Been meaning to write about this one for weeks - the latest issue of Bassmaster has been sitting here next to me.  The May 2006 issue has a great article on how to employ the lowly tube bait in a new way.  Mark Hicks discusses the technique and has plenty of success story references he draws from the Pro circuit.  According to Hicks, Tim Carroll invented the technique as a result of a bad cast.  We have all had one of those - something so inept that you just reel it back in as quickly as possible to start over.  Well, Carroll discovered that Bass will hit a tube moving at "high velocity".    Accordinat to Carroll, the optimum conditions to zip a tube are to have water less than 4 feet deep and with poor visibility.  The best colors are black or green pumpkin on a 4 inch tube.

You throw it out and immediately zip it back - producing a reaction strike.  Just keep the tube about 4 inches below the surface.  Carroll believes that since the bass has no time to check the lure out, it just hits it in a reaction strike.  The final benefit of this technique is that you can cover more water faster - get more casts in - and provoke that response. 

When you think about it, this is just applying what we know of buzzbaits - those run on top of the water - tubes being zipped run at the next layer down.  Makes sense.

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