testing tube flies for predators

A new take on an old idea

As said in a previous post I get the idea of tubes but I found that it was a pain in the backside for predators having to either carry them pre rigged on wire or having to clip the hook off change the fly and then re crimp the wire especially after catching a fish when wire can sometimes get frayed from teeth , I even once tried using a flying hook just above the tube but it was all a bit of a pain in the back side so I left it alone for many years until I picked up on the idea again so I got tying

I had almost a brain wave when I realised that I could actually make a completely new rig for tube flies aimed at pike and predators which makes changing tubes a breeze here’s how I did it
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First you have to use Authanic wire from predator bite the reason is the only one I could get doubled up through the tube and allowing free movement of the tube up the trace therefore giving you less leverage on the hook which should equate to more fish on the bank.so first up you’re going to need 16 inches of Authanic wire which you will fold in half then join the two loose ends together with either a loop knot or a sliding knot a surgeons know is a fast and easy knot to use http://www.animatedknots.com/surgeonsloop/index.php

Join to your leader like the picture below don’t worry about the know being a tight fit here as this trace will last you for a long time (some people I know are still using the same trace a full season on)

Next you have to use your threader , I’ve made this from a length of backing and I’ve added 2 inches of deercreeks diamond hard uv on the end of each end to enable it to go through the tube more smoothly if you don’t do this it will stick to the inside of the tube when wet , really does make all the difference when threading


What we then do is thread one end of the backing right through the tube and through the looped Authanic wire then take your loose end and thread back through the tube

So when you put the loose end back into the tube you will have something looking like the picture below ready to be pulled through all you need to do is push the end through the tube till it come out from the bottom of the tube

Once you have done this you can then pull the Authanic wire through the tube like the picture below this is why you harden the ends of the backing threader , because you probably wouldn’t get it through the tube

Once you’ve removed the threader it’s now time to attach the hook which is done by quite simply threading the loop through the eye of the hook and then back on itself this is such a great way of attaching a hook and even when wet you can change it no bother (apologies for the cut thumb I had a close encounter with a zip on my bag).

The hook now attached , I have used a circle hook as I believe this is best for the job, as you may be aware salmon anglers especially here in Scotland use treble hooks , this is simply not needed with pike fishing and of course with a single circle hook there no need to strike on a hit as 99% of the time the fish will lip hook itself , the other thing to mention is that you will see a lot of set ups using beads to stop the eye of the hook going up into the tube , with the size of hooks we use for pike the eyes are usually big enough not to get stuck but feel free to use one if you wish

The finished tube ready to fish I’ve used a weighted tube here as I was wanting to be close to the deck

Urban fishing at its well most urban I have 2 rods set up here as I have a friend helping me test the rigs out the rods ive used are pikesabers loaded with 10wgt lines

The water where I was testing was around 5ft deep and slightly murky hence the orange and green tubes which showed up nicely in the water the one great thing about this venue is although there isn’t a great deal of casting area behind you a decent roll cast was getting me right up to the boat

After a few hours and various spots I like to fish without any action I decide to change the tube over to a slightly different pattern as you can see the tube is still running free on the trace the hook is actually only a size 3/0 it’s just that the tube is further away from the camera than the hook.
The interesting thing about testing this rig so far is that I was around 4 hours into the test and amazingly despite having quite a few hang ups (goes with the territory urban canal fishing shopping trolleys etc.) I hadn’t had a single foul up and also quite interesting was none of the material had fouled around the hook promising very promising.

Although this looks skinny and sandeel like when in the water they really come alive with a big baitfish profile very very nice

To change the tube is simple; all you have to do is push to loosen the hold on the eye and push the hook through the loop and that’s it all you have to do is put another tube on as described at the start of this post and that’s it do in just a minute or so easy

And you’re back fishing
If you have any questions about the rig or tubes please feel free to contact me, I will next week do a tube tying video and a separate video on rigging them so tune in next week or subscribe for updates

So the whole test was almost a complete success with the rigs I say almost as neither myself nor my fishing buddy managed to hook up to any fish, to be honest there could be a 101 reasons why we didn’t catch, I do have my own ideas as I had left it very late in the morning to fish as there was no way I could get my unnamed fishing partner up to be fishing at 4am when to be honest it’s the prime time on here before all the cyclists , joggers, dog walkers and assorted city slickers head for work .

This picture above looks very pikey and to be honest most of the canal looked like this in the sections I fished, but further up in my favourite section the council have cleaned the bankside installed lovely solar lights into the freshly tarmacked towpath and it looks awful from an angler’s point of view time will tell but before I decide if they have completely cocked up the fishing ill need to do a couple of early morning jaunts first.

