Strike King Soft Plastic Tube Technology

Strike King's Tube Technology brought you the solid head Flippin' Tube, the popular Pro-Model Tube, and the smaller Bitsy Tube, but now there is more. Strike King has taken tube baits to a new level in fishing with the new Wild Thang, Craw Tube, and Tube Lizard. By combining the proven fish catching ability of our Pro-Model, Flippin', and Bitsy Tubes with Crawfish, Lizard, and other styles of plastic baits, Strike King's Tube Technology gives you a new dimension in tube baits. Each of the new baits feature a solid head for enhanced rigging and durabilty and fine cut tentacles for action, attraction, and fell. Additionally, the Wild Thang has tantalizing wings and flappers, the Craw Tube has active pinchers and the Lizard has lively legs and a compact fish-swallowing size and is great for Carolina rigging!

Wild Thang

In Strike King Journal entry #1, Kevin VanDam talked about using Strike King's Wild Thang...

Question: Kevin, tell us about this new series of creature baits made by Strike King.

VanDam: These bulkier baits are made of soft plastic and resemble jigs with their extra appendages, wings and tails. You can pitch and flip these bulky baits long distances. And once they hit the water, their bulky design displaces more water. You can put a heavier sinker on this bait and still get a slow fall. These baits work better in stained water.

Question: How long has Strike King had this bait on the market?

VanDam: The Wild Thang was the first in Strike King's series of new tube technology baits. Compared to most of the others on the market, this compact bait has a bigger-diameter body and big wings on the side that form a curltail-type design. Its tube tail, hollow body and big flappers near the back push a lot of water. Its thick, solid head will accommodate a big hook. Designed to fish in heavy cover with heavy line, this bait works great underneath willow limbs.

Question: Kevin, tell us some of the ways you fish the Wild Thang.

VanDam: With its extra appendages and wings, this bait falls slowly -- even with a heavy sinker. I've used this bait for a swimming-type application by flipping it to isolated clumps of grass and hyacinths and pitching it beyond the target, swimming it up to the target and then letting it fall right beside the target. The wings and the flapping tails give the Wild Thang plenty of action. When I fish the Wild Thang on a 1/4-ounce sinker, it will sink more slowly than most plastics do on a 1/16-ounce sinker. Then the bait will stay in the bass' strike zone a long time. I like a red-shad-colored Wild Thang, which works well in tannic water due to its flash.

Question: What weight of sinker do you prefer on the Wild Thang?

VanDam: I almost always use a 5/16-ounce sinker or heavier on this bait. Even a 3/8-ounce sinker gives you the same fall that most plastics get with a 1/4-ounce sinker. So, the Wild Thang is a real easy bait to flip and pitch long distances. It's bulky enough, big enough and easy to get into the water without a ripple, really quietly, which are many of the keys to catching bass when you're flipping and pitching. These creature baits are dominant in conditions where a jig may catch a bass but in water more clear than you generally fish a jig. But I also like to fish creature baits in stained-water situations, especially hot water, when you're fishing the bait off the bottom. Too, in the early spring and late fall, when the bass are feeding on crayfish, you can't beat the effectiveness of a jig, especially on rock bottoms. You'll find these creature baits more productive when the bass are up off the bottom, particularly when they're suspended in bushes and around the grass cover. In hot water, I almost always fish the Wild Thang.

Question: Kevin, what size hook and what size line are you using on creature baits and why?

VanDam: I start with 20-pound Bass Pro XPS fluorocarbon and then change sizes, depending on how thick the cover is. I'll usually fish this bait around scatter cover and sometimes in the thickest cover. If I'm trying to make longer casts and fish in more open areas, I'll throw this 20-pound line on a 7-foot heavy-action pitching rod and use a sinker that gives me the sink rate that I need. I always throw a heavy Mustad Bigmouth two-bait hook made of bright nickel that has been designed for flipping. This hook that has been designed for two baits has a really wide gap, and I like the 4/0 size. You want a big hook for a big, wide bait to have the highest hooking percentage.

Question: Kevin, what's your favorite colors of Wild Thangs?

Answer: I don't really have a favorite color. I choose the color of Wild Thang I fish by the water clarity more than anything else. And then I pick a color according to the forage in the lake where I'm fishing. As I mentioned earlier this week, the silver pearl probably is one of my favorite colors since it imitates shad in stained water so well. If the water is more clear, the green pumpkin and the watermelon are two of my favorites, and I generally fish them the most.

As the water gets a little dirtier, then red shad, Junebug and blacks and blues are really good colors to use. Strike King also makes a pumpkin chartreuse that's very effective on bass. Particularly as the water becomes dirtier, I want to have some chartreuse on the bait. In the spring of the year around the bass spawn, the pumpkin chartreuse and the green pumpkin are very good because they're really good bream and sunfish imitators. In the spring, the bass will chase bluegills through all the phases of the spawn.

The real key to success when fishing Wild Thangs is to use the more-translucent, lighter natural colors -- the watermelons, the greens and the smokes -- for clear water. Then as the water gets dirtier, you'll want to go darker with your Wild Thang colors.

Find Tips & Tactics for other Strike King Lures here!