by Bruce Middleton, May 24, 2010

Tubes and to some degree creature baits were once called gitzits…

I’ve often wondered how the name Gitzits came about. It’s a long ways away from tube bait, grub and creature bait stamped on the covers of the packages of today’s products. It’s one of those little life’s mysteries I’ll file away somewhere and solve it one of these days. But according to a resent survey, a Carolina rigged creature plastic is the #1 pro plastic bait, weightless worms are the pros most used top water lure and tubes are the most used and the most bought plastics of all the plastic lures sold, so they must be a very important bait indeed.

Creature baits look like something from another planet. They have loads of legs, tails, arms, pinchers and other wiggly appendages all over them. More versatile than a jig and pig (pork trailer) they can be fished any way a worm can be fished although Texas and Carolina rigging are the two most popular methods. Most importantly, to fishermen is the fact that despite what they look like they catch bass and lots of them. A creature lure is a lot like a spinner bait. It doesn’t look like anything that nature has out there in the water but the combination of vibration, sound, flash, look and action causes an instinctive strike. Creature or IT baits are a mixture of worm, crawfish, tube, lizard, French fry and other plastic designs that can take on almost any shape and size and were once called Gitzit. These are intended to supplement the plastic frog, jig, and worm. It’s also a fairly bulky bait in the larger sizes, which does well on large bass. As with any other plastic it can be hooked and retrieved in a myriad of ways but an EWG (extra wide gap) hook is recommended. Most common sizes are 4 to 6 inches long. Spring seems to be the best time to use them but summer and fall catches are not uncommon.

Gitzits are now what we call tube baits for the most part and most gitzits are rigged with a jig head but not always. These Gitzit hybrids have five major keys; one is the action of the appendages, the second is the vibrations of the bait and the third is the bubbles escaping from it. The fourth key is that these plastic baits lend themselves towards a more subtle technique of fishing. And the fifth key is the erratic spiral fall of tubes today. Those who were used to power fishing with big lures and heavy gear called it a ‘sissy bait’ for many years. But when major tournaments all over the country began to be won using these baits, a more refined name was given it. We now call this method ‘finesse fishing’ for the soft touch needed and the light spinning gear now used with these baits. Now don’t get me wrong, power fishermen have demanded larger models and heavier ones too so they can use bait casters and medium heavy action rods to fish these baits, and they do work but pitching and flipping along with a few other light line methods is where the real action is.

The action of the appendages, whether they are long arm or leg like or short tentacles, give the body of a tube or creature bait that ‘Hey! I’m alive.’ look. They wiggle enticingly as the bait falls and continues to do so every time the bait is moved. This is a real attractant to a bass. Movement is a key element in a bass’s feeding pattern. Movement triggers reaction strikes, so it’s not surprising to think that movement of any kind would influence a bass into striking. Some fishermen subscribe to the belief that bass, like humans don’t see well until something moves. Then they zero right in on it like we would.

Vibrations are sent out by anything that moves in the water. A bass’s lateral lines are evolutions ways of giving them a third eye. These lateral lines can pick out the movement of the subtlest kind, a crawfish clicking, a minnow swimming near by, a frog on the surface. If it moves it sends out vibrations. Bass become accustomed to a lot of noise in the water and they become accustomed to the same old lures passing by them that they see and hear all the time. And this is where newness comes in. A new vibration patterns that the bass has never heard before is almost always investigated. Remember that a bass is territorial and lives in a small area of a lake his or her whole life. They know every square inch of that portion of the lake like you know the inside of your home. They have lived there for years, they grew up there. But when something new comes into their home, you can bet they go out of their way to investigate it, and if it turns out to be something eatable, why so much the better. The bubbles that escape randomly also add to the newness of this bait and the vibrations that it sends out. I should note here that by placing a cotton ball or a part of one inside a tube and then inject scent into the cotton will send out a lot of scent into the water as the tube is moved and it all stays in the area of the tube which is a good way to add scent to a plastic. This scent also lasts a very long time and only needs to be refreshed after 15-20 minutes or so. This keeps the scent at the level of the bass and we all know that scent is an important part of any presentation.

