we use tons of them tied on coffee mixing stick sections (small diameter hollow plastic straws). Melt the ends slightly to flare them and use a bobbin cleaner to mount them in your vise. Extremely fast and easy to ite and when the hook gets dull the fly continues on… Many use a short piece of toothpick to hold them in place on the leader.
The article below may be of help to you, as will the recent thread on tube flies ;
Tube flies were invented fairly recently, up till that time most salmon and sea-trout flies were tied on so called “irons” which is just another term for hooks. The term is usually applied to large single hooks. Tube flies sounded the death knell for fully dressed salmon flies for normal fishing purposes really, as they are cheaper, quicker and easier to produce, and just as effective for practical fishing, in fact often more so. They tend to be lighter and more translucent with much greater mobility than hard built feather wings, and consequently more attractive to the fish.
Tube flies are so called because they are dressed on lengths of tube made either of plastic, aluminium, or brass, in the meantime there are a very large number of tube types available for various purposes.
Tube fishing is generally taken to mean fishing from a special personal floatation device also referred to as a belly boat, or float tube, which is basically a vehicle tire-inner-tube in a canvas or similar cover, and has nothing to do with tube flies! I mention this, as some of these terms are confusing, and it is sometimes obvious to old hands what they are talking about, but beginners get very confused indeed.
Salmon and sea-trout are usually the main quarry when using tube flies, but they may also be used for all other fish. A big favourite of mine is a muddler minnow variation tied on a tube, this is often very successful as a hopper imitation. I also tie many perch and pike flies on tubes, and I also fish them in the salt for species like sea-trout, garfish, cod etc with considerable success.
Tube flies have many advantages over conventional salmon irons, or similar hooks. They are cheaper, easier to dress, the hooks can easily be changed if damaged, and if properly dressed these tube flies last almost forever!
So what do we need to tie tube flies? Well first of all some tubes! Before you rush out and buy a range of all the lovely (and expensive!) tubes, allow yourself to be advised by a skinflint Yorkshireman such as myself, and just pop into the bathroom and see if your wife has a box of q-tips. (Not all q-tips tubes are plastic, you may need to shop around).
These things are great, they have more uses on the tying bench than I could list, and they make perfect tubes for tube flies! Just cut the cotton wool wads off the ends with a sharp craft knife or similar, and hey presto you have a basic tube!
This may be improved considerably by holding the front end near to (but not in!) a clear gas lighter flame to make it flare slightly at the end, this prevents the thread slipping off the tube at the end. A very slight flare is sufficient, don’t overdo it or you will ruin the tube, and these things are expensive you know, they cost about a dollar for two hundred! At least that is what I paid the last time I bought some.
The next thing we need is a system for holding the tubes while dressing them. Traditionally, if one can speak of tradition in connection with tube flies, a tapered loop-eyed salmon hook with the eye cut off, in the appropriate sizes was used to mount tubes on for tying, this system works OK. For years I used a set of needles mounted in my normal vice to hold tubes, this system also works perfectly well.
Then I finally got around to building a few tube fly vices, the first one was simply a ratchet tool as is used for holding thread cutting tools mounted on a stem , this is fully rotary in both directions because of the built in ratchet mechanism, and may also be stopped with the ratchet if desired, this is good for very large tubes, especially pike tubes, which may be up to ten inches long.
I have also used a Renzetti rotary tube vice head, but now use a vice I built myself.The main disadvantage with the Renzetti, is that long tubes tend to flop about a bit due to the flexibility of the metal shaft used to hold the tubes, if the tubes are plastic. In these cases I use a large needle mounted in one of my home made vices.
This is the vice I now use. It is an engineers pin vice mounted in a one way bearing.
( see next post for photo of vice).
In the photo the needle in the normal vice has a tube mounted on the rear of the needle, this is not some exotic way of dressing tube flies in stereo, it is simply to stop me jabbing my fingers on the point of the needle!
Our first tube fly is an excellent fly for sea-trout and other species. Mount a tube of say half an inch length in your vice or on your needle. Run your thread (I use normal 6/0 tying thread) onto the tube and take it down to a point about 1/8" before the end. Tie in some flat silver lurex or tinsel, smear the body of the fly with tacky varnish or glue, (q-tips are good for this!), and wind the tinsel smoothly up to a point about 1/8" from the head of the tube.
