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Tying fly tube - guideline of 2022
Tube flies for salmon fishing - In this guide I describe how to fish with a tube fly and its advantages and disadvantages. Are you instead interested in buying tube flies? Please visit our tube flies page.
A tube fly is a fly tied to an ordinary tube, either in plastic that is soft and flexible or in some type of metal (eg brass) that adds weight and durability. To fish with a tube fly, you need to loosen hooks that you tie to the fly. There are special types of hooks that are adapted to tube flies and then usually are a little shorter in the shaft and a narrow loop. In addition to the hook and the tube fly, you can also use a fixing tube or other type of tube that you place between the tube fly and the hook to protect the knot and paw.
When fishing with a tube fly, the chance is minimal that the fish could use the fly as a lever and thus come loose because the fly likes to place itself higher up on the paw and only the hook is in the fish's mouth, which also means that a tube fly wears less.
How to fish with a tube fly?
First you thread the tube fly through the paw, then you can thread on a fixing tube (fixed hook) or swing-tube (loose hook) but this is of course not necessary but only serves as an extra protection. Finally, tie the hook to the paw.
You can fish tube flies with both a loosely hanging hook or a fixed hook and there are many different opinions about which is best. The reason for using a fixing tube or swing tube is partly to protect the knot and paw and also to be able to place the hook in a fixed place that may reduce clutter in the fly. Usually, however, the current is so strong that it places the fly and the hook close together.
Some advantages of a tube fly are, as you probably guessed, that you can change the hook when you feel that the old one is starting to become dull or has become bent. This way you can fish with your tube fly until it breaks or is put in the bottom. A tube fly actually 'swims' a little differently in the water also because the weight is equally divided on the entire fly, so the fly 'swims' in a more horizontal plane than a hook fly that may have a slight slope upwards.
Tubes for fishing
There are two different types of tubes, plastic or metal. Both types usually have a smaller tube inside that has a smaller diameter and is intended to stabilize the paw on which the fly is tied. Tubes can have different lengths, often you want a length that places the hook in the middle of the fly because the salmon attacks from the side. Of course, there are pros and cons to both of these types.
I tie all my tube flies with a metal tube made of brass in the color gold with the exception of the spy flies which are tied on a plastic tube or TTT as an option.
Plastic tubes
Plastic tubes are flexible, the tube can be bent and shaped more than one metal tube while you can cut the tube to an exact length. Plastic tubes are available in many different types of colors and even glitter. At the same time, a plastic tube weighs very little compared to a metal tube, which can be an advantage depending on how you want to fish.
Inside the plastic tube, a smaller diameter tube is usually used to guide and protect the paw. You can also use the plastic tube as a kind of fixation tube if the tube is sufficiently flexible and / or you use tube hooks with a narrow eye.
Advantages plastic tube
- Flexible
- Available in very many different colors
- Weighs almost nothing
- Can be used as a fixation tube
- Cheap
Metal tubes
Metal tubes have a stability that can not be compared with plastic tubes, metal is known to be very hard and is difficult to damage. You can buy metal tubes in all possible materials, but the two most common are brass and tungsten. Inside the metal tube, a plastic tube is used that protects and controls the paw. Brass is cheap and has a good weight for tube flies, if you also vary the length you can get more or less weight.
Tungsten is a metal with a very high density, which makes it heavier than most ordinary metals - such a tube can be good when you want to get the fly down quickly so it starts to fish. Metal tubes can also be colored just like plastic tubes, but have the disadvantage that the color is lost when the fly wears. But metal tubes can actually show metallic colors and glitter, which is usually effective on fish. A disadvantage is that metal tubes are significantly more expensive than plastic tubes.
The most common colors of metal tubes are therefore gold, copper and silver. Metal tubes can also be manufactured in different shapes, e.g. conical, in the form of a bottle (bottle tube) or with different diameters or grooves on certain parts of the tube. One of these different tubes that has become popular lately is TTT from frödin flies.
TTT is a special metal tube whose full name is Tungsten Turbo Tube and is only sold by frödin flies. This metal tube is, as the name suggests, made of tungsten and, unlike ordinary tubes, has a different shape which, according to the author, should provide support for the wing and hackle so that they do not collapse in the current. The amount of metal is also quite large, which means that TTT is very heavy and sinks quickly.
Advantages metal tube
- Stable and durable
- The weight can vary very much
- Metal paints
- Different shapes
Hooks for tube fly
There are three different types of hooks that are used for salmon fishing. Single hook, double hook and triple hook. Everyone has their pros and cons. There are also hooks that are specially made for fishing for a tube fly. These hooks have a smaller shaft and a narrow loop so that the loop can be threaded into a plastic tube or fixing tube.
Single hook
Single hook is of course the lightest of the three and can then be used to advantage when you want to reduce the weight of the fly, e.g. when fishing with lower-class rods that do not have the strength to throw away a heavy fly. Single hooks are also usually relatively cheap of the three and some claim that they hook safer thanks to the hook can go through in a completely different way. In any case, the single hook is definitely the most gentle of the three.
Double hook
Double hooks are the most expensive of all types of hooks because they are more difficult to manufacture while demand is low. An advantage that I have heard many mention is that a double hook should balance the fly in a good way.
Treblehook
Wooden hook has three tips and therefore hooks most of the way. Whether the hook fits better or worse than the other two is difficult to say, it is clear that you have a greater chance of hooking a fish with the three hook. The wooden hook is almost standard for tube flies nowadays, the demand is great and therefore they can even be cheaper than single hooks in some cases.
A tip for three-hook and double-hook is that you can add a cutting point to your hook by adding a little UV glue between the shafts on the tips. This way you can experiment with different colors without changing the fly. There are also many who claim that this lump of UV glue prevents hair from your fly from getting caught between the shafts of the hook.
Size
The size of the different hooks varies very much between manufacturer and model, therefore I recommend that you look at the length before you buy. A length of about 12-16mm is adequate. Most hooks in size # 6- # 10 therefore work well for the salmon fishing we conduct in Scandinavia. Some popular manufacturers and models for salmon fishing follow below where my absolute favorites come from Owner Hooks.
Owner STD-36BC
Double hook, super sharp, made for tubes but difficult to get hold of
Owner STN-36BC
Wooden hook, super sharp, made for tubes
Owner STN-46BC
Wooden hook, super sharp and extra strong, made for tubes
Treble hook, cheap but very affordable
Owner 5106-31
Single hook, super sharp
TMC 784
Single hook
Asp fishing in Sweden
If you look at the table of fishing records in Sweden, then in the section that records achievements in asp, it is striking that most of the trophy fish were caught in the central part of the country, on Lake Mälaren. Our editor-in-chief Ole Nord decided to find out why this is happening. and at the same time try to catch a record fish.
