small 12-18 inch leader may not be long enough to keep the braid off large rock piles or steep underwater rock ledges. Then you may need to use 5-6 feet of more of fluorocarbon knotted directly to the braid (no swivel) so the braid is kept out of contact with any rocks.
Getting In (and Out) of Snags
With practice made perfect by losing more than you care to, your skills with torpedo tubes can be honed to relatively snag-free deployment once you master what is going on with these heavyweights down below, and you learn how to bounce them over snags with the rod an instant before they get stuck. Even still, they will get stuck more than you care for, yet they're amazingly easy to shake loose when you get directly over the snag and jiggle them until they drop out, which can often trigger a bite by bass that scurry over to see what all the jiggling was about when suddenly...an easy-looking meal plops loose!
Torpedo tubes can be cast incredibly far. You can almost empty your spool with one. This is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because you can cover a ton (pun intended) of water on one cast. Also, if schooling fish are going up and down quickly, it is a great way to reach them wherever and whenever the school unpredictably pops up again. It's also a curse, or should I say you'll be cussing if you get snagged at the end of a very long cast. There's really no way to unsnag these heavies on the end of a long cast - unless you bring the boat over and get positioned right above the snag with the boat. So it is unproductive to cast far if it is so snaggy you spend most of your time moving the boat over to unsnag it. That's no fun.
Often the best way to one ton is to cast directly up ahead of the boat. Not too far out to the side. Mostly up directly ahead of the boat. You must keep your foot on the trolling motor constantly. Whatever speed you want, but constantly on. Go with, not against the wind. With a team of two, both guys must be casting up ahead of the boat if they don't want to get stuck one-tonning. Remember, if one guy gets stuck, you both sit out the penalty time. So you better let the back seat guy cast directly up ahead too. Cast ahead and let the one ton plummet to the bottom which is when you feel a thud and your line billows out slack. At times these things can almost rock you off your feet when they suddenly pound into the bottom like a mortar shell. Then reel the jig in just fast enough to keep it from getting snagged while occasionally tapping bottom to ensure your jig does not rise up too high off bottom. With the trolling motor on, keep retrieving until the boat pulls up perpendicular (at right angles) to where your jig is on bottom. Your jig should be practically under the boat or not too far out to the side when you pull abreast of it. At the point when the torpedo is getting close to the boat, switch to vertical jigging it like a spoon. When the jig gets close, you can just shake, rock and roll it on the bottom directly under the boat without lifting it, since following fish may trigger off this vertical shaking tactic, and the turn-about or change in direction of the bait when the boat pulls directly abreast of the jig is a key strike trigger.
Keep alert that neither you nor your partner cast any further ahead than the distance it takes the boat (depending on trolling speed, wind and current) to advance directly over the one ton by the time you are ready to reel in and cast again. With this approach, even though you are not emptying your spool into the setting sun when you cast, you are nevertheless covering more bottom more quickly with one tons torpedoes than with any other bassing technique (except trolling). If you get snagged, you will usually be able to unsnag your line easily as you pass directly over it. If you are doing this right, most times you will not have to step off or slow down the trolling motor to unsnag a one ton. You can usually jiggle it out as you troll directly over it. You will have a chronic snagging problem, however, if you let a one ton angle back behind the boat during a retrieve. That's a no-no.
In what is almost always a snaggy scenario when using one ton torpedoes, check your line for abrasion and retie often. Yamamoto Sugoi fluorocarbon line works best for me, either as the main line or as a leader used with braid.
Keeping the Keepers On
Another aspect, the last I will tell you about one-tonning today is that there are days when deep bass will streak straight to the top when hooked, rattle their heads and chuck the one ton right at you. If one bass acts this way, expect others to also act this way the same day. They usually all behave in concert, and that's an important concept. There's nothing you can do about this except really reel like heck until you get the line taut, get the upper hand and use the rod and reeling to drag the bass toward you off its course before it jumps. At least that's what I try to do, you are on your own. There's a whole lot of guys who kneel to fish, baby them, bow to them, stick rod tips underwater, slow down reeling, get gentle. This is not the time for that. I just rip them, never stopping until they're in the net or boat. A high-speed reel ratio like 6:1 or better helps here, but on top of that there's the spool diameter, spool width, line diameter and the handle length, all of which determine how many inches of line can be wound back onto the spool in a hurry regardless of the manufacturer's stated X:1 ratio. So you can get out a calculator and a measuring tape and you can crunch all those calculations ten times over, but they still won't get an inch of line retrieved for you. Only your wrist winding faster than you've ever wound before, not the x:1 ratio, will get line back onto the spool. Just your wrist moving like a blur and your determination to beat the bass to the surface before it jumps and wins its freedom from you.
Even when bass are not rocketing straight to the surface, one ton bass will still come off if you aren't assertive in reeling them. With the stiff rod and low-stretch line used, there just isn't any spring or shock absorber in the system. It's not like dropshotting. Any sudden slack, the one ton will drop out of the fish's jaw or the bass will dislodge it when it rattles its gills underwater or jumps. There's nothing to take up the slack in this system except you reeling fast and hard, so you must do that all the way to the boat - or you'll be sorry.
That's not all there is to say about torpedo tubing, but it is where I'm ending writing to you today. It's good guidance to get you started powerbassing with torpedo tubes. As more anglers experiment with this tactic, we should see more experiences shared on forums and in articles, helping define the yet uncharted course of powerbassing with one ton torpedo tubes.
>From top down: 1/2 oz 3" tube. 3/4 oz 3-1/2" tube. 1 oz 4-1/2" tube. A drop of oily fish attractant dripped into the tube skirt opening helps greatly to slide the jig inside.
To Recap
You will lose a lot of baits if fishing from shore in shallow water, and you will get a lot of hang-ups if casting far distances from a boat. With speed-reeling along bottom, either shallow or deep, once you get momentum going, it kind of bounces itself over anything it whacks, or you "shock" it over with a rod jerk. The key is to pop it up as soon as it starts stumbling on rubble and speed up the pace a little until it stops hitting stuff - do not wait before you pop it or it will surely get stuck - and you will get a lot of savage bites during the activity of popping it - or the instant when you come through the debris and as you ease off and resume steady speed-reeling again, you'll often get banged hard. But speed-reeling aside, any slower approach which incurs bottom contact, or whenever you cast long distance, you will get hung a lot. You will not lose too many jigs (fishing from a boat) since you can get right over the snag and almost always shake it out, but you will incur a lot of non-fishing "down time" using the electric motor to move over to the snagged area all the time. To prevent that: 1) do not cast not very far ahead of the boat, and 2) do make a short cast, directly in the direction you're going with the trolling motor, so by the time you pull up to where the tube is, if it has become snagged, you are directly above it anyway, and can shake it loose in an instant, okay?
Arm the torpedo tubes. Full speed ahead.