Take a small bunch of peacock sword fibres and tie this in at one side of the tube, spreading it slightly so that it lies flat and is evenly distributed. Rotate the tube in the vice, tie in another sparse bunch of sword fibres exactly opposite the first bunch and in exactly the same fashion, trim the roots carefully so that they are at least flush with the end of the tube, slightly less is even better, and apply some good varnish or glue to the trimmed roots. Between the two bunches of sword fibres on each side of the fly tie in a small bunch of hot orange hackle or hair fibres, trim the roots and build a nice smooth head and whip finish the fly.
When dry you may use varnish to make a nice smooth shiny bullet head if you wish, this looks nice but is not really essential. The best way to do this is first to apply thin clear varnish or cement to the head and put it on one side to dry. When dry use your dubbing needle and apply thick black varnish spreading it carefully and thinly around the head. Put the tube upside down on a needle to dry. The black varnish must be thick enough that it does not run, as it will otherwise soak into the wing and ruin it. I use Veniards cellire varnish, and I leave the top off a new bottle for a few hours to thicken the varnish before using it. If it gets too thick, just use the cellire thinners to thin it down again.
That was it! Your first tube fly! It should appear as in the photo A piece of valve rubber, or other thin rubber or silicone tubing, is now slipped over the end of the tube to hold the hook in the tube on an even keel for casting and fishing. This is shown in the photo above. There are also some special tubes on the market which hold the hook by themselves, and lastly there are some special needle eye treble hooks from Partridge, which may be pushed into practically any tube, thus obviating the need for valve rubber or special tubes.
You may use singles doubles or trebles of your choice for tube flies, if you use trebles don’t use them too large or too heavy, as they will drag the tail of the fly down and prevent it swimming properly. I have found that the use of double hooks is quite a good method of getting the flies to swim on an even keel, if this is desired for the style of dressing in use, and they are lighter than trebles. When a fish takes, the tube-fly usually moves up the line away from the hook, this is an added advantage, as the fish has nothing to lever against and is less likely to throw the hook.
To affix the hook to your line, simply thread the line through the head end of the tube, pull it through, and tie your normal knot at the hook eye, then pull the hook into the valve rubber.
As with nearly all fly types the possibilities are endless. There are a lot of fairly standard tube-fly patterns, but this is one area where you really can experiment away to your hearts content. The photos below show a range of tube flies tied on q-tips tubes just to show you what is possible. We will discuss a few of these patterns in our next lesson in order to give you a good start in experimenting yourself.
Most of the tubes in the photos are my own creations, or variations of standard tube dressings. Or in many cases stripped down versions of fully dressed salmon flies.
(Cont?d next post)
Most of the tubes in the photos are my own creations, or variations of standard tube dressings. Or in many cases stripped down versions of fully dressed salmon flies.
I don’t bother giving them names usually, my creative talents are just sufficient to invent the flies, and do not suffice for naming them as well unfortunately!
I keep notes of which patterns are successful, and number them for my own use, I do not think it is much use giving people a list of patterns called "Mike?s number one"or “Mikes?s five hundred and sixty three.” This just confuses the issue. If you want to name these flies then call them something like “Black flat gold ribbed tube 3/4 inch Orange squirrel tail, blue hackle ,” or something similar.
Every dresser knows what that means, and you cause no confusion. If you should come up with something really good, and you catch a large number of fish on it over a period of time, then you may consider finding an attractive name for it.
You can tie anything on a tube, just as you can tie anything on a hook, however, the tube is fairly bulky of itself, and you should remember this when designing tube flies. Here as with nearly all wet flies, sparsely dressed streamlined tubes are usually more effective than heavily dressed ones.
Tight lines!~ Mike Connor
With regard to rigging tubes, this may be of help;
The tube is also shown “naked”, merely with a a slip of rubber tubing over thze end, and the hook eye pushed into the tube. This is why the rear end of tubes which use such a mount is left “blank”
The hook in the picture is a single longer shanked hook, because perch are “chasers”, and take prey from behind ( the fly is a perch fry imitation), so the hook needs to be at the rear of the fly. One could also use a longer tube if desired, but the method shown here gives more mobility. One may also use any other hook like trebles, doubles etc.
It is quite simple to tie. Cut off a piece of Q -tip tubing about three quarters of an inch long. Hold the ends in front of a gas lighter flame to thicken them slightly, this prevents the thread slipping off, and makes the fly last longer, push this tube onto a needle or similar, and fix this in your vice. If you have a tube fly vice use that of course !
Starting just behind the front of the tube, whip on your thread carrying it down the tube about a quarter of an inch. Then Take a small bunch of white hair ( Arctic Fox is good ) and tie it in on what will be the bottom of the tube, then take a small bunch of Guinea fowl hackle dyed blue ( small Perch have bright blue chins ! ) and tie this in over the white hair.
