The classic Royal Wulff, Trout Tube Fly – Ruben Martin has been tying tube flies for over a decade, which would not be a rarity except at a time when trout fly anglers around the globe had yet to discover what Martin knew. Tube flies are a gold-mine tied as small, classic trout flies: dry flies, nymphs, streamers, still water, and terrestrials.
Tube flies are no longer stayed as trout flies or limited to billfish, or swinging for steelhead
NOTE: This posting has a bonus. A partial list of Ruben Martin’s recent Trout Tube Fly Instruction Videos and Recipes.
By Skip Clement
Getting people to think out of their comfort zone has been a hard sell, trying something believed not to be practical or beneficial. Change sometimes is rigorously guarded against by herd rejection mentality, which is normal and reasonable. It is survival instinct – part of human nature and a worldwide reality.
Tube flies in your tool box, and not for swinging only
With their versatile applications, tube flies have slowly crept into the norm category in many fly-fishing corners of Great Britain. In Scandinavian countries, tube flies have been the norm for over a decade, proving to be the best choice on many occasions for more than just swinging flies for Atlantic salmon [Salmo salar].
The blondes have figured how to tie and used small tube flies
Serious Scandinavian anglers are very effective with smaller tube flies attracting more than ‘the Leaper’ [nickname for Atlantic salmon], like with dry flies, Riffling Hitch flies, and small sub-surface flies fished as typical wet flies for trouts [genera Oncorhynchus, Salmo, and Salvelinus]. Small tube flies on sea run trout and homegrown brown trout are no longer new to anyone in Denmark, Sweden, Norway or Finland, Iceland, or Greenland.
Tim Flagler, Tightline Productions and Fulling Mill hook designer approached tying tube flies with more oomph than West Coasters, who mostly champion large tube flies swung in faster big riverine waters common to their coordinates. Two celebrity anglers/tyers tying tube flies for salmon and steelhead trout out West are April Vokey and Jay Nicholas of Caddis Fly Angling Shop see tube flies as a significant development.
The man with foresight and international credibility
Ruben Martin‘s pronouncements on small tube flies, are refreshing and revolutionary. His small tube flies fish well in the land of giants in Patagonia, Argentina – significantly impacting those anglers with a bit of chutzpah in their veins.
Tim Flagler and Six One Minute Fly Tying tips
Tim’s best output, reaching the broadest possible audience, is possibly an association with Orvis’s sponsored and very popular One Minute Fly Tying Tips. Tube flies get the most fly tying tips exposure in connected videos.
NOTE: Flagler’s coverage of tube flies is a must see.
When the magic happened
About a decade ago, Angie, TJ, and I switched to tube flies for trout fishing; TJ in Wyoming, with destinations to Alaska and New Zealand, and here in Georgia, Angie here in Georgia exclusively on the Eberley Farmstead fly fishing for trouts and bass and in the Bahamas for bonefish, mostly the eastern end of Grand Bahama. For me, only trouts in Georgia and North Carolina. I gave up 30 years of fly fishing South Florida’s once bountiful fishery a decade ago.
Our collective catch stats became so ridiculous that we learned never to share the reality with fellow fly fishers for fear of being categorized as braggadocios.
At first, we all stuck with tube flies as trout streamers, then tried tying dries like a Royal Wulff. My initial flies, tied as tubes, were demonic clumps of trimmed deer hair. TJ hit the ground running, Angie relied on me, and I was disappointing. TJ offered his help, but it seemed to be hand-eye dexterity that separated us. But hanging in there proved rewarding.
Atlanta
I watched Ruben Martin, Jay Nichols, and April Vokey and got Tim Flagler at the pre-Covid Atlanta Fly Fishing show to promise he’d get into it. He did, but he still needs to become a big fan. I can now tie tubes to call them ‘productive.’
Fast forward
I made tube flies for trout, the go-to for the Wednesday bakery clutch of tying friends, those above, and a handful of others associated with this magazine. Unlike most people who believe they have graduated to a higher calling and discovered something worth merit, they soon drift back to their ‘good old days,’ whatever that was.
However, the folks I got to switch are still all in on tube flies. Two are predominately saltwater flats fishers; three do not tie flies, so they often say they get stuck using hook-tied flies, and the rest of us have become trout fishers using tubes as dries, streamers, nymphs, and terrestrials.
Ruben Martin [L], world renown fly tyer, casting instructor, conservationist with guide holding a nice brown caught on a tube fly tied that morning. Martin photo.
Size does matter
Tying tubes smaller than #16s is complicated and unnecessary because the hooks are small enough. I balk at #14s, and TJ says he does not need to tie less than #16. A remarkable nymph fisher, Angie seems content with my limiting at #14.
Are there hook-tied flies still used?
Obviously, yes. My fly box is full of hook-tied flies, as are Angie’s, TJs, and all the fly fishers I know that are tube fly converts. Anything smaller than a #16 as a tube is not popular with any tyer I know. But it still needs to be done.
Some who most who surely could tie small, classic trout tube flies, other than Ruben Martin, Jay Nichols, Tim Flagler, April Vokey, and a lot European tube tyers that are referred to as ‘Scandinavian’ style flies. But innovators like Ruben Martin, Jay Nichols, Tim Flagler and a long list of European Frödinflies customers carry the message.
Albula vulpes illustration by Thom Glace. Angie Roth caught several Grand Bahama [East End] bonefish in the 4- to 7-pound class over the course of five days pre-Dorian [September 1, 2019 as a Category 5 hurricane]. Her flies all tube tied shrimp and crab patterns in various sizes, color combos, and using various hook sizes. Angie said small, dark-rust color shrimps with imbedded #12 and #10 hooks worked best.
Partial list and links to Ruben Martin Tube Flies:
Royal Wulff Tube Dry Fly . . .
Micro Nymph Rubber Legs Tube Fly . . .
Sculpin Streamer Tube Fly . . .
Dry Fly CDC Caddis Tube Fly . . .
NOTE 2: Ruben Martin’s popularity has grown exponentially, and his travel schedule has forced him to back away from some commitments. Therefore, he will not be able to provide us with a tube fly pattern every week, but he will continue when available. I apologize for the disappointing news.
