To Tube, or Not to Tube, that is the Question!

[obiwankanobi]

I was at Lincoln Park on Friday and encountered a fly fisherman that exclusively uses tube flies. He was a great guy to talk to and gave me a pitch on why tube flies are better since you can use various hooks per fly and that the fish do not tatter up the fly since it rides separate from the hook. I have a Renzetti 9000 vice and am debating on buying the tube attachment to start tying these types of flies. Can anyone convice me if it is a better way to go either from a cost or fishability standpoint?

[Daryle Holmstrom]

Q-TIPS are quite cheap and no more pricked fingers with said hook. :)

Daryle

[Steve Rohrbach]

Q-Tips are cheap but I believe you get better quality buying the tubing to make tube flies. I tied a saltwater tube squid yesterday at the fly tying expo in Ellensburg. I fish both tubes and flies tied on hooks. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. One major benefit of tubes is that I can tie the squid in 1.5" size for Coastal Cutthroat and tie it up to 6" long for mature Coho and still have the proper hook location. I also strongly recommend that you invest in Les Johnson and Mark Mandell's Tube Fly book. It will add some great insight and helpful instruction on getting you started with tubes.
Good tying. Steve

[pittendrigh]

I don't have the book you mentioned. I'll definitely have to get one.
Here are a few links you might find interesting, about tube fly techniques.
Tom Travis (the first link set) uses the tube material sold as body wrapping
(can't remember the trade name, but you'll recognize it):

Tom Travis:
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Montana-Fly-Tiers/Tom-Travis/Black-Nosed-Tube-Dace.html
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Montana-Fly-Tiers/Tom-Travis/CDC-Tube-Caddis.html
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Montana-Fly-Tiers/Tom-Travis/Fall-Para-Drake.html

Some my links:
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Montana-Fly-Tiers/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Experimental-Flies/Boomerang-Dry-Flies/Article.html
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Montana-Fly-Tiers/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Experimental-Flies/Boomerang-Dry-Flies/index.html
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Montana-Fly-Tiers/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Experimental-Flies/Boomerang-Dry-Flies/Boomerang-Caddis/index.html
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Montana-Fly-Tiers/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Experimental-Flies/Boomerang-Dry-Flies/Boomerang-Hopper/index.html
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Montana-Fly-Tiers/Sandy-Pittendrigh/Experimental-Flies/Boomerang-Dry-Flies/Pteronarcys-Californica/index.html

[TallFlyGuy]

That idea is Genious!!

Has anyone tried it? I wonder if seperating the glue "form/mold" from the tubing would be difficult.

Justin

[Hal Eckert]

Bookmarked that one, will have to give those Boomerangs a try.

:beer2:

BG

[Les Johnson]

When learning to tie a fly, it is always best in my view to learn the basics for tying on a hook or a tube. Once you have the basics of building the foundation of a tube fly the rest becomes pretty easy and dressing a nice fat herring pattern is a snap -- and it is easy to cast. You can in fact dress any pattern on a tube that you can dress on a hook.
One can go through all of the effort of saving up Bic pen tubes, using Q-Tips or whatever but there is no substitute for the excellent tubes available in nice straight 4-inch lengths in two diameters and several colors from HMH. I usually get four tube flies per 4-inch tube. All of this information along with tying instructions is in "Tube Flies". It will not only get you started properly, it will allow you to build great tube flies like the Shock and Awe, Captain Skippy, Calamarko and others. Anil's patterns are in Tube Flies Two - Evolution, the new companion volume to Tube Flies.
Good Tying,
Les Johnson

[TallFlyGuy]

Les,

Does your book show how to rig tube flies Stinger hook style?

Justin

[Joe Smolt]

To me, tubes are the way to go particularly in the salt water for two reasons: 1) can change the hook size as needed (i.e. SRCs vs salmon), and 2) easily replace hooks that otherwise corrode to crap in the salt. I recently got the Evolution II book. Still reading it, but I like the book so far.

Joe

[Les Johnson]

Tall Fly Guy,
A stinger is tied by binding a monofiament or wire loop to the hook that goes into the head of the tube fly. I generally use a Gamakatsu Octopus for the stinger; size dependent on the size of the fly -- and the fish. Monofilament works for salmon but a loop of 30-45 pound wire is best if real toothy critters are your target (ling cod, bluefish, etc.). For salmon the stinger or trailer hook is usually strung on to ride hook point up. For sails, marlin, etc., spme veterans like to have the trailer hook riding point down. You do have to check the diameter of the mono or wire you employ to ensure that it will slide through the eye of the stinger hook when it is doubled.
You can tie enough stinger rigs in one evening to last an entire season in the salt.
Stinger hooks weren't listed in Tube Flies but probably should have been, if we'd have thought about it. At the time nobody was using stingers. New innvoations always come up by people who get good ideas from reading a book.
Good Fishing,
Les Johnson

[Mark Graham]

Where can your booik be found Les?