Published Feb 1. 2000 - 24 years ago
Updated or edited Mar 11. 2023
Tube Muddler
A great looking tube fly
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Tube Muddler ![]() |
Materials:
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|
Tube | Plastic fly tube or tube from cotton swab |
Thread | Black or brown |
Tag | Narrow flat gold tinsel |
Tails | Two yellow golden phesant body feathers |
Body | Black Arctic fox dubbing |
Veilings | Four yellow golden phesant body feathers |
Wing | Black Arctic fox |
Head/collar | Natural deer hair |
Tying instructions:
- Prepare a tube, length approx. 1.5" or 4 centimeters
- If you use a cotton swab, cut off the cotton and melt carefully to form a collar in each end of the tube (7 on the drawing below)
- Tie in the flat gold tinsel approx. one fifth of the tube length from the rear end of the tube
- Wind the tinsel backwards to cover half of this space and forwards again leaving a small piece of the tube uncovered (4 on the drawing below)
- Prepare two yellow golden phesant body feathers by removing the webby part leaving only the regular, even barbs
- Moisten the feather and pull the barbs parallel to the stem of the feather
- Tie in the feather with the shiny side up by laying two loose turns of thread over the stem just behind the first barbs
- Hold the feather flat in regard to the hook and pull slowly on the stem while guiding the barbs to a small, even tuft (2 on the drawing below)
- Unwind one wrap, pull the thread tight in an upwards motion and tie the feather down with two more tight wraps
- Repeat the process for the opposite side
- Divide the rest of the body into five parts
- Dub the first fifth with a thin layer of black dubbing
- Tie in two more feathers as described above
- Dub the next fifth
- Tie in two more feathers
- Dub the next fifth
- Tie in a sparse wing of Arctic fox on each side of the tube (1 on the drawing below)
- Stack a bunch of deer hair and tie in to form a collar (6 on the drawing below)
- Tie in more deer hair to form a large and dense head
- Whipfinish in front of the head and varnish
- Trim deer hair to form a short head
- Mount the hook on the tube by drawing a piece of silicone tubing over the bare piece of tube in the rear (3 on the drawing below)
- Use a treble or single hook according to taste and moral
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Tube Muddler construction 1: Arctic fox wing 2: Pheasant body tail and veilings 3: Silicone tube 4: Tinsel tag 5: Dubbing sections 6: Deer hair collar 7: Tube collar ![]() |
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Comments
Hi I put this on a
Hi
I put this on a copper tube, used materials that I had available and ended up with a great small mouth bass fly.
Little ones cann't handle it so it works swell for bigger bass in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Thanks for the pattern
Paul