10 Ways To Catch A Cow Striper On The Tube & Worm

With summer now in full swing, I plan on switching over to fishing from my boat a heck of a lot more. In most areas on Cape Cod, big striped bass will become more challenging to find and catch from shore during the heat of summer. To get a real good bass in the heat, your best chance will be via boat.

In this post I will share with you 10 ways to catch a cow striper on the tube and worm, which have worked for me since I was a little kid, trolling tubes from a 12 foot tin boat with my Dad.

If you are looking to catch your first keeper striper this season from your boat, or if you are just hoping to glean some tube and worm information, then I feel this post will be extremely valuable to you.

1)  Use A Real Seaworm On The Tube, Instead Of The Plastic Scented Seaworms

Plastic scented seaworms do work when trolled on tubes. However after a lot of experimenting over the years I feel it pays to cough up the $6 per dozen for the actual, real live seaworms.

One thing I have noticed, which happens much more frequently when trolling with fake plastic seaworms, is that big bass whack the tube, but do not get the hook. With live seaworms stripers inhale the worm and try to swallow it, resulting in a much better hookup ratio.

2)  Use A Rod With Good Backbone, And A Soft Tip

Since it is very possible to catch a 50 pound bass while trolling the tube and worm off Cape Cod, I would definitely recommend choosing a rod that has plenty of backbone. This is especially true if you are trolling tubes in rocky areas.

Yet you also want a rod that has a soft tip, because often times the hook sets are not great when tube and worm trolling. When the bass is shaking its head at the side of the boat, a soft rod tip will help diminish the amount of popped hooks.

3)  Keep The Trolling Speed Between 1.5 – 2.5 MPH

I feel that the tube and worm most likely imitates a large seaworm, squirming slowly through the water. Seaworms don’t travel fast so I would definitely recommend keeping your trolling speed slow, somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 MPH.

If your boat cannot go this slow, then try dragging a pair of 5 gallon buckets off the stern. I’ve seen larger boats use a drift sock off the stern as well to help slow them down.

4)  When In Doubt, Go With Red

When I was working at a bait shop as a teenager, we only sold red, orange and black tubes. Now if you go to purchase a tube, you’ll see some wild colors like green, purple and pink.

When in doubt, I say go with a red tube. I can’t think of a situation in which the boat next to me was hooking up on pink, and I was not able to hook up on red. Same goes with all the other crazy and wild colors.

I”m sure the whacky colors have their place, but I feel you will have your best chance sticking to the traditional colors that have worked for decades.

5)  If You’re Running Low On Worms, Then A Half Or Quarter Of A Worm Will Still Work

With regards to the seaworm, I feel the most important thing is to make sure there is at least a small bit of worm on the hook to provide the bass with some scent to zone in on.

Without the worm, bass may whack the top or middle of the tube, so you need at least some worm on the hook in order to get a good hook set.

A nice big, fat, juicy seaworm is ideal, but in many cases a 3 inch long section of seaworm will get the job done.

6)  Troll With The Tide, Waves, Breeze And Current

Not only is trolling into the tide, waves, breeze and current difficult, but it messes up the presentation of the tube. Odds are the tube will be corkscrewing at a rapid pace, the boat will be bouncing all over the place, and you might not make any headway at all.

Instead I prefer to motor upcurrent, uptide or upwind and troll with the natural movement of the water. One would imagine that if the tube and worm does imitate a large seaworm, then said seaworm would be swimming with the tide, breeze and current as well.

7)  Be Sure To Precisely Control The Depth At Which You Are Trolling

When bass are finicky on those hot summer afternoons, the depth at which you troll your tube can have a big impact. Even adjusting the depth by a mere yard or two, can make a big difference.

I prefer leadcore line because controlling depth is simple and easy. Other guys will use weight, downriggers or wire. Whatever route you choose, just be sure you can accurately determine the depth at which you are trolling.

8)  Hold Onto Those “Magic” Tubes And Protect Them With Your Life!

Ever since I began trolling tubes I have noticed that certain tubes catch all the fish. I may be trolling 2 identical tubes, however 1 of the tubes generates 90% of the bites.

It has to have something to do with the action of the tube. Perhaps these “magic” tubes corkscrew just the right way to entice a bite.

Whatever it is, once you identify that a particular tube on your boat is catching all the fish, be sure to protect that tube with your life! Retie knots, check for fray on the leader…do whatever you can to hold onto that tube, because for whatever reason that is the tube the bass want to eat.

9)  Set Your Drag Tight Enough For The Strike

When trolling tubes the forward motion of the boat, coupled with the movement of the fish, is what sets the hook. There’s no need to yank the rod from the rod holder and set the hook, like you would if you were fishing for largemouth bass with a jig.

Just make sure your drag is set tight enough to get a good hook set. I believe I keep mine set to around 8 pounds for the strike, but I would have to double check on that.

What you definitely do not want to do is not have enough drag for the strike, because you’ll never get a good hook set, and will be continually popping off fish.

10)  If Using Weighted Tubes, Let Them Out Slowly, And Check To Make Sure They Are “Swimming” Properly

The problem with using tubes that have an egg sinker embedded in the front of them, is that when let out behind the boat too quickly, the tube will often curl up on itself and hook itself into a circle. The tube will be fouled up, and if you don’t notice this, you may spend an hour or more trolling a fouled up tube.

To avoid this, let weighted tubes out very slowly and do not let them drop through the water column at a rapid pace. Once you have the tube set, check to make sure the rod is “pumping,” which is an indicator that the tube is swimming properly.

I also check the tubes often by lifting the rod out of the holder, so I can feel the pumping of the tube. If you do not feel the tube pumping, then the tube is either fouled up, or the tube has picked up weed.

What Do You Think? Please let me know by commenting below.

Tight lines!