The Cone Head Tube Fly - A brand new way of tying tube flies - Global FlyFisher

GFF logo



    

The Cone Head Tube Fly

A brand new way of tying tube flies


By Oivind Urkedal

Notice that the most common way of putting cones on tube flies is to add the cone as the last step as shown in several other articles on this site.
See this article for more details.

Tying sequence for my favorite


 Tube: 2 cm, 1½"
Rear 1/3: Copper mylar tubing
Front 2/3: Black floss and silver rib
Throat: Green fox (sparse)
Wing: Black fox and a couple of strands of flash.

click for large image

Insert the tube with the head to the left (I use a salmon hook without eye), wind the thread to the point where you will tie in the copper tubing and go back towards the head.

Insert the copper tubing and secure it well with tight windings.
click for large image

With your fingers carefully roll the copper tubing towards the head. It's easy to get into trouble here because the mylar tube tends to get unravelled (as you can see in the picture above) when you turn roll it on the tube.
You can cut some of the excessive copper strands but I tie them all down. This might give you a bulky body but will secure the copper very well.
click for large image

Now that you have secured the tubing you can set the tube back in the vise the "right way".
Tie in oval silver tinsel for ribbing and black or charcoal floss silk for body.
click for large image

Tie in green fox for throat (keep it sparse) and black fox for wing.
click for large image

Tie in a strand of flash on each side of the wing. To get a smooth joint between the large copper head and the body of the fly, it might be an idea to wind the tying thread until you have a smoothened it out (remeber that the varnish will build up some).
Whip finish.
Varnish.

 


Add comment  Go to article start
User comments
GFF staff comment
From: Martin Joergensen · martin·at·globalflyfisher.com  Link
Submitted September 9th 2012

Gary,

Check out some of our more recent articles on tube flies, which explain the way you can combine outer, inner and junction tube.

Martin


From: gary withers · gary·at·bellaliant.net  Link
Submitted September 8th 2012

do you need an inner tube or use a junction tube at the end of the fly


From: Leonard S. Baum · lbaum·at·proskauer.com  Link
Submitted August 12th 2008

Just returned from Iceland where I confronted this deadly fly for the first time. It was absolutely deadly in certain situations, such as where the salmon were bunched up deep at the head of a waterfall pool, and one needed a small fly, with low impact, and a small size to fish deep within a very short section of the river. The British anglers at outr camp used this pattern a lot (I had not been aware of them the last time I was there in 1999, as opposed to tube flies.)

Best was a very simple all black fly although Red Frances patterns also were good.

Your instructions are fabulous, and show how someone can make the fly without investing in an expensive tube fly vise or adapters. Thanks very much.

In certain situations these flies have no equal.


From: Leonard S. Baum · lbaum·at·proskauer.com  Link
Submitted August 12th 2008

Just returned from Iceland where I confronted this deadly fly for the first time. It was absolutely deadly in certain situatuions, such as where the salmon were bunched up deep at the head of a waterfall pool, and one needed a small fly, with low impact, and a small size to fish deep within a very short section of the river. The British anglers at outr camp used this pattern a lot (I had not been aware of them the last time I was there in 1999, as opposed to tube flies.)

Your instructions are fabulous, and show how someone can make thefly without investing in an expensive tube fly vise or adapters. Thanks very much.

I certain situations these flies have no equal.


From: Glenn K. Roberts · gkroberts·at·gov.pe.ca  Link
Submitted April 3rd 2008

Q. When the smaller tube is inserted into the larger tube (prior to tying), is there some sort of cement that is used to secure the inner tube within the larger one?


From: Alan Nolan · anolana·at·live.ie  Link
Submitted March 2nd 2008

A well written article which opens up many possibilities and as often happens, sends the imagination of anglers racing!


From: Peter Moss · peter·at·pmoss12.orangehome.co.uk  Link
Submitted July 14th 2007

A Nice Fly I will tie one and try it on our River. The river Erme in the South West of the U.K.
P.M ( Membership Sec of Cleeve Angling Club Of Ivybridge )


From: David Williams · dvwilliams·at·btinternet.com  Link
Submitted November 26th 2005

I am very interested in the tubing used for this innovation - who can market the 'tubes' and where will I get them?



Want to comment this page? Fill out the form below.
Comment
Only comments
in English
are accepted!

Comentarios en Ingles
solamente, por favor!
Your name Your email
Anonymize my information. Name and email will not be shown with comment.
Notify me on new comments to this article on the above email-address.
You don't have to comment to start or stop notifications.

All comments will be screened by the GFF staff before publication.
No HTML, images, ads or links, please - we do not publish such comments...
And only English language comments will be published.
Name and email is optional but recommended.
The email will be shown in a disguised form in the final comment to protect you against spam
You can see other public comments on this page

 
More stuff to look at on The Global FlyFisher
A few random articles for your entertainment

Roy Lopez

Aspiring guide and biology student Roy Lopez is happy to call southern Texas his home.

January 29th 2013

Oatman's Silver Darter

Someone asked me how to create the "slightly tapered" body on an Oatman Silver Darter and it was pretty difficult to describe in words, so I tied up a sample and took some photos along the way. Here for your enjoyment is a Lew Oatman favorite, the Silver Darter

January 30th 2012

Martin's Mundane Fly Project

This is the Mundane Fly Manifesto: Few and cheap materials, easy to find in the shops. Simple tying methods. Mundane flies. The whole idea is to make it simple and efficient to tie flies that work. 

February 9th 2012

Metalhead

As always from the Trout Bums we get taken on a chaotic and breathtaking fishing journey, this time to Canada to hunt for steelhead. After having seen the DVD it's pretty hard to say whether it's the fish or the anglers, who are nicknamed metalheads...

July 24th 2010