Zoom’s New ‘Ace In The Hole’
Zoom Bait announces new Super Salty Tube

When Elite Series angler Mike McClelland and the rest of the Zoom pro staff hit the tournament trail in 2012, they will have another weapon tied on their rod. That weapon, the new Zoom Salty Super Tube, is the company’s latest soft bait.

The new tube, available in 3 ¾ inch and 4 ¼ inch sizes, differs from the company’s original tube because it’s hand-dipped for a thicker, tougher body. It is also loaded with salt and specifically designed to meet the needs of pitchers and flippers (4 ¼ inch version) and finesse guys (3 ¾ inch).

“Tubes are still an ace-in-the-hole bait,” says McClelland, a veteran angler with more than $1.2 million in tournament wins. “A lot of guys still use tubes, but many of them just don’t talk about it.

According to McClelland, the 4 ¼ inch Salty Super Tube will be one of his go-to baits for flipping and pitching. The bigger, thicker body ensures that it can hold a 4/0 or 5/0 hook, and it won’t ball up when punched through mats, flipped to water willows or skipped under docks.

Click on thumbnails to view gallery of the 4-1/4″ Tubes:

“I’ve always flipped a tube. It’s something I keep tied on to help me get out of a bind,” he says. “It has a different fall than anything else. A beaver-style bait is similar, a finesse jig is similar, but nothing falls like a tube. It swings and sways and turns around in circles…things a creature bait won’t do.”

The smaller of the tubes won’t be any less popular. A dragging tube, as McClelland sees it, the 3 ¾” size will be dynamite on a tube head, where it can be worked over gravel and sandbars in river systems or hopped to imitate goby on the Great Lakes. McClelland thinks this tube will be deadly for smallmouth, spotted bass and largemouth.

“The dragging tube is still a great go-to bait,” says McClelland. “It’s a finesse bait that catches a lot of fish; it will also catch you some good fish as well.”

For most of the last decade, creature baits have been all the rage among bass anglers looking for a soft plastic that works under a variety of conditions. While McClelland doesn’t necessarily see the tide changing anytime soon, he does believe tubes continue to enjoy a strong following.  He believes Zoom’s strong entry in the market will be very well received among the tube-throwing contingent.

“This is the perfect time for Zoom to hit the market,” he says. “They are hitting the nail on the head by offering this new tougher, thicker bodied, salty tube.”

The new tubes will be offered in 16 different colors including four new colors.

001 Black Red
005 Junebug
019 Watermelon Seed
025 Green Pumpkin
026 Blueberry
054 Watermelon Red
097 Rootbeer Pepper Green
157 White Pearl / Silver Glitter
177 Junebug Red
239 Green Pumpkin Blue
300 Disco Violet
307 Disco Green
312 Disco Candy (new color)
313 Christmas Tree Red (new color)
314 H20 Violet Gold (new color)
315 Smokin Candy (new color)

The new product codes are 120 for the 3.75 inch and 121 for the 4.25 inch tubes.

Click on thumbnails to view gallery of the 3-3/4″ Tubes:

4 Comments

  1. a HUGE thanks to Zoom for these tubes! Lots of folks see them primarily as a smallmouth option, they’re my ‘go to’ for heavily pressured largemouth.

    for years I’ve been using ‘an alternative’ 3.5″ ‘fat’ tube…and looking wishfully at the zoom packages hanging on the rack…they were always just too thin…

    this changes EVERYTHING…and more than a few color options in this product are very exciting…

    THANKS ZOOM!!!

  2. Updating: have used the zoom tubes for a bit now…love the size of the bait… just one ‘wish’…the plastic is pretty tough…which is great for folks who don’t like to use a lot of baits…but for me, getting bites and having the fish hang on…softness counts too…

    would love to see a bit more softness in the tubes.

    Perhaps if I leave them in the sun a bit…

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