Tubes?

[icb12]

I find myself extremely intrigued by tube flies. Given what I primarily tie and fish I think it would be fun and useful.

So who here is tying tubes? Big differences? Advantages? Disadvantages? Was it worth it to get a whole nother setup for tubes?

[BrownBear]

One of my fishing pards was real sold on them and real good at tying them. He didn't catch any more than the rest of us, but he didn't catch any less. That's freshwater and salt, BTW. This same guy got real turned on by jigs about three years ago, and still is. NOW there are times when he does in fact catch more than us, but seldom does he catch less.

I agree that tubes are interesting and a hoot to tie. A little fiddly both on the water and in the fly vise, but most flies are. I'd say they're worth the trouble if you like them and want to play with them, but magic? Not from what I've seen. I have all the gear and tie them now and then, especially needlefish flies for saltwater. There are days when silvers short-strike conventional ties, and switching to a tube to set the hook back is heroic.

[BrownBear]

BTW-

You can get into tube tying real cheap with a Eumer's Tool. I'm using a Renzetti vise ($150), but the bud who is so into tubes uses the Eumers with complete satisfaction. I'd have bought the Eumer's myself, but wasn't aware of it when I got my Renzetti about 10 years ago. Think I only paid about $50 back then.

[George Riddle]

Tube flies are fun and the theory is appealing. Just remember that your connection knot is behind the fly so it will act a little different as you are pulling on the butt but running the line through the mouth. It does make for some real cool on stream combos and size. Tie a bunch of short 1/4-1/2 inch flesh in different colors and use beads between for a smorgis (SP) board of steak and eggs.

[stanbiker]

And don't forget that they are not considered flies for ffo waters!

[BrownBear]

One more point worth making:

If you have the hook set way back in long flies like needlefish, but the fish are NOT short striking, you'll be hooking them back in the gills. Kinda tough on catch-and-release if that's what you're doing at the moment. Silvers are bad for it, and they bleed like stuck pigs. There's a quick fix on the water if that's happening- just clip the tube shorter to move the hook up toward the head.

[icb12]

Thanks for the Replies guys. I'm thinking on it. Perhaps later this summer I'll give it a shot.
If anyone else wants to chime in with their thoughts on tubes, I'm all ears.

[kenaibow fan]

I like them because if you tie flesh flies this way you can put more then one color on, bad think is if your line snaps you lost every thing! By the way since your cheap like me use stir straws, they work great and are way cheap.

[icb12]

I like them because if you tie flesh flies this way you can put more then one color on, bad think is if your line snaps you lost every thing! By the way since your cheap like me use stir straws, they work great and are way cheap.

Have you tried this?

http://www.tubeflies.com/Save-Your-Tube-Fly-System.php

As long as you're diligent in making sure the rest of your leader/tippet is in good shape, and making sure your knots are good, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Possibly worth trying anyway.

[kenaibow fan]

no i haven't, never even heard of this before! Thanks!

[G_Smolt]

Tubes are just another arrow in the quiver, so to speak.

They are great for some applications...others, not so much.

Benefits: you can change hook size / style / weight / location, all factors that influence how the fly swims, fishes, and catches.
If you ding up or break a hook, you can change it out and you don't burn a fly.
You can stack multiple flies on each other to create bigger offerings, or change the color combo of an offering.
Tubing material is cheap.
There are many patterns that lend themselves well to tubes, and are either very difficult or downright impossible to tie on shanks (Shock & Awe, Skirt Nasty, etc.).

Drawbacks: Relative to a shank pattern, the center of gravity of a tube pattern is much higher, and this affects the balance of the fly - tubes can be a PITA to "trim", or get swimming in a dorso-ventrally oriented fashion. Also, due to the lack of a "keel effect", tubes have a tendency to spin in faster water.

[BrownBear]

It's worth tossing out one place I've found tube flies to really excel. I make them up for saltwater trolling behind flashers, just as I use hoochies. On some days they'll make hoochie fisherman drool.

One fine point in that use- I keep the tubes short and use beads between the fly and the hook to adjust setback of the hook. For some reason they often fish better with beads than without, no matter what your goals in hook placement.

[icb12]

Tubes are just another arrow in the quiver, so to speak.

They are great for some applications...others, not so much.

Benefits: you can change hook size / style / weight / location, all factors that influence how the fly swims, fishes, and catches.
If you ding up or break a hook, you can change it out and you don't burn a fly.
You can stack multiple flies on each other to create bigger offerings, or change the color combo of an offering.
Tubing material is cheap.
There are many patterns that lend themselves well to tubes, and are either very difficult or downright impossible to tie on shanks (Shock & Awe, Skirt Nasty, etc.).

Drawbacks: Relative to a shank pattern, the center of gravity of a tube pattern is much higher, and this affects the balance of the fly - tubes can be a PITA to "trim", or get swimming in a dorso-ventrally oriented fashion. Also, due to the lack of a "keel effect", tubes have a tendency to spin in faster water.

Nice. Thank GSmolt. Sounds like you're somewhat of a fan?
Those are two drawbacks I hadn't even considered before now.

It's worth tossing out one place I've found tube flies to really excel. I make them up for saltwater trolling behind flashers, just as I use hoochies. On some days they'll make hoochie fisherman drool.

Thats awesome, I take it big tubes and sythetic material are the name of the game there?

[BrownBear]

Thats awesome, I take it big tubes and sythetic material are the name of the game there?

Not really on either count. As long as the tubing is big enough to allow 30-40# leader I don't discriminate much. I use bucktail much of the time unless I want the flies longer than 3-3.5". Then I switch to synthetics.

[G_Smolt]

Sounds like you're somewhat of a fan?

I have been tying on tubes for about 5 years - for some applications, they are the best thing since sliced bread...

Skirt Nasty


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