TUBE FLIES

Dressing Gray's Needle Tubes

To dress the needle tubes, the tube should be secured in our new Needle Tube Vice while conventional sized tubes, such as copper and aluminium tubes, with outside diameters up to 3 mm, can be secured in our Tube Fly Vice head, which can be fitted to the Needle Tube Vice in place of the finer needle tube vice head.

The tube fly body may be dressed in the normal way or left undressed to give a simple, very slim silver fly body, as shown in the examples below.

To complete the tube fly, a short length of silicone tubing is then used to connect a hook of appropriate size, treble, double or single.

If tube flies longer than 40 mm are required, two tubes may be joined in tandem by a length of the silicone or PVC tubing to produce a tube fly of anything up to 8 cms in length.

New addition to our online fly shop

Needle Tube Vice

new vice for tying needle tubes

Needle Tube Flies

The new Needle Tubes can be dressed to create a wide range of tube flies, from a short and very slim micro tube fly of only 10 mm in length, perhaps for summer grilse in a low water, through the whole range of 15, 20, 25, 35 and 40 mm tubes, dressed for salmon, steelhead and sea trout fishing throughout the season. The longer tubes, or a pair of tubes linked in series, dressed sparsely, make very attractive sea trout lures, more easily dressed, more durable and even slimmer than the increasingly popular (braided nylon) sea trout snake fly. Being made from fine polished stainless steel, the kind used in the making of hypodermic needles, needle tube flies sink more readily than plastic or aluminium tube flies but fish a little higher, and more attractively, than the heavier copper and brass tubes. Needle Tube Flies would have a comparable sink rate and similar slim profile to flies dressed previously on Waddington shanks, but with the important benefit that the hook is easily changed on the needle tube fly. Needle tubes are also much easier to dress than Waddington or snake lures.

The shorter needle tubes, of 10 to 25 mm in length, are well suited also to the modern style of long winged/tailed fly and make a good alternative to bottle tubes and the like, the 1.8mm diameter needle tubes having a bit more weight than the 1.5mm tubes.

For supplies of fine silicone and PVC tubing, see: Tube Fly Tubing

See also the articles listed in the table to the right

	Tube Fly Articles
	Fly Tying
	Gray's Needle Tubes
	Needle Tube Flies
	Cascade Needle Tube
	Needle Tubes for Steelhead
	Needle Tube Snake
	Needle Tube Shrimp
	Micro Tube Flies
	Tube Flies
	Linked Tube Flies
	Bead Tube Flies
	Steelies for Steelies
	Tube Fly Resources
	Salmon Fly Hooks
	Blackback Tube Flies
	Scottish Shrimp Tube Flies
	Spring Tube Flies
	Irish Shrimp Tube Fly
	Wee Monkey Tube flies
	Black & Silver NeedleTube Fly
	Tube Fly V Waddington
	Tube Fly Tubing
	Needle Tube Fly Fishing
	Black & Yellow Tube Fly
	Willie Gunn Tube Fly
	Spring Green Tube Fly
	Dusty Miller Tube Fly
	Ruddy Buck Tube Fly
	Magus Shrimp Tube Fly
	Beltra Badger Tube Fly
	Mini Tube Flies
	Summer Shrimp Tube Fly
	Snaky Tube Fly
	Night Tube Fly

More Needle Tube Flies

Below are some more examples of tube flies dressed on the new Needle Tubes. The first is a simply dressed Spey Shrimp salmon tube fly dressed in the style of Ally Gowans's famous Cascade salmon fly. The second is a simple needle tube fly with an outside diameter of only 1.5 mm, similar and profile to a snake fly but more easily made, intended primarily for late night sea trout fishing. In both examples, the bare silver shank of the stainless steel tubes have been left undressed to produce the slimmest possible bodies.


Spey Shrimp Needle Tube Fly	Sea Trout Needle Tube Fly

step by step tying guide	step by step tying guide

A selection of tube flies dressed on Gray's Needle Tubes

Being made from fine polished stainless steel, the kind used in the making of hypodermic needles, needle tube flies sink more readily than plastic or aluminium tube flies but fish a little less deeply, and perhaps more attractively, than the heavier copper and brass tubes. Needle Tube Flies compare in weight and profile to flies dressed on Waddington shanks, but with the important benefit that the hook is easily changed on the needle tube fly. Needle tubes are also much easier to dress than Waddington or snake lures.

The tube flies below include variants of Ally Gowans's famous Ally's Shrimp and Cascade salmon flies, dressed on Grays needle tubes. In addition to the Cascade needle tube fly and Ally's Shrimp, I have shown a Highland Cascade tube fly, a Fiery Cascade, a Red Cascade, a couple of Blackback Needle Tube Flies.



Highland Cascade Tube Fly	Cascade Tube Fly


Fiery Cascade Tube Fly	Ally's Shrimp Tube Fly


Blackback Tube Flies	Red Cascade Tube Fly



Night Tube Flies for Sea Trout



Beltra Badger Tube Flies	Fiery Shrimp Tube Flies


Willie Gunn Needle Tube Fly	Black & Yellow Needle Tube Fly


Snake Tube Flies	Needle Tube Flies


Summer Shrimp Tube Flies	Mini Tube Flies