Big splashes or hitting a log with the boat is also akin to the scenario of you setting peacefully out in the backyard and a shotgun blast goes off right next to you. Your first instinct is to get out of Dodge, not take a leisurely look around at what made the noise. This is what a big splash sounds like to a bass in shallow water. It spooks the heck out of them and they run for deep water. That is the reason we make long casts and reel the lure over to where we think the bass may be or we use a target specific, very quiet pitching and flipping method that makes the least noise possible. It is also why we are so careful about hitting anything with the boat or motor. Never, ever sacrifice a quiet entry for distance. If you do, you’re going to have a very slow day of fishing ahead of you. Also it’s important to understand that boat position is more important that the actual mechanics of pitching and flipping. If you can get your boat situated (quietly) so you can make short flips, and you are off a little with the cast, you can reel it in and start over. Having the boat out of position can force you to make too long a flip or pitch. This leads to too many do-overs, spooking the bass and probably making too big a splash. You have to get in the right place to be successful at flipping and pitching. These close quarter casts are best done in dingy water as in clear water the bass can see you a mile away. It’s also a great method around brush, stumps, logs, grass beds and other heavy cover. Getting the boat lined up so you cast and retrieve your lure or bait down the full length of a log is better than casting 90 degrees to it. So you can see boat position is critical for great fishing.

These Gitzit grown-up version baits, one of the more effective bass lures, is one type of bait that requires absolute attention to detail and presentation. They are not often used in a lot in major bodies of water and that alone makes them more attractive to bass. Color often makes a difference, the retrieve style makes a difference, the way it is hooked makes a difference and the size and girth can make a difference. When rigging a tube, grub or creature bait, like any other plastic lures, it is important; vital even that they be perfectly straight after the hook is inserted. Should it not be straight, it will have an unnatural look to it and more often than not, the bass will reject the bait. The colors black, blue, pumpkin, pumpkin seed, smoke/silver flakes, motor oil, cotton candy, brown, green and the bleeding bait series are good all around colors while shades of reds are better when the water is really dingy. When the water is gin clear, try translucent colors. Many anglers use shades of red most of the time in any clarity of water. When choosing colors for any lure or bait, natural colors that blend into the water and don’t show-off too much are the best ones to use. Flash is best is clear water as something that gives off a bit of flash can be see from a long distance like fetal flakes. Color is best in dingy water, but colors that blend in with the water like natural fish do the best.

Inactive bass prefer slow moving prey. And the new bleeding bait tubes really work on them. Many lakes don’t see a lot of tubes being used in them. Bass are curious animals and anything new will always interest them especially if it’s eatable. But the new bleeding tubes add the extra dimension of red and combinations of colors instead of solid colors and that seems to really trigger the bass. In my home area the bass just go crazy for these bleeding tubes and when you use a stand up jig head so the tail sticks up, man just hang on to the rod, tightly, cause your in for a ride. It’s amazing at how hard the bass hammer these tubes.

They don’t cover a lot of area in a short time and they don’t dive to different depths unless we rig them split shot. We use them to get into every nook and cranny a bass might hide in. They are made to dissect small parts of a stump field or a weed bed. And they are especially good at catching large mouth bass that hide in really nasty weed choked shallows, under docks and on spawning flats.

Tubes, grubs and creature baits are ideal plastics for Texas rigging. They are worked down the sides of wood, through the limbs of brush and downed trees and they creep through weeds and grass beds like living prey. The lower jaw of a large mouth bass is large and under slung, a feature that allows the fish to quickly engulf large prey in a single gulp. But it also makes the bass less adept at picking food off the bottom as it takes in a lot of non food items in at the same time it take in its food. This is why a Texas rigged floating plastic works better than one that doesn’t float. A floating plastics tail will float up making it easier to see and easier for the bass to suck in without taking in a lot of the bottom with it. This is also why a floating plastic is so effective on a Carolina rig too.
Sinking plastics are much more suited to brushy, rocky and twiggy areas where you pull the plastics over limbs and things making it much more visible at times. But note that the size and weight of the hook used makes all the difference in the world as to or even if the tail of the plastic will float up.

