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Over the years, there have been many
innovations in the world of fly tying, particularly in the design of
flies and lures for salmon fishing. We might include in this flies aimed
at both Atlantic and Pacific salmon and at Steelhead in North America,
together with flies for salmon and sea trout fishing in Europe,
particularly in the U.K., in the Scandinavian countries, and in Russia.
Recent years have seen the development of many and varied innovative
designs. Whether his chosen quarry is the salmon, steelhead or sea
trout, today's fisherman has a great many weapons in his armoury,
ranging from simple single, double or treble hooks, short or long in the
shank, barbed or barbless; snakes and needle flies; coneheads, bottle
tubes and turbo discs. The tube fly has long been a favourite of many
fly tyers, available in a variety of materials, such as plastic,
aluminium, copper and brass, allowing flytyers to make tube flies in a useful range of
lengths and weights to suit most river conditions. Another great
advantage of the tube fly is its durability, as the hook, whether
single, double or treble, can be easily replaced when damaged.
I am a great fan of very slimline
fly bodies, particularly for sea trout fishing at night but also for
salmon. For many years now, I have used
needle
flies, the slimmest of all flies. More recently, I collaborated
with Dave Wallbridge in developing
micro
tube flies, undoubtedly the thinnest metal tube fly ever devised,
with an outside diameter of 1.1mm (19 gauge stainless steel tubing) or less than
1mm (20 gauge stainless steel tubing). Because it was impossible to
line such slim tubes with the traditional plastic liner and still allow
room for the leader to be passed through the tube, our early micro
tubes made use of heat shrink tubing to shield the nylon leader from the
sharp tube ends.
Recent online discussions, and some
fresh ideas from resourceful members of a salmon fishing
forum (internet fishing forums are a great stimulus to innovation),
led to renewed efforts to produce slim stainless steel tubes with a
traditional plastic liner, with a view to making them available to fly tyers
worldwide. Although the newly developed needle tubes are not quite as
slim as the original micro tubes, they come pretty close, with a minimum
outside diameter of 1.5 mm., and they are slimmer than any other
commercially produced lined fly tying tubes. Being made from polished
stainless steel, the kind used in the making of hypodermic needles, they
sink more readily than 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.
Gray's Needle Tubes, made in
Scotland by Grays of Kilsyth, are now
available online in
two diameters and lengths
ranging from 10mm to 40 mm. To be dressed, these very thin tubes
are best held in our newly developed
Needle Tube Fly Vise.
See also
Tube Flies
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Grays's Needle Tube compared to a
traditional copper tube |
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see more photographs of
Needle Tube Flies |
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