Tube Flies

Bob N

Steelhead
There’s two books out there that discuss only tube flies. Les Johnson and Mark Mandell wrote the first one and Mark Mandell and another author (can’t remember his name) wrote the second. The flies cover trout, salmon, steelhead, and whatever else you would want to fish for.
 

DerekWhipple

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
There are lots and lots of tube fly videos on youtube for atlantic salmon flies, which you can apply to steelhead patterns. Davy McPhail and Mikael Froden have some good videos. Check out the templedog, pig, munker, shrimp, and francis platforms, just change material colors to suit your fancy. A lot of Aqua brand tube flies are atlantic salmon influenced flies in steelhead colors.
 
Thanks for the kind words! I like to pass on my thoughts on how to fly fish for sea-run cutthroat on Puget Sound.

I fish top water patterns for sea-run cutthroat over 90% of the time. I mostly use a slider Dehlia sand shrimp pattern( see photo) since it has such a high hook up ratio of 50 to 60%. Sand shrimp are a year round food source.

There other top water which I use are slider sand lance, slider pile worm, and slider sculpin.

Roger
 

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skyrise

Steelhead
Check out Mike at Frodin flys (Sweden) on YouTube. He has some instructional videos that are good along with knots and his fishing. And he sells tube materials. Also Mr Davie Mcphail (spelling ? ). That Sun Ray shadow is an interesting fly. Coho maybe ?
 
If you've got kids and you buy one of those "Bunch O Balloon" thingies at Costco you'll have a lifetime supply of tubes for tying. Ditto for bulk WD-40 tubes. Amazon product ASIN B07DHZRRW7
Don't think the cost of tubes is going to make or break anyone but if you're the kind of guy that likes to save a buck here and there they seem to work fine.
Fantastic ideas! I'm going to check this option out. Thanks for sharing....
 

DarrellP

Steelhead
One tip for the HMH tube gizmo: when I tie on tubes that have a bore that is too narrow for the stem, I use a wire from the Plan D tube box to tie on. It fits in the HMH attachment. Works great.
 

Millsfly

Steelhead
If you've got kids and you buy one of those "Bunch O Balloon" thingies at Costco you'll have a lifetime supply of tubes for tying. Ditto for bulk WD-40 tubes. Amazon product ASIN B07DHZRRW7
Don't think the cost of tubes is going to make or break anyone but if you're the kind of guy that likes to save a buck here and there they seem to work fine.
Tried this, and works to some extent. I burn back the tips of my tubes to hold the junction tubing but this wasnt working for that particular plastic
 

G_Smolt

Legend
Question for the tubeheads, prefaced by a bit of backstory -
I used to dig tying trout and steelhead patterns on tubes, until I started fishing faster sections than most "traditional" water... and noticed my normally dorso-ventrally-oriented flies had a tendency to turn 90° in these conditions.

I tried a few fixes, including different "belly" weights, denser eyes, no eyes, different head profiles, material shaving, material switching, material thinning, small cones to break potentially disruptive vortices...
Nothing helped. As soon as the water got above a certain velocity (right about brisk walking speed)...flop goes the fly onto its side, and instead of catching every fish in the run, I'm suddenly struggling to get a single eat.

"In the round" patterns don't seem to be affected by this - while this might seem like a "duh" statement, I say this to mean it isn't the trailing hook setup, or the knot, or the junction tubing...it's something else inherent in the fundamental makeup of a tubed pattern.

So after that long preface, the question - has anyone else noticed their tubed patterns rolling laterally in faster water conditions (be that from stripping fast or fast flow)? If yes, how did you fix the issue?

Not a tube-bashing moment, just an appeal to the hive-mind for potential solutions.
 

Jake Watrous

Legend
Forum Supporter
Question for the tubeheads, prefaced by a bit of backstory -
I used to dig tying trout and steelhead patterns on tubes, until I started fishing faster sections than most "traditional" water... and noticed my normally dorso-ventrally-oriented flies had a tendency to turn 90° in these conditions.

I tried a few fixes, including different "belly" weights, denser eyes, no eyes, different head profiles, material shaving, material switching, material thinning, small cones to break potentially disruptive vortices...
Nothing helped. As soon as the water got above a certain velocity (right about brisk walking speed)...flop goes the fly onto its side, and instead of catching every fish in the run, I'm suddenly struggling to get a single eat.

"In the round" patterns don't seem to be affected by this - while this might seem like a "duh" statement, I say this to mean it isn't the trailing hook setup, or the knot, or the junction tubing...it's something else inherent in the fundamental makeup of a tubed pattern.

So after that long preface, the question - has anyone else noticed their tubed patterns rolling laterally in faster water conditions (be that from stripping fast or fast flow)? If yes, how did you fix the issue?

Not a tube-bashing moment, just an appeal to the hive-mind for potential solutions.
Tie them with a teardrop cross-section.

I watched this video a while back and it sure seemed to help me.

 

G_Smolt

Legend
Tie them with a teardrop cross-section.
Tried. Didn't work.

Edit: I realized after I hit "post reply" that this may have sounded flippant or terse, but...I did. The patterns in question were baitfish patterns and with the attention to dorso-ventral likeness of baitfish, were indeed ovoid in cross section and deeper thru the belly. Didn't keep them from flopping on their side in fast water.
 

Jake Watrous

Legend
Forum Supporter
Tried. Didn't work.

Edit: I realized after I hit "post reply" that this may have sounded flippant or terse, but...I did. The patterns in question were baitfish patterns and with the attention to dorso-ventral likeness of baitfish, were indeed ovoid in cross section and deeper thru the belly. Didn't keep them from flopping on their side in fast water.
No worries, didn’t think it was disrespectful.

Honestly, I haven’t given too much time worrying about tying asymmetrical flies for rivers. My river tube flies usually are tied in the round.

Other than those shaped scud weights, or a pre-weighted worm hook, I got nothin. Seems like the fly would want to do that because it's more hydrodynamic in that cross current lying on its side rather than vertical. Maybe change your presentation and quarter downstream and strip up? Seems like if it were headed upstream you might have more of a chance.

Other than weight on bottom and foam or kapok on top, though, I'm not sure what could be done when stripping a slab-sided fly across a fast current.

I'm curious to learn, though.
 
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