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and in other news

http://geadais.blogspot.com/
a brand new blog has appeared on the radar please go on over and give him your support i suspect this is going to be a worth a read blog and im looking forward to his posts go sign up folks

tight lines from the cave

mcfluffchucker

new stuff and Reinventing the tube

new stuff and Reinventing the tube
ok so been and found the perfect rucksack for my short sessions I can carry a couple of rods in tubes and it has enough room for my big finsport and the little accessories that I need for a short trip obligatory bag of crisps bottle of water unhooking gear etc. etc. this is going to do the job perfect a real great hiking bag as well think I’m going to get along fine with this purchase
Wychwood Rucksack

Here’s the Features include: Lightweight, 25litre contemporary design, Sweat-proof, easy breather fixing, Weight distributing back protection system, Two rod tube carriers-ring net hangs, Dual Fast access, fly patch store, Zinger hangers on shoulder straps, Ideal for fishing far away marks, Weather and Rot resistant, Full 16890D nylon material

I bought this from a tackle shop here in Edinburgh please click the like to go see them
http://shop.countrylife-edinburgh.com/

Country life is an actual shop you can go in and touch stuff and look at stuff, I do love shopping for bargains online and I fully support the small business online as most of the time it’s just some guys who had an idea and use it to pay for their fishing. I was actually quite glad they had this in stock because to be honest I probably wouldn’t have bought it online if I couldn’t have actually have had a feel of it to see what it was all about and if it would meet my needs fly tying materials you pretty much know what you’re getting but sometimes with hardware it’s nice to have a feel.

I’m doing some subbugs later this week so while I was in the shop I picked up a couple of packets of schlappen feathers as I have a few new bug ideas I want to try out , while I was wandering around the shop I came across something I pretty much forgotten about till the other day when I was digging about in my boxes looking for some fur (that doesn’t sound right does it) but anyway I found a patch of fur that pal Stevie slight had given me , I had got it home and then put it in a box to be played with at a later date , well this was summer last year and yesterday I was playing with tube flies (more on that later) and I found the patch that Stevie had given me so I tied up the red and white tube fly you can see later in this post , and I was very impressed with the quality of the product .

Well it came to me in a flash after looking at the packaging that I had used this company before many many many years ago when they were trading on eBay and I still have a box full of there fox tails in various colours (these I use for a variety of flies) so I was delighted when on the pack that Stevie had given me was a website http://www.foxy-tails.co.uk/ so last night I checked it out and found they had a whole heap of very very very cool furs and tails , if you’re a pike fly fisher who does his own flies then I really can’t recommend these guys highly enough as when I got to wandering around the store today I came across a whole wall full of the sexiest furs in the coolest of colours I picked up a couple of packs (won’t be the last) the results of which will be somewhere down below on this blog post made from there cashmere goat just try some folks you won’t be disappointed……..I’m delighted to have re connected with them and you can expect a lot of these materials appearing on patterns in the coming months for my naturals box

Of course I had to pick up a bag of flash as well kid in a sweet shop

New eyes

I decide also today to pick up a new pair of sun glasses not like we ever get any sun in Scotland but more for eye protection although when I’m using flies that track just under the surface without breaking it, a good pair of glasses to take the glare of the water and see you fly is essential, well it is for me because one the greatest sights that I ever see is a pike chasing down a sub-surface subbug or an ugly betty I simply would not see this without the aid of sun glasses .
These glasses are not the most expensive in the world they only cost me £15.00 and yes they look a bit tarty and flash I’m sure the fish will appreciate the effort I’m putting in, but to be honest I bought a pair of shimano glasses quite a few years ago for around the same price but they have become a bit battered over the years although still very much usable I thought I’d invest I a new pair, I’ll keep the others as a spare pair in the box
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Tube flies
I have a long history of trying tube flies for pike going back long before anybody had probably thought of it there was certainly nothing on the net about tubes for pike, when I first started looking into using them I had been in a posh tackle shop looking for bucktail (and they followed me around the shop didn’t have tweeds on ya see) and I knew that the tubes for salmon that I saw were fairly large big spate river patterns , I still remember looking at then thinking if there was a way to rig them for predators and this was always the stumbling block for me as I could not think of a way to rig them and still be able to change flies easily without having to make up a new wire trace each time .

Of course the tube fly would have an advantage in fact that you get less leverage on the hook as the tube slides away so the idea for pike in principle is good but up till now I couldn’t think of a way to rig them and be able to change flies without a massive headache until now, I’ve now come up with a rig that will allow me to change the tubes fairly easily , well easily enough that I’m happy to fish them and change flies as and when I need to im going to try them out this week with a buddy
Of course no doubt somebody will probably mail me and say hey dave have you seen this

Tying tubes for pike
Any visitors to my website

http://www.spanglefish.com/pikeandpredatorfishingflies/index.asp?pageid=164274

will know that I have tied some and theres a few patterns on there and youll notice some of them are pre rigged , of course ive now moved on from those but ill keep the page up and add to it as Ive got a lot of ideas swimming around in my head so it will be a cool evolution to watch ill update the wording on the site to reflect this at some point .so now we come down to the tying of the things , well I use one of those adapters that you get to stick in your normal vice I will I think at some point get one of those tube fly vices but they seem to be a bit pricy at the momment so ill stick with the adapter till they come down a bit . so before I fit the tube over the adapter what I do is add some pearl mylar then tie of the back end with some orange flat thread then I place the tube on the adaptor

