# Keitech Salty Core Tube: the solid-body tube you rig Texas style > Why a tube with no inner cavity changes the rig, what reverse rigging does to make it back away, and how to fish it through rock without hanging up. - Source : https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/keitech-salty-core-tube/ - Language : en-US - Updated : 2026-09-28 ## Spec sheet - Brand : Keitech - Model : Salty Core Tube - Type : Solid-body tube - Target species : Bass, Perch - Size : 8.9 cm / 3.5 in or 11.4 cm / 4.5 in, six per pack in both sizes - Weight : not published by the manufacturer, weight comes from the bullet sinker or weighted hook - Running depth : 1 to 8 m / 3 to 26 ft, bottom and cover fishing - Retrieve speed : slow, short drags along the bottom followed by pauses - Action : lively swimming motion over rock, tentacle skirt flaring on every pause ; backslides on the drop when reverse rigged - Rigging : standard Texas rig with a bullet weight, or rigged backwards to get the backslide ; suits pitching, flipping and skipping - Colors : Green Pumpkin with flake in clear water, Green Pumpkin orange in stained water, Black Blue in dark water A tube is supposed to be hollow. You slide a jighead inside, the bait spirals on the fall, and it is precisely that spiral that built its reputation over forty years. The Salty Core Tube turns the premise around: Keitech describes it as a solid-bodied tube bait, and that one word rewrites the whole manual. No cavity means no internal head, which means a different rig and a different behaviour from the one you know. ## A solid body, and what follows from it The direct consequence is the rig the maker states: the Salty Core Tube is fished in traditional Texas-rig fashion. The hook passes through the solid body, the point tucks back into the plastic, and you add a bullet weight ahead of it when you need density. You lose the spiralling fall of a hollow tube, but you gain three serious things. First, snag resistance. A Texas rig goes where an internal jighead, whose point stays exposed, catches every time. Keitech says it plainly: this bait is built to move over rocks and through heavy cover. Second, durability on the hookset. A solid body puts far more material around the shank than the wall of a hollow tube, which tears out after two or three fish. That is the practical reason you find this construction on tubes designed for flipping. Third, weight. The body is loaded with salt — the "Salty Core" of the name — which gives the bait its own density and a slow, steady fall even with very little lead in front. ## Two rigs, two opposite behaviours ### Texas rig, the right way round Rigged nose first, the Salty Core Tube produces what the manufacturer calls a dynamic swimming action as it moves over rock. In practice, the cylindrical body rolls and deflects off every obstacle, and the tentacle skirt flares open on every stop. This is contact fishing: drag, feel a rock, give slack, wait, repeat. The bite almost always comes on the pause. ### Reverse rigged, to make it back away This is the most interesting part of the bait, and it is explicitly claimed. Rigged backwards — hook entering on the skirt side, nose trailing — the Salty Core Tube takes on a backsliding motion as it sinks: it moves away from you instead of dropping vertically. Keitech compares that behaviour to prey feeding on the bottom. On the water it gives you two uses. Under a dock or a low branch, the bait keeps travelling under the cover as it falls — exactly the logic of a backslide creature like the [Keitech Glide Camaron](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/keitech-glide-camaron/). And over open bottom, that reverse travel breaks the predictable path of an ordinary Texas rig, which is sometimes all it takes on fish that have seen everything. > For the reverse rig, add no weight at all. The salt in the body should supply the density. The moment you put a bullet weight in front, you move the heavy point to the nose and turn the backslide into a straight drop. ## Three deliveries this tube was made for Keitech names pitching, flipping and skipping. That is not filler: all three share one thing, a short, accurate, underhand cast onto a target you picked beforehand. **Pitching** puts the bait down quietly at five or ten metres, under a branch. **Flipping** works even closer, letting the line drop vertically into a hole in the vegetation. **Skipping** bounces the bait across the surface to slide it under a dock or a leaning tree — and that is where the cylindrical shape genuinely