Then take two bunches of hot orange hair, I use dyed kid goat for this, and tie a bunch in at each side of the tube. Now take a bunch of dyed green goat or similar hair, paint some stripes on it with a black marker pen, and tie this on the top of the tube. A thin coat of varnish or glue between each bunch of hair is a good idea, this makes the fly very secure, perch have impressive teeth !
Do not build a head with the thread, whip finish now and varnish the turns of thread. Place the result on a needle stuck in foam to dry. When it is dry, take two movable dolls eyes as sold in most department stores for handicrafts and superglue ( cyanoacrylate ) them one to each side of the tube. Let this dry, and when you have a few flies finished put a drop of five minute epoxy between the eyes to fix them firmly. When all is dry place a piece of rubber tubing over the back end of the tube, this holds the hook in place for fishing.
The fly is complete ! Be careful using this type of glue, it can stick your fingers together so strongly that you have to use a scalpel to separate them ! There are lots of bait-fish you can imitate using this technique, try a couple of your own ideas. The eyes are definitely a good trigger for fry feeding fish.
I use silvered long shank hooks for this fly, thread your leader through the tube, tie the hook to your leader, and pull the hook into the rubber tube to hold it for casting etc. See the diagram, it is much clearer than a written description. You may of course use treble hooks if you wish, but I get excellent results with the singles, and there is little or no damage to the fish, which may be released unharmed. Perch are quite good to eat as well !
Fish the fly on an intermediate or sink-tip line, in a fast jerky motion with pauses in between, vary the retrieve until you find the right speed for the day. If the Perch are there you will get them.
TL
MC
Also, one should not ignore this type of fly;
http://www.graysofkilsyth.com/needle-flies.htm
very useful for a number of things.
TL
MC
Just retured from a large tying expo where three of us were tying tubes along with conventional tiers. One was showing a minny swivel behind the fly that pulls into the hook keeper tube. Then a short section of leader to the hook of a lesser breaking strength. When you get hung up the line will break between the swivel and hook saving the fly. Another tied a bobber stop knot in place of the swivel–dont think it would always break between the knot and hook without the line with lesser strength. One tying was with a tube company that gave me free tube so that i would stop showing tubes tied an Q tips BILL
The actual problem with these things is that the the tube type holder which grasps the hook directly holds the hook rigid enough and in line for a good hook set. Adding swivels, stopper knots, etc etc, BELOW the tube, makes the flies ( actually the hooks of course), poor hookers. Most especially so on hard mouthed fish, or “holders” like pike. ( Pike take the fly sideways and clamp down on it, this requires a very hard hook set, to give a good hold, and the hooks at the right angle to give a good hold, which rarely happens with loose “dangling” hooks).
Also, the loss of a tube fly is not usually a really big deal anyway. Much less than it would be if one was using large expensive hooks.
There are various ways of preventing a tube from falling off if the line breaks, but they all have disadvantages.
The most positive and reliable way to do it, is to use tubes with holes in them, thread a separate piece of line through this hole, and use a slip ( actually then a friction constriction knot, also know as a float stopper or “bobber” knot) knot to fasten this to the line. One tag end of the knot is of course tied to the tube. Here is an example of such a knot;
http://www.secretweaponlures.com/ezknot_floatstop.htm
The knot is of course also attached to the line ABOVE the tube. One may also place a drop of super glue on the knot for added safety. Even if the hook breaks off at the eye knot, the tube is not lost. One may also use lighter line for this attachment. ( Hard luck if a fish strikes it then though! 
)
It is only worthwhile doing it on large expensive pike or salmon tubes and similar, ( these are often expensive as a result of the type and amount of material used on them). In this case, one can not lose the tube unless the line breaks above the slip knot.
TL
MC
Mike the tiny swivel works just fine- - their so small they add little weight and I cant think of drilling holes in the tube,adding slp knots etc. BILL
Such things have never worked well for me, and have always resulted in missed takes.
The “angle of the dangle” is simply all wrong when the hook hangs loose.
This is the same problem on many spinners, etc. Using a semi-rigid hook mount, like a rubber tube, which holds the hook in the correct position, increases the hook-up rate enormously, simply because it allows better hooking and a better hook set.
Also; what real use is a swivel between the hook and the the tube? It has no real function, and merely allows the hook to flop about, and apart from possibly saving a tube if the hook itself breaks off is a disadvantage in all other respects. I would rather lose a tube than lose a fish.