Grubs are extremely effective when combined with a jig head. Rig it on a plain lead jig head and drag-hop it along the bottom. The retrieve is extra, extra slow in cold water and medium-slow in warm water. The best selling summer grub colors are shad, gray, bone, mullet blue, pale green and all have sparkly bodies or tails for the scale life-like look. They really come into their own when fished on steep bank slopes, rock piles and other structure, which has a large change in depth in a short distance. It’s also best fished with a 1/16 to 1/8 ounce lead head jig or the same weight sinker and a 90 degree off set hook. Spinning gear is best because of the lightweight involved. The exposed hook has less of a chance to get snagged in places like this, but don’t count them out on the flat though, as they are a good all-a-round bait that can be used almost anywhere except areas with vegetation. Weedless models have eliminated that worry. Steep places just seem to call for jig heads. While these jig heads may look dainty to the casual observer, they are really tough as nails and when a grub is added they combine to make a something the size of forage the bass normally eats. This is a real key too. Staying in the range of natural forage is paramount, if you go too big the bass may dismiss it but they seldom dismiss even morsel sized tidbits we thing might be too small.

Carolina rigs are one of the hottest ways to use floating plastics. The bait always stays neat, clean and highly visible even though the sinker maybe covered in 4-inches of bottom gunk, weeds and slime. The only real problem with this rig seems to be is finding the correct length of leader to use. You have to remember that a bass’s eyes are oriented slightly upwards, so you want the bait to be level with or just slightly higher that the bass are in relation to the bottom. Now most bass don’t set right on the bottom. So this is the recommended way to decide the length of the leader if you’re using a floating plastic. Set the leader length to 1/5th the depth of the water you are fishing in, so if you’re fishing in 10 feet of water use a two foot leader and so on.

All of these Gitzit modern plastics, like all light- weight, spinning gear finesse baits are good for bottom bumping to attract bass. A bass spend about 90% of its day down near the bottom of the lake, at different depths. Almost everything a bass eats, crawfish to minnows, lives and hides in and around rocks, trees, roots, logs, debris, reeds, grass and trees or other structure related things on the bottom. Bumping around these things alerts the bass to the presents of something in his backyard and he will go investigate it. But more that being forage sized and being a bump bait these Gitzit grown-ups have a massive amount of action when they fall through the water column when first cast. This means that from the time it hits the water until you pull it back out, it’s working for you and that my friends is what catches bass. A bait that doesn’t know how to stop.

When crawling a Texas or Carolina rig with a creature bait along the bottom, you should do so slowly and with an erratic rhythm. Try not to repeat the same pattern of twitches, timing or pauses on any given retrieve. Spring is a goodtime to work brown colors; blues and blacks work especially well too. Tubes and small creature baits, say 3-inch ones, work well in the shallows around brush piles and weed beds. With a weedless plastic in heavy cover like grass, you can dance it, jump it, vibrate and do whatever else you can with the rod tip to make the bait appear to be alive, confused and therefore vulnerable. Vulnerable is the key word to describe what a bass is looking for in a meal. It must be easy to catch, close, and expenses as little energy as possible, from the bass’s point of view. After these criteria are met then comes, size, shape, color, taste, vibration pattern, etc.
You can take a weightless jerk bait rig with a 4-inch Hoodaddy ™creature bait and cast it out and let it drift to the bottom sending out its pattern of vibrations. Then you slowly lift it up and let it drift back down in a wiggling horizontal fall. This is the action that is built into the plastic. But don’t overpower the presentation. When bass are active, yes, they will strike a fast moving bait but for the most part inactive bass like a slower presentation. Remember too, that active bass will hit a slower presentation. So in order to catch both active and inactive bass, slow down your presentation. So take your time between movements, you will catch more fish. You can determine how active the bass are by being able to tell at what depth the bass are striking the bait. If it never gets down past 6 feet then the bass are very active but if the bait sits on the bottom for minutes at a time and then draws strikes the bass are inactive.

These finesse baits are especially great when the “tough bite” is on but you don’t have to wait until then to use them. These baits work in cold water, hot summer days and anything in between, they just shine when down sizing because that’s when the bass will only strike smaller baits. But you can catch 12 pound bass on a 3 ½-inch wild thang™ in June just as easily as you can in August.

Today these three types of plastics account for approximately 30% of all the plastics sold in America and it all started out with a Gitzit. People jig them, they split shot rig them; they fish them in ways that they keep secret for the next tournament. They are so versatile and come in such a variety that you could fish your favorite lake every day for a year and the bass would never get used to the vibration patterns simply because there are that many different kinds out there. They are a great tool to use and you need them in your tackle box. All you have to do is remember is that they are now called tubes and to some degree creature baits.

Bruce Middleton

bpmiddleton@peoplepc.com