Introduction
This is my first attempt at a
tube fly and I used materials lying around in my house. The main materials are
a cork from a port bottle and an old pen cartridge. This tying sequence is just a basic idea of a
tube popper and probably not the most correct way to tie a tube fly. It
basically just gives you some ideas regarding the materials you can use for a
fly like this and how easy it is to tie it. I hope this inspires you to try
this alternative method of fly tying and also see odds and ends lying around in
your house in a different light.
Tube flies have various
advantages such as:
- Various types of hooks can be used with one fly
- The fly can be used with or without a wire trace
- Often the fly will slide up the line once a fish is
hooked and then the fish cant bite down on it
- Another advantage is that the fish will only be
left with a hook in the event of line failure
Materials:
1. SF Flash Blend - Bleeding Black (Alternatives:
Bucktail, Marabou, Zonker Strip etc)
2. Crystal
Flash
3. Crystal
Chenille or Dubbing
4. Saddle
Hackle
5. Rubber
Legs
6. Stick-on
Eyes
7. Marker
Pen
8. Nail
Varnish
9. Sally
Hansen – Hard as Nails ( Ideally epoxy should be used)
10. Superglue
11. Wine Cork or Foam Popping Head
12. Any
material suitable as a tube – I used an old pen ink cartridge
13. 6/0 Thread
 |
| Materials |
 |
| Cork and Pen Ink Cartridge |
Tying Sequence:
Step 1:
Color the cork with a permanent market to act as a base
layer for the nail varnish
Step 2:
Form a hole in the middle of the cork with a fly tying
needle, then insert the tube trough the cork
Step 3-4:
Apply some superglue on the tube and push cork further up
the tube
 |
| Step 3 |
 |
| Step 4 |
Step 5:
Paint the cork with nail varnish using long strokes
Step 6:
Leave the nail varnish to dry for approximately 20 min
Step 7:
Superglue eyes to both side of the cork and leave to dry for
approximately 3 min
Step 8 and 9:
Paint a layer of Sally Hansen or ideally epoxy over the cork
and leave to dry (the Sally Hansen will take around 20min the epoxy will take
longer)
 |
| Step 8 |
 |
| Step 9 |
Step 10:
Cut shallow slits into the tube material to prevent your
thread slipping on the tube
Step 11:
Add a base layer of thread onto the tube
Step 12:
Pinch wrap the SF material and secure with a few wraps
Step 13:
Pinch wrap some flash material and secure with a few wraps
Step 14:
Select two saddle hackle feather, pinch wrap the on both
sides of the tube and secure with a few wraps
Step 15:
Take another saddle hackle feather and hold it with the
shiny side facing you. Pinch wrap the feather to the tube and secure with a few
wraps
Step 16:
Take two round rubber legs, pinch wrap it and secure with
about 3 wraps
Step 17:
Turn the legs perpendicular to the tube and secure it
further with figure of eight wraps
Step 18:
Wrap the legs in front of the cork and tie in some crystal
chenille.
Step 19:
Wrap the chenille forward towards the legs and secure with
two wraps
Step 20:
Wind the hackle over the chenille and secure in front of the
legs with a few wraps
Step 21:
Figure of eight wrap the chenille over the legs and finish
of with another few chenille wraps in front of the legs. Secure the chenille
with a few thread wraps and finish of the fly by whip finishing the thread
behind the cork.
Trimming:
Step 1:
Trim the SF and flash to the same length of the saddle
hackles
Step 2:
Trim the legs to three quarters of the length of the tail.
 |
| Leg Trimming Result |
Step 3:
Cut the tube behind the tail to around 5mm
Step 4:
Cut the tube as close as possible to the cork
Final Result:
 |
| Top View |
 |
| Side-on View |
Rigging:
Step 1:
Slide the tube fly and a carp rig rubber sleeve onto the
line and tie your choice of hook to the line
Step 2:
Slide the rubber sleeve over the hook
Step 3:
Slide the tube into the sleeve
Enjoy this easy to follow DVD, made for fly tiers by fly tiers, and be taken on an entertaining and insightful journey into this fantastic world of feather craft. The DVD covers the following fly patterns in 90 minutes:
• Dragon Fly Nymph.jpg)
