I was approached during the recent Lake Champlain event about what my favorite bait was for that lake. It was an easy answer for me – a Strike King Coffee Tube. The great thing about a tube is that you can fish it a variety of ways. You can Texas rig it and flip it in the grass for big largemouth or you can put it on a jighead with an exposed hook and catch big smallmouth with it. When I’m fishing grass I prefer the 4.5” Flip-n-tube. I rig it with a tour grade tungsten weight, somewhere between 3/8 and 1 ounce for fishing heavy grass, or 3/16 to 5/16 for fishing around shallow cover. On the smallmouth rig, I throw the 3.5 inch regular pro model. On both baits I usually start with green pumpkin and go from there. For my money, the tube is still a player anytime you are out on the lake