Black Ghost tube

Published May 9th 2011

Believe in ghosts? How about a black one?

By Nils Jorgensen

Black Ghosts - A couple of Black Ghost Tubes waiting for action

Black Ghost Tubes
Nils Jorgensen

If you're fishing sea trout or brown trout, or even salmon, there is no way around the Black Ghost. It has caught thousands of fish around the world. This is an all time classic that has proven itself.

In this article, I make the Black Ghost, which is normally made on a streamer hook, on two kinds of tubes. One advanced with weight and one simple, which is also cheap to produce.

Making them on tubes does not mean they are salmon flies. It simply means a longer life for each fly. Most anglers know that a contact with a rock can ruin the hook. Many times this means "end of story" for the whole streamer. But on a tube fly you just replace the hook and the expensive and time consuming part of the fly is reusable.

Black Ghost tube, simple

Type	Tube fly
Difficulty	Easy
Target species	Atlantic salmon (sea run) Sea trout (sea run)

Materials

Tube	Pro Tube System - 40/40 mm Flexi Tube in black
Tying thread	Black 8/0
Wing	White rabbit strip + a bit of flash
Hackles	Yellow rooster (you need two)
Cone	Pro Tube System black Pro Cone

Step 1 - tube - Use a 40/40 mm Pro Flex Tube.

Step 1 - tube
Nils Jorgensen

Step 2- rear hackle - Tie in a yellow hackle by the stem and wind it 3-4 times forward. Tie down and trim surplus.

Step 2- rear hackle
Nils Jorgensen

Step 3 - wing - Tie in the main wing of white rabbit. Add a straw of silver flash on each side.

Step 3 - wing
Nils Jorgensen

Step 4 - front hackle - Add a yellow front hackle, tying it in by the stem, winding it 3-4 times and tying it down. Trim surplus.

Step 4 - front hackle
Nils Jorgensen

Step 5 - cone - Add a Pro Cone and the cut the tube and melt it to give a nice finish and form a lip so the cone does not fall off.

Step 5 - cone
Nils Jorgensen

Black Ghost tube, advanced

Type	Tube fly
Difficulty	Easy
Target species	Atlantic salmon (sea run) Brown trout Sea trout (sea run)

Materials

Tube	Pro Tube System - Micro Tube in black
Weight	Pro Tube System - Drop weight S
Tying thread	Black 8/0
Wing	Yellow marabou, pearl Angel Hair, white rabbit strip
Hackle	Yellow rooster
Cheeks	Jungle Cock (optional)
Hook guide	Pro Tube System Hook Guide in black
Cone	Pro Tube System black Sonic Disc

+ Step 1- tube and weight Nils Jorgensen	+ Step 2 - underwing Nils Jorgensen	+ Step 3 - flash Nils Jorgensen
+ Step 4 - wing Nils Jorgensen	+ Step 5 - hackle Nils Jorgensen	+ Step 6 - cheeks and cone Nils Jorgensen

Brownies like it - The Black Ghost is a favored streamer for brown trout

Ghostly country - In Iceland the Black Ghost is an immensely popular pattern

Ghost country
Nils Jorgensen

Other Black Ghosts on GFF
Black Ghost streamer, classical style
Marabou Black Ghost
Herb Welch Black Ghost
Black Ghost featherwing streamer

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User comments

From: mikez · mrzelman·at·eastlink.ca Link
Submitted May 28th 2011

My experience is that if you can find Polar Bear (still available in Canada) it out fishes any other wing material on Black ghosts by a substantial margin. The other option is human hair from my daughter or some other ash blonde (it works)

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