Tying Tube Flies
Tying salmon,
steelhead and sea trout tube flies on fine stainless
steel Needle Tubes
I have a liking for very slimline fly bodies, particularly
for sea trout night fishing but also for daytime salmon
fishing. For many years now, I have fished with
needle flies,
the slimmest of all salmon and sea trout lures. More
recently, I collaborated with Dave Wallbridge in
developing
micro tube flies,
probably the thinnest metal tube fly ever
devised, with an outside diameter of 1.1mm ( in 19 gauge
stainless steel tubing) or less than 1mm (in 20 gauge
stainless steel tubing). Our experiments ultimately
led to the development of the more conventional, but
ultra slim, Needle Tube, now produced in Scotland by
Grays of Kilsyth in two
diameters (1.5mm and 1.8mm) in a range of lengths
from 10mm to 40mm.
Held in a suitable
Tube Fly Vice,
tying flies on tubes can be as simple or as
complicated as we want to make it. I generally like
to keep things simple, rarely adding a
body dressing to the shiny, silver needle tube body
and most of the flies I dress for salmon and sea
trout fishing are extremely simply dressed, often
with no more than a fox or squirrel hair wing with
or without a hackle or two up front, always aiming
for a sparse, translucent, mobile lure, more
impressionistic than imitative. A sleeve of
fine silicone or PVC tubing may then be slipped on
to the rear end of the tube to secure a hook, be it
single, double or treble, barbed or barbless.
Tying Tube Flies
Tying a Simple Tube Fly on a Needle
Tube - Step by Step
click on images to
enlarge
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Insert Needle
Tube in suitable vice and tie in some hair
(fairly sparsely) top
and bottom, colour to taste |
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Tie in a
doubled strand of Krystal flash and a second,
shorter bunch of hair on top, again sparsely
aiming for a light, airy, mobile fly |
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Tie in a
hackle. The tube fly might be finished at this
stage, or a second hackle may be added |
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Tie in an
optional second hackle in front of the first, form a neat head and varnish |
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The colours of hair
and hackle may be varied, together with the tube
diameter, length and weight of the tube, to create a variety of
tube flies in a range of sizes, weights and styles. Below are a few
more examples of flies dressed on Grays Needle Tubes, very
simply and sparsely dressed for the most part, with
links to pages showing detailed step by step
illustrations of their dressing. |
More tube fly examples can be
found on the following pages, which links to a series
of simple step by step illustrated fly tying
sequences:
Trout and Salmon Fly Tying
Tube Flies
Plastic Fly Tying Tubes
For excellent value in plastic fly tying
tubes see
Plastic Fly Tying Tubes
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