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.
Tube Flies
- Thread starter MillCreekMinnow
- Start date
Millsfly
Steelhead
One quick tip, the profisher tube needle will make your lives so much easier. I had one of the HMH adapters and struggled with it for a year and then I found the needle .....and holy shit it's the way, the truth and the light
Also, HMH small size tubes are my primary platform. Cheap and super adaptable
Also, HMH small size tubes are my primary platform. Cheap and super adaptable
Thanks!
DerekWhipple
Steelhead
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.
roger stephens
Steelhead
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
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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JayB
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
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.
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.
MillCreekMinnow
Steelhead
Fantastic ideas! I'm going to check this option out. Thanks for sharing....
Millsfly
Steelhead
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
MillCreekMinnow
Steelhead
I plan on gently placing this rainbow trout pattern into the corner of a bull trout's mouth! Hopefully......
G_Smolt
Life of the Party
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.
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
Life of the Party
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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MillCreekMinnow
Steelhead
Big ugly ones. Not petite pretty little ones! Size matters!!!!!!One of those “colored up” Oregon bulls or the prissy, pretty WA bulls?
But if you ever feel like showing me some pretty ones, I am down for that! Will pay with tubes.........
Big ugly ones. Not petite pretty little ones! Size matters!!!!!!
Oh god, you got the wrong guy. I love the big ugly dinosaur Oregon bulls
MillCreekMinnow
Steelhead
I see now. I thought you were clowning on OR. Bulls. Great pics! We should connect at some point.Oh god, you got the wrong guy. I love the big ugly dinosaur Oregon bulls
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ha! no way, I love the dark ones, and where you catch them
Definitely, I'm in Portland and head over there pretty frequently.