One may for instance use tube flies which need to swim in a particular attitude, and use doubles or larger singles as keels. This only works with a semi-rigid mount which holds the hook in position relative to the tube. Anything which prevents this makes any tube fly less effective, it makes no real difference whether it is a swivel, or a bead or a stop knot, etc etc if it is below the tube.
People mainly use rubber ( or at least flexible, silicone plastic etc),tube joints, and have done for a very long time now, because they are easy to use, and work well. Tubes with integrated holders also work well. Anything which prevents the hook from being held semi-rigid relative to the tube while fishing will cause poor hook-ups, poor hook-holds, and often even prevent them entirely.
On my larger tubes I occasionally use the slip knot. It is no problem to drill a hole near the head on large tubes.
Attention to apparently small details can make a very large difference to the number of fish you catch.
Whatever you prefer is just fine, each to his own, but one should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages, which in this particular case are actually major. Flies are best considered expendable to an extent, most especially if this results in more fish. This of course depends a lot on how and why you fish, what for, etc. etc.
If I have been fishing most of the night for seatrout, and lose/fail to hook the only decent fish which takes because of the poor hook mount, then I consider the trip not only a failure, but the result of my own stupidity. ( perhaps “lack of care” or “lack of knowledge”. would be a better expression, but it amounts to the same thing). I don?t like this much!
EDIT: Incidentally, there is another very considerable disadvantage to loose hooks on swivels etc, one of which is that this can cause considerable tangles, which a semi-rigid mount will not. When fishing slowly,. the tibe may also slide up the line away from the hook, because there is nothing to prevent it doing so.
Even Snake flies require semi-rigid hook mounts, or they simply don?t work very well. You will get plenty of takes on such flies with loose hooks, but you will hardly hook any of them, and those you do hook will be badly hooked.
For snake flies; http://www.seatroutfishing.net/snakes.htm
For snake flies with a FRONT swivel;
http://www.seatroutfishing.net/steff.htm
Although the snake flies are interesting, I invariably prefer tube flies myself, because I don?t need to incorporate hooks in the dressing, ( one of the main advantages of a tube fly), I don?t need complex mounts, swivels, etc etc, and yet with the semi rigid tube hook mount I still have the same hooking capability as a result of the hook attitude.
Lastly, and something I also consider of fairly major importance, one may alter the action, fishing depth, and swimming attitude of various tube flies by simply changing the hook types, weights etc.
TL
MC
I am not a fan of the bicycle spoke tubes because of the damage they do to rods when used by average casters… I hate that “tink” sound!
Hap, what is a bicycle spoke tube? What Bill has referred to [and I learned from him] is using a bicycle spoke of the proper size to hold the tube firmly in place in the vise…in our case Q-tips …in yours drink stirrer straws… never heard of using a spoke as part of the fly…of course there are other metal tubes.
No one except maybe LF has mentioned forcing the eye of the hook directly into the tube itself. Anyone do this or does it limit too much the hooks you would have to use? I know I have read elsewhere of folks doing this.
I played around a little with the heat shrink wrap idea and felt that …at least the wrap I had did not grip the tube tight enough…probably could use a little glue… but I also found that the free end of the wrap shrunk enough so the hook eye wouldn’t go in:p.
As an aside…
A couple of weeks ago an electrician was repairing underground line at my place and he used a shrink wrap that was coated inside with some sort of waterproof adhesive… it made his splices secure and waterproof…could be handy for some of the things we try to do to fly lines:cool:.
What do you mean by “bicycle spoke tubes”? The "spoke "is only used to hold the tubes while tying.
Sorry --ducksterman asked the same thing and got it printed minutes before mine-------
Lots of folks tie their tube flies on screw-in bicycle spoke holders… They are small collet chucks threaded into the rim. They work really well and add weight for the deep-running flies we normally use for big water. There the good points end! 
I blame them for a number of more-multi-pieced-than-desired rods. 
I let the hooks ride where ever they wish usually and see no disadvantage that way. I would not use the heat shrink tube and I would not anchor the “fly.”
Those heat shrink tubes with adhesive are incredible for waterproofing boat electrics and I use lots of them!
art
There are tubes with integrated hook holders, flexible tube which can be pushed over a hook eye, and there are also special tube fly hooks which will fit into a tube. For instance: Partridge needle eye tube fly treble hooks.
One may also modify most plastic tubes ( q-tip tubes) quite easily to accept a hook directly. There are a couple of ways of doing this, the easiest and quickest is simply to flatten the tube at the rear end with warm pliers.
