Rigging Tube Flies: Video

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By Louis Cahill

I love tube flies and I fish them almost exclusively when I’m after steelhead.

Tube flies are a powerful tool. They are the most versatile flies you can tie and the most economical. The secret is that there’s no hook. The fly is tied on a hollow plastic tube, which slides over the leader. The hook is added to the end of the leader. It’s a brilliant system and it’s extremely effective, especially for steelhead.

Here are a couple of reasons you should be fishing tube flies.

They work

_DSC6297The key to the effectiveness of a tube fly is the hook placement. It’s very easy to control the placement of the hook so that, if a fish nips at your fly, the hook is the first thing he gets.

They’re affordable

The most expensive part of a fly is the hook. You can tie a limitless number of tube flies without using a single hook. On my last steelhead trip I changes flies over a dozen times, but I only used 2 hooks.

They’re versatile

The coolest thing about tube flies is that they are modular. You can stack tubes on your leader to get the exact size and color combination you’re looking for. You can add cone heads or eyes, tied to small tubes, on the spot. Tube flies let you create the fly for the conditions at the minute.

You do need some special equipment to tie tube flies but it’s not expensive. You can get a set of mandrills for as little as $16.99 (HERE) or a dedicated tube fly vice for $130 (HERE), if you like. Either will pay for itself pretty quickly with what you save on hooks.

You can tie any fly on a tube, but they have become the gold standard for steelhead flies. The thing that keeps folks from fishing them is, many anglers don’t know how to rig them. Once you see how easy it is, you’ll wonder why you waited so long to fish tubes. There’s a whole new world of fly fishing out there for you. It’s pretty cool.

Watch this video and learn how to rig a tube fly.

Louis Cahill
Gink & Gasoline
www.ginkandgasoline.com
hookups@ginkandgasoline.com
 
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4 thoughts on “Rigging Tube Flies: Video

  1. Great video with great information! But I think you might be in dire need of a left hander’s sling pack. That looks terribly uncomfortable.

    • Are you kidding me? I love that pack. One of the best designed pieces of fishing gear I’ve ever used. It’s a Veedavoo Tight Lines Sling and if you’ve never used one it’s totally awesome! And made in America.

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