I feel kind of stupid just finding out about Wayne Carpenter Xtreme Bass Tackle tubes, don't get me wrong, I still love Chompers and Strike King Coffee tubes and think they are highly effective, especially with the powerful garlic and coffee scents they come impregnated with. But I've seen smallmouth entirely shut down with scents certaing days during particular seasons, even spring time and especially post spawn. I think this is where a more advanced color scheme on a tube comes into play, this tri-laminate and bi-laminate "natural forage technology" allows up to two to three different color schemes on one tube, allowing you to better match the hatch. When you're trying to target each forage throughout all four different seasons with tube baits, whether it's goby, crayfish, perch, gizzard shad or even emerald shiner, Wayne has you covered with every color imaginable here in the Great Lakes. And who says you can't take of a bottle of Chompers garlic scent or Strike Kings Coffee Scent to spray on Wayne's tubes?

Wayne Carpenter's Post Spawn Kit for Arcasting, absolutely sick!

Especially now with fish flies hitting us hard and smallmouth becoming even more finicky with switching their feeding cycle up, Wayne has a May Fly color that could be a great option during this time of season. And it's neat how you can switch between the lighter sides and darker shades, rotating them up or down on the jig head, see which side the smallmouth bass respond to the best. I don't think these photos do the tube colors justice, I plan on doing a video showing off what these tube baits look like underwater.

I realized how Arcasting and I were having a tough time getting the Megabass 110+1 jerkbait down to deeper spots in Lake St. Clair as the temps heated up late June and the bigger bass moved to colder water, soon as we switched to a 3/8 ounce sweet green near the mouth of the Dirty D, the bronzebacks turned on instantly and we started slaying them. It still gets spotty of course, but I think if I had that spot lock trolling motor technology when we're drifting, both the spot lock and Xtreme Bass Tackle natural forage technology would be a deadly combo for smallies during this time of season when you're having a tough time locating them and getting them to bite. I love that Great Lakes Perch color, Wayne said that color's great for big bass, that that brighter fire tiger also caught my eye which he said is a game changer to try when honey hole hot spots all of a sudden become cold, but the color that really gets him he said is the canadian mist. I told Wayne, if he could just find a way to increase his tube size for musky around 7" - 8" like the Canyon Tackle Tube, that would make for one hell of a musky tube bait. Because, Arcasting got a break off when we were catching smallies on the trilaminate sweet green, I never seen pike over at this particular location, so it makes me think this would be a great way to target musky with these different colors if the tube was big enough.

I know for fact a lot of locals in the area are still set in their ways using the standard tube baits, sometimes it takes a lot for fishermen to jump brands, but the proof is in the pudding when a particular bait works better than others, especially when the smallmouth are completely shut down, I think this is one of those baits! Give it a try, what you got to lose? Believe me, this bi-laminate and tri-laminate technology isn't hyped up, the advanced three color scheme work, Wayne even has a tube that's quad-laminated dipped four times in a unique froggly color for largemouth bass. Wayne has 20 years experience in bait design and development, it's taken him a long time to fully perfect a color scheme for each type of forage, the colors, flakes, and glitter were carefully picked and tested over a long period of time to see what they respond to the most. His baits aren't made and slapped together overnight! He even changes the colors from time to time when he thinks they need it, which the St. Clair Goby NFT color scheme was modified at one point. Remember, zebra muscles weren't prevalent back in the 80s and 90s, so sometimes a color may need an updating depending on water clarity or other changes with forage and the Great Lakes ecosystem. Believe me, this is just unlike anything thing you've seen on the market, the other brand of tube baits don't even compare.

Wayne said the Canadian Mist is his top color since 1999, all time best color for smallmouth bass. He really stresses how important it is to have flakes in the tube bait, purple and copper flakes seem to be his favorite choice in his tube baits.

When Wayne takes out clients out on Lake St. Clair, he'll usually start off with sweet green, a tri-laminate color thats triple dipped, as well as St. Clair Goby NFT.

And sometimes profiles come into play, even though 4" and 5" tubes may be killing it one day, he has a 2 3/4" tube you can try on drop shot, which we all know a drop shot rig is extremely effective during the fish fly season. And sometimes that larger 5" tube is great for targeting the much largemouth smouth and trying to exclude the annoying rock bass or silver bass.

And if you caught what he said in the video, he even mentioned throwing the May Fly color in sort of weightless rig, let it start at the top then sink to the bottom can be a setup to try.

He also has discussed how he doesn't believe gobies are prevalent as they once were and smallmouth are feeding more on gizzard shad, which a lot of times you'll see smallmouth cough up gizzard shad near the boat, so this makes his gizzard shad color a prime candidate to try out. Sand Craw is also a great sleeper bait color that's highly effective near sandy spots out on Lake St. Clair or other great lakes bodies of water that have very sandy spots.

Color that didn't make the box but still has a lot of consistency is the St. Clair Crayfish! Wayne tells a story of where he caught a bass that spit up a live crayfish with a unique green color scheme to it, so he decided to immediately made a replicate of it.

Now Wayne isn't always entirely about matching the hatch with his tri-laminate and bi-laminate tube bait dipping technology, sometimes you need a game changer, and the color that sometimes helps spice things up in a honey hole that's turned cold is the Fire Tiger color. This is a great color to try when you're getting a lot of followups or hits and misses, when the bronzebacks are acting finicky in one of your favorite honey holes. Instead of moving to different spot and wasting boat gas, this super vibrant color is something that may trigger some impulse strikes, basically getting he smallmouth bass to turn on again, sometimes it'll open up a small window to entice some more strikes. You gotta check this color out!

You can buy Captain Wayne Carptenter's Xtreme Tackle Tube baits at Sportmens Direct off metro parkway road(16 mile road) and Jefferson, right next to Lake St. Clair Metropark, even Angler’s Point. The BP Gas Station at the 9 mile boat launch also carries these custom tube baits as well and seems to have the largest selection that stays stocked consistently. I'm just so grateful Wayne was gracious enough to give Arcasting a whole kit to try out post spawn, because Arcasting was also gracious enough to give me a few colors to try out this beginning week of June, along with a few of those unique 2 3/4" drop shot tubes. I really can't wait to try out the smaller drop shot tubes, never seen anything like that before in my life. Just more stuff to add to the aresenal when those smallies get lockjaw!