One may also mount blind hooks on nylon, and pull this into the tube.
Heat-shrink tubing is no use for normal tube fly hook mounts, as it would only grip the hook if shrunk around it, making it non-removable.
For a fairly wide selection of tubes and parts;
http://www.flyfishusa.com/fly-tying/tube-fly-parts.htm
More general info;
http://globalflyfisher.com/tiebetter/tube-flies/tube-styles.php
EDIT: If anybody wants some simple and cheap metal tubes, then get some core end sleeves, any electrical or similar store will have them;
http://www.lappcableasia.com/4/en/webcatalog/katalog/12/123/1231/12317/index.html
TL
MC
I have some tubes flies tied up for warmwater and like the facts that you can change hook and use different materials for the back end.
Here a picture of streamers to use for bass and anything else that will hit them.
A dragonfly pattern
This thing keeps going and its getting to a point where anyone wanting to start tying tubes should be confused.
I spent the weekend with 100 tiers for across the mid west four of which were tying tubes. Two selling material that insisted I use theirs in place of my $1.00 bicycle spoke and Q tips. Now I have packets of their tubes that are too small to fit my spoke–Ill stick with Q tips. If I want to hold the hook in place at the rear of my tubes I use a small piece of plastic tube slid over the Q tip extending out the back to hold the hook. This is what they have been calling the hook keeper. I found that hospital feeding tubes work and any nurse can get you a lifetime supply just for asking. They trow it away.
To start your tube collection try your medicne cabinet or the relatives for hollow tubes–not all are hollow. Usually blue ones. Dollar General I have been told sells them.
MIKE Ian Finylas is a internet friend of mine–sometime back started me on the “Snake Flies” They take a little more time tying than tubes. BILL
Indeed, the problem with some of these things is simply too much information, but when people ask specific questions, one simply has to go further with the explanations.
Much the same applies to wide areas of angling, and to fly-dressing in particular, simply because there are so many options and possibilities.
Most of my tube flies are dressed on simple q-tips type plastic tubes, and have been for a very long time, at least forty years. I still use sewing needles for holding the tubes, and although I now use a purpose built tube fly vice, this method still works perfectly well.
With all these things, one can try and keep it simple, which is often a very good idea, or go overboard with it. Just a matter of personal taste. Although I have tried a very large number of things over the years, I don?t use them all, only those which suit me, or I consider appropriate to catching fish.
TL
MC
I am using Air Brake Tubing for tube flies that don’t need a lot of weight. I got these at NAPA and they are cheap like 10 cent a foot.
Good morning,
Myself, I have tried and tried building saltwater tube flies and each and every time seem to have a common problem, which is a low hook-up rate.
This I think is partly due to the average saltwater fish’s mouth being just a bit harder than a Salmon or Trout.
And the other part of the problem, must be me.
Any ideas how I could increase the hook-up…please.
The problem, is the hook is almost free to swing and therefore bends away on hook-up.
Now I’ve fooled with ideas and came back to another Salmon fishing idea of using a Waddington type fly, which I changed slightly, where the hook’s shank and the stainless steel wire body are incased in heat shrink tubing, this now holds the hook nicely which appears to produce far better hook-ups.
The wire is soft enough so that when the fish jumps or bounces about the wire bends and therefore does not act like a lever to pull the hook from its victim’s mouth.
Kind regards,
UB
There are basically two methods of doing this: for saltwater flies and hard mouthed fish, use silicone rubber tubing ( Like this http://www.newageindustries.com/ )as the hook holder, and make the portion holding the hook longer.
Or use a blind hook or similar with a whipped nylon ( or wire) loop. and actually pull the hook shank into the tube body.
Both of these methods maintain the hook at the correct angle long enough to set it. Of course, with such flies, under such circumstances, the hook set needs to be harder. The hooks also need to be needle sharp.
Once the line is taut, the pull on the hook is direct, and the tube body usually slides up the line.
Also, snake flies with rigid hook mounts work well for this, but of course the flies themselves are quickly shredded by “toothy critters”, as the fly bodies are fixed to the hooks, and can not slide out of the way.
Needle flies also work very well for this, as the hook stays at a fixed angle until set, and the whole body is a rigid needle.
http://www.graysofkilsyth.com/needle-flies.htm
One is also not obliged to use needles, one may use pieces of steel welding rod or similar. Stainless steel wire as commonly used for inert gas arc welding is excellent for this, is cheap and easily available, and will not rust in salt water.
TL
MC