Why Tubes Flies?
What is a tube fly? Tube flies are flies tied around a tube instead of the shank of a hook. Tubes are generally made of stiff plastic or metal such as brass, aluminum, or copper. The hard tube slips inside a soft vinyl connecting tube on one end. The connecting tube slips over the eye of the hook. To attach the tippet to the fly, you thread the tippet through the tube and its connector, knot the eye of the hook, and pull the eye into the connector.

Although overlooked by trout anglers, tube flies have been around since the 1940s when an English woman first discovered that by tying flies on hollow quills she could use the same hook for different patterns. Shortly thereafter, someone suggested substituting surgical tubing. Since that time, the concept of having the fly separate from the hook has steadily grown in popularity among Atlantic salmon anglers.

Tube flies give you more freedom to experiment with fly patterns for different fish species. Trout, smallmouth, and stripers devour Atlantic salmon and steelhead patterns, and the rubber legs, bright flash, and coneheads on some trout streamers have been known to entice salmon.

West Coast steelheaders began trolling flies tied on metal tubes as early as the 1950s. Then Pacific bill fishers began to use them. Mexican anglers ran their hand lines through three-inch sections of car antennae (without any dressing) for jacks and sierra mackerel.

Modifying your favorite patterns into tube flies reaps many benefits. Despite anglers' resistance to change, tube flies have an ever-expanding place for bass and pike, East and West Coast saltwater (pelagic, inshore, and flats) species, and trout and salmon.

They have many advantages over conventional flies.

Tube flies are modular. By using tubes and hooks with different materials tied on them, you can create many combinations of fly patterns.

Some use separate tubes to tie each of a fly's separate components in different colors or materials (tails, bodies, collars, wings, and heads). Once on the water they assemble these parts to create the fly they need.

You can modify a tube fly by mixing and matching components of the fly since the rear (the hook) is separate from the body (the tube). Though the hook doesn't have to be dressed in a tube fly system, you can tie different tailing materials and weedguards on different hooks to expand your options. For instance, by tying rabbit strip, marabou, and matched hackle feathers on three different hooks, you can change a basic fly design tied around a tube such as a Rabbit-strip Leech,Woolly Bugger, or Deceiver depending on conditions.

Additionally, you can increase the length of a fly by stacking tubes or adding a tube fly ahead of your conventionally tied pattern.

Tube flies make releasing fish easier. You can move a tube fly up the leader to gain clear access to the hook. This reduces the time needed to disengage the hook and release the fish.

Tube flies travel well. Use the same collection of fly patterns to fish for many different species by just changing the hook. Many times the hook rather than the pattern defines a fly's purpose.

You can take your freshwater patterns to the salt and back again. A 2- or 3-inch baitfish imitation developed for trout in the Frying Pan River in October (#4 Gamakatsu SC 15) can be used for bonefish on the west side of Andros Island in November (#6 Varivas 990S), steelhead on the Umpqua River in late February (#4 Owner 5111), Atlantic salmon on Norway's Gaula River in May (#2 Loop MT Double), and then for Dorado in Costa Rica in June (#1/0 Owner 5314 circle).

Tube flies are the ultimate hook-testing platform. Many fly fishers do not realize how important hook design is for catching fish. The style of hook often means the difference between success and failure. Tube flies allow you to use the best possible hook. In less than a minute you can switch from single, double, treble, or tandem-hooked rigs. You can use light-wire, heavy-wire, freshwater, saltwater, J-style, or circle hooks.

The basic components of a tube fly are hook, soft vinyl connector, and tube. Connect your hook to the tippet with a clinch knot or by snelling it.

While fishing in Espiritu Santo, several good snook and a few small tarpon missed my Madd Max. After switching from a single #3/0 Owner 5111 to a #2/0 Varivas 990 with a #2 Loop MT Double Stinger, I was immediately successful.

You can quickly and easily experiment with different hook styles to master every situation. The hooks can be placed as far forward or aft in a pattern as conditions demand. If fish are taking aggressively and being hooked deeply, a smaller hook or a more forward hook placement will reduce trauma. Instead of carrying separate boxes with weedless flies, hooks can be prepared with weedguards.

Tube flies often increase your landing rate. Tube-fly anglers enjoy an advantage by using short-shanked hooks, which can dramatically increase your attacked-to-landed ratio, because the leverage gained by a fish on a long-shank hook often dislodges the hook.

Because of the soft, pliable connector joining the hard plastic or metal tube to the hook, fish generally cannot use the length of the tube to their advantage if the tube does not dislodge from the hook when fighting a fish-which occurs occasionally. The connector acts like a shock absorber and the hinge reduces leverage.

Convertible flies, such as this Conehead Sculpin system tied by John Albright, allow you to easily modify your fly depending on conditions--without carrying a bunch of patterns.

Tube flies last longer. While a fish is fighting on a traditional fly, its teeth often damage the fly's dressing. Usually a tube fly rides up the leader away from sharp teeth during a fight.

You don't have to throw a fly away if the hook breaks or the point is over sharpened.

A tube fly (tied on a plastic tube, without weight) stuck in a tree or on a submerged log can be recovered. Simply pull and break the leader and then catch the fly as it falls free of the hook, or pick it up as it floats to the surface.

Other advantages are that airlines allow tubes in the plane's cabin (pack your hooks in your checked luggage) and the eye of the hook and the tippet-to-hook knot are completely hidden from wary or conditioned fish.

Given all these advantages, shouldn't you try tying a few of your favorite patterns on tubes?