Article gallery

Images for Danish tube fly inspiration

Preparation 1 - tubes

Preparation 2 - cone

Two ways

Step 1 - thread

Step 2 - underwing

Step 3 - trim

Step 4 - underwing done

Step 5 - hackle

Step 6 - remove web

Step 7 - tie in hackle

Step 8 - wrap hackle

Step 9 - tie down

Step 10 - zonker strip

$Step 11 - tie in strip - Tie in the zonker strip right in front of the hackle, keeping everything very compact. Notice how the strip \"rides\" on the underwing and hackle$

Step 11 - tie in strip

Step 12 - second hackle

Step 13 - tie in

Step 14 - wrap hackle

Step 15 - cone

Step 16 - varnish or glue

Step 17 - place cone

Step 18 - cone done

Step 19 - trim inner tube

Step 20 - melt inner tube

Step 1 - start thread

Step 2 - underwing

Step 3 - hackles

Step 4 - pick feathers

$Step 5 - tie in - Tie in the first hackle feather. Rather than wrapping it it\'s simply tied in parallel to the tube to create the first part of a false hackle$

Step 5 - tie in

Step 6 - other side

Step 7 - trim stubs

Step 8 - zonker strips

Step 9 - cut strip

$Step 10 - tie in strip - Notice again how it\'s lifted by the underwing and the hackle$

Step 10 - tie in strip

Step 11 - front hackle

Step 12 - prepare hackle

Step 13 - tie in hackle

Step 14 - wrap hackle

$Step 15 - tie down - Tie down the hackle. Again it\'s important to keep the fly compact and not let the materials work too far forward$

Step 15 - tie down

Step 16 - tie down

Step 17 - no head

Step 18 - whip finish

Step 19 - varnish or glue

Step 20 - add cone

Step 21 - trim inner tube

Step 22 - melt collar

A couple of killers

Black Gjaldbaek

$The Yellow Lightning-inspired - There\'s a Danish fly called <em>Det Gule Lyn</em> (The Yellow Lightning), over which this fly was composed with some artistic freedom$

The Yellow Lightning-inspired

Garry Dog-inspired - with more green

$A few of Ken\'s flies - Ken keeps on tying in spite of having boxes like this$

A few of Ken's flies

The components

Compound or two tubes

$Coiled tubes - Some tubes are coiled. Don\'t let that worry you. They will be straight once they are mounted in the vice and the fly is tied$

Coiled tubes

$Compound, macthed and mismatched - The left tube is a one-piece tube from <a href=\"http://www.prosportfisher.com/\">Danish Pro Tube</a>. In the center it\'s a nicely fitting outer and inner tube from <a href=\"http://www.tungstenshop.de/index.php?language=en&\">German Wurm</a> and on the right I have put together a total mismatch between two different brands, leaving way too much space between the tubes$

Compound, macthed and mismatched

$Cones - You want to use cones that match the inner tube perfectly. There should be no play between the tube and the cone. That will leave the cone 100% straight after it\'s been mounted as the final step$

Cones

Outer and inner

Garry Dog-inspired

Inspired by the Black Sheep

Karup-style, orange

No-name - olive and orange

No-name Pink

Colorful

Cutting

Joining tubes

The Bag Fly

Green Wing

Dr. Statham

Orange Racoon

Red Taggish

The Bag Fly

$A Squidtruder - An Intruder style fly for steelhead. A very different style from the Scandinavian. From <a href=\"http://www.canadiantubeflies.com/\">Canadian Tube Flies</a>.$

A Squidtruder

$Squidlegs - Another steelhead fly in the Intruder tradition... and then some! From <a href=\"http://www.canadiantubeflies.com/\">Canadian Tube Flies</a>.$

Squidlegs

Endless variation

$Wet - This Black Sheep might look skinny and small, but once it\'s in the water it expands to its full volume$

Wet

Yellow, orange and black

Angry Rabbit

ITMI

Já já

$Ken\'s production - As you can see from Ken\'s recent batch of tube flies, the possible variations are numerous, and only your fantasy limits the creativity that can be put into these flies.$

Ken's production

Related content

Apr 21. 2011

Spider NJ

Once again, simple is good!
Once again, black is good!
Once again, rubber legs are good!
Once again a tube fly from Nils Jorgensen.
This little tube fly is so easy to tie that you can easily fill a box in no time.

Apr 21. 2011

Black Ghost Tube

Believe in ghosts? How about a black one? 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.

Nov 2. 2008

Très Bien

This is another bright tube fly for clear water designed by Danish fly tyer Ken Bonde Larsen. And another one that uses a cone to add weight to the front of the fly. And another one, where the metal cone can be replaced by a common head or a plastic cone.

Nov 2. 2008

The Dirty White

We continue our series of tube flies tied in the Scandinavian style. This fly is another subdued yellow, white and gray fly, well suited for bright light and clear water. It uses a mallard hackle to create a nice, closed shape.

Oct 26. 2008

Chinese White

A bright tube fly for salmon in clear water created by Danish Ken Bonde Larsen. Tied in the Scandinavian style with a large and soft hair wing made of several layers. Easy to tie and impressive both in and out of the water.

Video thumb for Bo Diddley

Mar 22. 2025

Bo Diddley

Join me as I tie a fly pattern devised by John Johnson of Newfoundland, the Bo Diddley Atlantic salmon fly.

Since you got this far …

The GFF money box

… I have a small favor to ask.

Long story short

Support the Global FlyFisher through several different channels, including PayPal.

Long story longer

The Global FlyFisher has been online since the mid-90's and has been free to access for everybody since day one – and will stay free for as long as I run it.
But that doesn't mean that it's free to run.
It costs money to drive a large site like this.
See more details about what you can do to help in this blog post.

The Global FlyFisher was updated to a new publishing system early March 2025, and there may still be a few glitches while the last bits get fixed. If you meet anything that doesn't work, please let me know.
Martin - martin@globalflyfisher.com