The Tube Fly Revolution Has Arrived!

First, tube flies conquered Europe. The British Isles were next. They came to North America via the west coast, and recently they’ve arrived at our east coast via Guysborough County. Finally, the tube fly revolution is preparing to sweep Nova Scotia!

Is that a good thing? What is a tube fly, anyway? Good questions. Stuart Anderson of Edmonton, Alberta, owner of the Canadian Tube Fly Company, writes “Tube flies are exactly what they sound like.... They are tied up on a tube instead of a standard hook shank. Tubes are usually thicker than a conventional fly, an attribute most steelhead and salmon fishermen find desirable. Hook size and style can be varied for whatever situation you are fishing. Single, double and even treble hooks (regulations permitting) are all possibilities. Since the hooks are not part of the fly there is no chance of the hook rusting before the fly has seen its end. There are also more hook-ups with tubes. With the fly and the hook being separate, when you set that hook the leverage of having a long-shanked fly is eliminated. Of course this helps you hold on to more fish after hook-up as well.”

Anglers who seek trophy sea-run brown trout in eastern Guysborough county know the merits of tube flies for that pursuit, large brown trout being notoriously difficult to hook and even more difficult to land. Anyone who has fished extensively for browns in the salt has wild tales of “the big one that got away”. Browns often ruin a regular fly with their rolling, twisting and gnashing of teeth, but tube flies can escape this abuse because they are separate from the hook and usually slide up the leader a little bit, away from harm.

There are also advantages for salmon anglers. We can use large tube flies with small barbless hooks for fall fishing, greatly facilitating live-release angling. Light-weight plastic tubes also make great salmon dry flies, like Bombers, Wulffs and MacIntoshes. Plastic tubes are legal where unweighted flies are required, but metallic tubes like aluminum or stainless steel are not. Because we must rely on sinking or sink-tip lines or sinking leaders to fish flies well below the water’s surface, plastic tubes are really adequate for all of our fly fishing.

For further information on tube flies, see website http://www.canadiantubeflies.com, or visit the River Magic fly shop. River Magic recently hosted a tube fly workshop, featuring instruction by fly tying virtuoso Damian Welsh of nearby Fraser’s Mills. Our photos show Damian caught in the act and three coyote-wing tube flies tied by him at that session. He calls the fly El Lobo del Rio (The River Wolf).

El Lobo del Rio (The River Wolf)

Hook:                          Short-shanked tube fly hook of your choosing

Tube:                          Hollow plastic tube from a Q-Tip, lined with plastic liner tube

Tag:                            Fluorescent green floss

Tail:                             Green Highlander Antron yarn

Body:                          Rear half: Holographic flat silver tinsel

                                    Front half: Green Ice Dub ribbed with oval silver tinsel

Body Hackle:             Black schlappen over front half of body

Underwing:                Coyote guard hair dyed orange

Wing:                          Coyote guard hair

Sides:                         Jungle cock

Cone Head:               Chartreuse Eumer Monster Conehead on liner tube (optional)

Please stay on the line …