Intro | Tube Fly Advantages | Waller's System | Great Lakes Tubes | Rigging the Tube

Waller's System
Waller shortened the length of the tube and changed the hook and the manner in which it is attached to the tippet to create an effective, easy-to-rig tube-fly system for steelhead.

Shorter tube. A one-inch tube combined with a long rabbit-strip wing helps create a more animated fly that snakes in the water because the long wing of the fly is separate from, and independent of, the tube. Waller says this increased movement triggers the steelhead strike. The short tube also allows fish to inhale the fly easier; it prevents quick rejections from fish that detect the hard tube in their mouths; and it allows greater flexibility in the hook location in the fly pattern. For short-striking fish, you can add a long connector or tie a long loop to place the hook at the rear of the fly. For aggressive fish that take a hook situated at the rear of the fly deeply, you can snug the hook tight against the short tube so the hook rides forward in the fly pattern.

Better hook. In a tube fly the body of the fly pattern is tied on a plastic or metal tube in place of a hook shank so that you can match any fly with the right hook for the job and use a variety of different hooks available from a variety of different manufacturers.

Tube flies can range from large rabbit and marabou flies to slim profile wet flies. Fly H2O's sparse flies tied on metal tubes (Rick's Revenge and Waller's Tube, below) are excellent choices for low, clear water or to catch fish that have become wary of larger flies. Jay Nichols photo     Rick's Revenge Waller's Tube

Waller prefers Owner or Gamakatsu bait hooks because they are widely available, relatively inexpensive, and extremely sharp. Bait hooks seem an unlikely choice for fly fishing, but they are designed to hook fish that don't always come aggressively to the lure, but rather nip at it like steelhead. They also have a wide gap, offset point, and come in different colored finishes to complement different fly patterns and are stout enough to hold the largest fish.

Waller thinks the offset point is critical to the effectiveness of these hooks. "When a steelhead takes the pattern and closes down on the fly, the hook lies flat against the tissue of the fish's mouth. The offset point is more likely to protrude to one side and stick more quickly than a straight point when the line and leader are drawn tight—either by the current or the angler."

Many people use tube flies with a straight-eye hook, but an up-eye hook does not impede the connection in any way because in Waller's method, the knot from the surgeon's loop is inserted into the junction tubing or tube itself.

In addition to Gamakatsu and Owner hooks, any premium, short-shank, extra-heavy hook (straight or turned-up eye) works in Waller's system. Tiemco's SP series of straight-eye, short-shank hooks; Mustad's Signature series; Eagle Claw's Circle Sea; or Daiichi's X-series or Bleeding Bait hooks are all good choices .

New connection. Waller also changed the way the hook is attached to the tippet. With conventional tubes, the hook is usually attached with a clinch or improved clinch knot in which the tippet is secured to the hook eye and the hook eye stuck through a malleable piece of plastic integrated to the hard plastic tube, called junction tubing. Waller changed that rig by tying a double surgeon's loop and jambing the knot directly into the thin plastic tube or into a piece of junction tubing attached to the rear of the tube. His arrangement allows the hook to swing freely in the fly.

This setup has several advantages. It is easy to quickly change your hook on stream by backing the hook out of the loop. The hook can be oriented to ride either hook up or down, depending on how you adjust it in the tube or the junction tubing. By varying the length of the loop, you can manipulate where the hook rides in the fly pattern, without increasing the size of the tube or the junction tubing. The only criterion for the loop size is that it is large enough to slip over the short-shank hook.

Waller says that another advantage to this connection is that when you draw the loop into the junction tubing, the hook is supported by both sides of the loop and does not sag or drop too far below the wing of the fly. This keeps the hook closer to the wing when it swings into softer currents and still allows the wing to flutter and vibrate independently of the hook. For Waller, the long wing of the fly is the target that the fish sees first and is pursuing. "The goal is to make that target look alive and animated and to always keep the hook close to that part of the fly."