The Strike King Denny Brauer Flip-N-Tube is a lure with which Chad Brauer is very familiar: His father created it and popularized it with a BASS Masters Classic win in 1998. As you might expect, Chad has done his share of experimenting with the tube, too.
"After I used it for a year or so, I started fishing it as a soft-plastic jerkbait," he says. While acknowledging that he isn't the first person to jerk a tube, he says the Flip-N-Tube's design gives that are bass used to regular soft jerkbaits that all-important different look.
"The solid head with a hollow body makes it more erratic in the water," Brauer says. "You can almost walk the dog with it underwater." Its construction also makes it hold up better than a traditional tube bait, he notes.
Brauer says he's gotten to the point where he always uses the Flip-N-Tube in a soft jerkbait situation. "Rather than a Slug-Go or a floating worm, a tube bait gives the fish a different look. When you kill it in the water the tentacles flare a little. That's a subtle advantage over straight worms."
His favorite time to fish the lure is either side of the spawn, over vegetation. And while most people fish soft jerkbaits in water 5 feet and shallower, he fishes the Flip-N-Tube in water 15 feet or deeper -- for largemouths, smallmouths and spotted bass.
"It can be used at any depth," he says. "When bass suspend, you might only work it 5 or 6 feet down, but the fish will come out of 15 feet to eat it -- like at Table Rock, instead of swimming grubs."
Brauer rigs the tube "pretty much how you rig any soft plastic jerkbait." He uses a heavy 4/0 or 5/0 Mustad tube hook, and rigs the bait Texposed (push the point of the hook all the way through the bait and then push the point back under the skin only).
Usually his line of choice is 12 or 14-pound green Stren, but in heavy weeds (like in Florida) he'll go as heavy as 20-pound line. Rounding out his rig is a Team Daiwa spinnerbait rod and Team Daiwa TDX 103HVA baitcaster.
His favorite tube colors are pearl pepper and chartreuse pepper. Black neon is a favorite color for southern waters, "where you get a little bit dirtier water."
