English: Frontpiece showing Frederic M. Halford tying flies from The Dry Fly Fisherman’s Entomology, Mosley, 1921. Credit Mike Cline.
How to improve life as a fly fisher
By Henry Clement
More than a dozen years ago, I began enthusiastically searching YouTube for tube fly tiers. At the time, I was living and angling South Florida’s waters for bonefish, snook, largemouth bass, redfish, tarpon, and more. Losing a lot of flies with one catch, or one bite, and then being done, soon turned into frustration.
For many, tying flies is medication and a pure creative experience
Tying flies for others is work, but losing flies on a single bite or a single encounter with a coral outcropping that ruins a hook point is just plain annoying to anyone. There had to be tubes tied regularly for more than just steelhead and salmon. To many, not using a better way is like taking a bath to fix a broken taillight.
Ruben Martin’s Tube Humpy.
No tube fly community in the US
Conventional fly tiers in the US overwhelmingly avoid tube flies, but not so much in Canada. Grudgingly and angrily, tying tables at fly fishing shows would sometimes say that tube flies have faults. Asking for specifics usually generated a blank stare or a really inane comment.
Angie Roth to tube deniers
“The argument that hook-tied flies are better than tube flies recalls the Papacy’s 1633 condemnation of Galileo as a heretic for advocating Copernican theory, which holds that the Earth revolves around the Sun.”
The only consistent tube fly tiers are in the Northwest. Tiers like April Vokey and Peter Charles (Canada), Jay Nicholas, and, of course, Tim Flagler alone in the East, who single-handedly turned up the volume for tubes.
The real tube tying Guru is in Argentina
Tiers of any belief know who Ruben Martin is. He’s been tying tubes for well over a decade. His tips and techniques are fascinating. Click here to visit …
At a fly-fishing show, I met a British angler who referred me to Martin Jorgensen’s Global Fly Fisher. There, I read about Richard Katzman tying small tube flies for Catskill trout. It was literally a game-changer experience for me.
Getting hooked
I thought a hollow plastic Q-Tip (no longer readily available with a hollow tube) could serve as the host for tying tubes, as suggested by Katzman.
Illustration by Thom Glace – rainbow trout, brown trout, and brook trout. Used with permission.
Q-Tips were cheap – pennies
They could be blueflame lighter-heated to both expand the interior diameter to accept larger hook-eyes, and create a lip to hold the thread from sliding off either end, as Katzman predicted.
“Tubes can be made infinitely stealthier and more realistic when hidden,” said Karzman. Learning to bury the tube with thread and feathers takes some skill beyond ordinary tying. That is particularly true of small flies: nymphs, mayflies, caddis, emerges, duns, and spinners tying on hooks as well. Of course, there are larger versions of all of the latter.
More searching turned up a trove of tube information on Scandinavian and UK sites (Davie McPhail). It was clear that tube flies could catch Mo Betta almost anything that swims.
Add to the balance sheet that tying a tube fly is the same as tying on a tube. A tube fly can be much lighter (cast better) than any hook-tied fly of equivalent size because a hook governs the size of the fly. In other words, a 4X long hook (shank length) tied fly is heavier than any 4X long tube tied fly of a similar pattern.
DOA
A hook-tied fly could be rendered DOA after one bite, or one hook point damaged.
The tube fly’s hook is not impervious to damage or breakage in any orientation; it can be replaced and reoriented. Hook up or down. NOTE: As long as the fly body is retrieved so that a hook can be replaced or reoriented (up or down).
Dominating the fight
A tube fly, unlike any hook-tied fly, will allow the hook to be the sole attachment to the fish. Why, because the fly’s body detaches and rides up the leader out of harm’s way.
When the fish objects to being hooked, it shakes its head—runs or leaps—which most people have witnessed. The fly detachment is not only significant for the salvation of the fly. It also means that when the fish is hooked, the leverage of using the fly’s size and weight is lost. The hook’s only leverage connection gives the angler a better probability of landing a fish.
My friend David Olson [died 2024], former managing partner of The Fly Shop of Miami, is also a master fly tyer and casting instructor.
Last cast
1. The two best ways to get on with tube flies are both in series. One is by Peter Charles, the other by Tim Flagler via Orvis’ One-Minute Fly-Tying Tips and Techniques. They are both excellent introductions.
2. On larger flies, especially saltwater hook-tied flies, corrosion resistance tends to make them weigh a ton. With tube flies, using carbon-steel hooks allows a smaller, lighter hook to be chosen.
3. The sticking power of a laser-sharpened carbon-steel hook is unmatched—yes, carbon steel rusts, so what.
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