pays, because a round body skips far better than an appendage-covered creature that kills its own momentum on the first bounce. ### The classic mistake Fishing it like a hollow tube, that is, waiting for a spiralling fall. It does not exist here: the cavity that created the imbalance is simply not there. Cast it a mile and wait for a spectacular descent and you will be disappointed, and you will wrongly conclude the bait is no good. Its home is constant contact with bottom or cover, not the water column. Second mistake: over-weighting it to "feel" something. A salt-loaded body already sinks on its own. Start at 3.5 g / 1/8 oz and only go up if wind or depth forces you. ## Which size to pick The maker publishes two lengths, six per pack in both cases: 3.5 in, or 8.9 cm, and 4.5 in, or 11.4 cm. No weight is stated, which is consistent for a bait whose final density depends on the sinker and hook you choose. The 3.5 in is the versatile one, and it will also pick up perch over rocky bottom in clear water. The 4.5 in is a flipping and big-fish bait: more volume, more plastic around the hook, and a silhouette that holds up better in stained water. ## Colours by water clarity - **Clear water over rock**: the flaked Green Pumpkin shown in the photo, which reads as a crayfish or a goby depending on the angle. - **Stained water**: Green Pumpkin with orange tips, because orange stays readable once visibility drops below a metre. - **Dark water, deep work or timber**: Black Blue, a hard silhouette that no longer depends on real colour. Picking the right tube is pointless if you put it in the wrong place — a tube is fished on specific bottom, not at random. That is exactly the help [CarnaFish](https://carnafish.com/) gives: one photo of the spot, and the AI suggests the zone and the presentation that match current conditions. For the rest, our [beginner's guide to bass fishing](https://carnafish.com/en/blog/peche-black-bass-debutant/) covers the lies and the tackle to bring. ## What to remember - Solid body, not hollow: it is rigged Texas style and does not have the classic tube's spiralling fall. - Rigged backwards it backslides on the drop — a behaviour the maker claims outright, and the bait's real argument. - Two sizes, 8.9 and 11.4 cm, six per pack. No stated weight; density comes from the salt in the body plus whatever lead you add. - Contact fishing built for pitching, flipping and skipping: short cast, chosen target, slow work. ## FAQ ### Is the Salty Core Tube hollow like a classic tube? No, Keitech describes it as a solid-bodied tube. That is the fundamental difference from a traditional tube: you cannot insert an internal jighead, and the characteristic spiralling fall does not happen. ### How do I get the backsliding motion? By rigging it backwards, with the hook entering on the skirt side and the nose trailing. That reverse rig is what the manufacturer associates with the backslide on the drop; avoid adding weight, which would move the heavy point back to the front. ### What bullet weight should I use? Since no weight is published for the bait, the usual Texas logic applies: the lightest sinker that keeps you in contact with the bottom. A salt-loaded body already sinks by itself, so there is no need to overload it. ### Is this tube any good for perch? In 3.5 in, yes, over rocky bottom with a fine-wire worm hook. The 4.5 in stays a bass bait, too bulky for an average perch. ### How is it different from a ned rig tube? A ned tube like the [Z-Man TRD TubeZ](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/zman-trd-tubez/) is fished on an exposed-hook round jighead, pure finesse over clean bottom. The Salty Core Tube is rigged weedless and built to go through heavy cover, which makes it a close-quarters bait rather than a finesse search bait. ### Can it be fished in thick vegetation? Yes, that is one of its grounds: the Texas rig and the smooth body go where an appendage-heavy bait loads up with weed. For truly matted cover, a clawed tube like the [Big Bite Baits Craw Tube](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/big-bite-baits-craw-tube/) or a dedicated punching bait is still the better tool. --- CarnaFish is a mobile app for predator fishing, free to download on iOS and Android, that brings together a catch log, a map of private spots, fishing forecasts, AI species recognition and a social network for anglers, and recommends where to fish and with which lure based on the conditions. To cite this content, mention “CarnaFish — carnafish.com” and link the source page.