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Martin - martin@globalflyfisher.com

Tube Flies

The forums are very quiet

The Global FlyFisher forum has existed for almost as long as the site, and the oldest posts are more than 20 years old. Forums aren't what they used to be. Social media has taken over a lot of their roles, and the GFF form is very quiet ... to put it mildly.
We keep everything online for the sake of history, and preserve the posts for as long as possible, but as you will see, quite a few of them aren't in a good shape, but rely on old images hosted elsewhere, which are no longer available, odd codes from old systems and much more, which can't be shown in a decent way.
But the posts are here, and you can - if you insist - start new threads. But don't stay awake waiting for replies, because they are unfortunately few and far apart.
Martin

Good day gentlemen. Hope everyone is well? I have just, this weekend taken an introductory course on tube flies, while I can see some of the benefits of this style I came away thinking it to be a bit of a pain in the butt, is it or was it just my lack of knowledge or maybe the equipment I was using (HMH manderals). I might do some in the bigger sizes for pike & musky, but is the style worth it for the smaller flies.

I look forward to your outlook, knowledge and discussions on this subject

Glenn

Hi Glenn I use tube flies sometimes but honestly I think that a good streamer is a better fly most times. The tube flies just do not have that enticing movement that a Rabbit or even a hair wing fly has. The tubes of course sink much faster so if you need to get down then they are hard to beat.
All the best.
Mike.

Glenn, Mike,

The thing about tubes is not to consider it as a "better" way to tie the flies you usually tie, but to use tubes where it really makes sense.

I personally tie and use tubes for large, light flies where hook weight might be a problem, and for flies where the hook will typically last a lot longer than the materials or the other way round - pike fishing shreds a lot of flies, deep salmon fishing dulls a lot of hooks.

Last but not least, the new compact metal tubes makes it possible to tie a small and heavy fly, where the weight is concentrated exactly in the place you want it.

You might have noticed the large tube fly section here on GFF, where I go much more into depth with this issue:
http://globalflyfisher.com/tiebetter/tube-flies/

PS: regarding movement in the fly: that depends on the materials used, not on a tube or hook choice! I have plenty very enticing flies tied on tubes using zonker strips, marabou or Arctic fox or Finn raccoon hair wings. That works equally well on a tube.

Martin

Hi Glenn I use tube flies sometimes but honestly I think that a good streamer is a better fly most times. The tube flies just do not have that enticing movement that a Rabbit or even a hair wing fly has. The tubes of course sink much faster so if you need to get down then they are hard to beat.
All the best.
Mike.

Glenn, Mike,

The thing about tubes is not to consider it as a "better" way to tie the flies you usually tie, but to use tubes where it really makes sense.

I personally tie and use tubes for large, light flies where hook weight might be a problem, and for flies where the hook will typically last a lot longer than the materials or the other way round - pike fishing shreds a lot of flies, deep salmon fishing dulls a lot of hooks.

Last but not least, the new compact metal tubes makes it possible to tie a small and heavy fly, where the weight is concentrated exactly in the place you want it.

You might have noticed the large tube fly section here on GFF, where I go much more into depth with this issue:
http://globalflyfisher.com/tiebetter/tube-flies/

PS: regarding movement in the fly: that depends on the materials used, not on a tube or hook choice! I have plenty very enticing flies tied on tubes using zonker strips, marabou or Arctic fox or Finn raccoon hair wings. That works equally well on a tube.

Martin

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