Understanding the Turmoil of Tube Flies

The concept of tube flies is fairly well known, but we still get questions about the basic ideas as well as some of the new tube systems. This theme tries to answer them.

By Martin Joergensen

Orange and black fly with beads  Martin Joergensen

This tube fly theme has been divided into these sections: Tube Basics An introduction to the concept of tube flies and some arguments for using tubes rather than hooks. Tube Style Plate All kinds of tubes in an overview. Want to get an idea of the richness in the tube fly world? This is one place to look. Tube Styles Trying to grasp the many different styles and types of tubes available out there can be almost impossible. This article tries to set things straight and cover most of the tube styles currently on the market. Tube Tools This article dives into the different vises and tube fly holders, which is a world full of strange and complex contraptions as well as very simple devices. Tube Tying Techniques Tying on tubes is not unlike tying on hooks. This article tries to cover a small selection of the many different ways a tube fly can be tied. Styles and Patterns There are as many tube patterns out there as you can name in a lifetime, and there are so many different styles of tying. But this article still tries to bunch them into some common groups. Tube Ressources Want to go further than just this tube fly theme? Here are all the books, DVD's and web sites worth getting acquainted with.

Tube flies have long been stable flies for many salmon anglers all over the world, and these practical flies have also been adopted by salt water anglers in need of large flies. But tubes can be useful to almost any angler apart from those using the smallest of flies.

We frequently show tube fly patterns on the site and not rarely does that spawn some questions about the ins and outs of these flies. This theme will try to introduce newcomers to the basic concepts of tubes and pile some knowledge on top of the basics to extend a bit further on the subject.

Reasons why
There are several good reasons to tie and use tube flies:

• You separate fly and hook. Trash the fly and keep the hook or vice versa
• You can avoid the fly becoming a lever in the mouth of the fish
• You can tie large but still light flies
• You can tie some very heavy and compact flies
• You can construct some very special flies
• Tubes can be inexpensive (but also the opposite)

I will cover each of these arguments in further detail as we go along.

Below you see a bunch of flies tied in the traditional Scandinavian style, but tube flies are much more than that, which this theme hopefully will demonstrate. To the right you will find links to the different articles in this theme, but you can also use the keyword tube flies as an entry.

You can get an idea about the richness of tube flies by browsing this tube fly plate, which barely scratches the surface of tube fly styles.