To seal the deal I use a thin coat of deercreeks tack free uv and zap it for just a couple of seconds with the laser diode this gives you a good firm hold

About 3 quarters of the way up the tube ive tied in a clump of short yellow goat hair and then tease it round the hook then tie down, I then coat this with some diamond hard varnish to protect the mono thread, I’m sure there will be a few purists out there who tie salmon flies and may have stumbled on this post will be cringing at the way I tie these but I’m not doing big posh salmon flies here im doing predator flies so apologies to lord Archie McEwen from lower tweed side for upsetting his stiff upper lip

After this all I do is tie in an orange back of goat hair and add a few plumes of dyed peacock eyes http://www.deercreek.co.uk/Feathers.html I’ve had these for a while and hadn’t figured out what I was going to do with them till now I think the look really nice on the tubes and will give the fly that little bit extra , I’m really quite confident on these , as you can see I’ve used 3d eyes on these but I wanted a little weight so used a 5 min epoxy rather than a uv on the head.

I found a trick a long time ago when I was doing epoxy heads on tubes, because when you need to turn the tubes on a rotary drier you can’t just stick it in the foam like a hook because well you have no hook, so a packet of cocktail sticks does the job perfect just stick the stick into the tube add the epoxy and tick in the foam on the drier perfect, and let me assure you it doesn’t move and says until you want to take it off.

Cocktail sticks in action

So after playing with a couple of smaller patters I hit out on a bigger snack, the tubes I have in box came to me years ago from an old salmon fly tier (quite an interesting story and bloke actually as he never fished in his life but his flies caught thousands of salmon ill save that one for a later date) he gave me them because I was just chatting to him one day and he said he couldn’t be doing with these new-fangled plastic tubes he had been sent and much preferred his old metal ones (na changing it ,its na broken kid he told me) so I ended up with a bag load of plastic , but they were on the small size so I ended up using some of those long plastic sea booms you can buy for sea angling and just chopping them down to size easy and costs penny’s and you can get quite a lengthy fly from them .

So out comes the afore mentioned foxy tails patch and a body was added to the tube and a couple of bits of flash along each side some orange Icelandic sheep hair and I reckon I’ve got a pretty sexy looking fly and looking forward to getting it wet

So of course with the advent of my tube fly second coming of course I needed something to keep the things in, as ill need to store the leaders and hooks separate of course, so found this rather fetching little deep compartment lure box at the local tackle shop at the princely sum of £4.99 and I’m thinking that will carry all I need for now so purchased it

I’ll get loads of the buggers in here, funnily enough I did a quick search for tube fly storage and there were a few new storage systems out there for tubes but I just didn’t fancy spending that amount of money when to be honest a box like the one above does the job just as good, am I going a bit too far with the tubes mmmmmmmm not sure time will tell and the tests I have planned will sort out if it’s going to be worth pursuing doing them
Me being me I needed to fill the box with a few patterns so been tying a few and playing with ideas, I have just worked a very long weekend shift with pretty much 4 hours sleep over the whole weekend so today was a pretty much stay and home and do nothing kind of day, I actually spent the first part of the day watching some fishing shows I had recorded the previous week, but I had the urge to tie up some tubes with the foxy tails id bought last week so I dragged a few bits from the cave to tie some up in front of the TV …..

I decided that within all the tubes that I wanted to try I wanted a fly that will get down fast and I wanted a simply pattern today I really didn’t fancy stretching my brain with complicated patterns so I threw a length of cashmere goat on the tube and added some flash on the back of it everything is tied right pretty much on the nose

Some orange on top and some dumbbell eyes to get it down and to be honest I don’t see why this wouldn’t catch fish as long of my new rig for them hooks em in the first place ( a big special thanks goes out too rich for the eyes).

So far I’m very impressed with the build and profile so I tied one with a chenille body but although the side profile looks great I really don’t think I need the chenille ill still give it a chuck though, I’m toying with the idea of just colouring the tube a matching colour to the back material but although I don’t think it will make any difference just make me feel better. Many thanks to martin from Mscustom lures who sent me this really cool pic of a jack that really wanted a subbug he had tied ,just goes to show they can’t resist the things I mean look how far down this one is crazy absolutely crazy lol

So my bags packed and I’m ready to fish and boy I’m looking forward it
Later folks
Mcfluffchucker
(a cave in Scotland)

happy trails

No you can’t go fishing
So start of the week and I’ve worked over the whole weekend at my bill paying job with the thought of getting a day’s fishing in on the Monday , but yet again the weather came into play throwing some big wind across the city , now I know that if you’re a plastic chucker or a bait soaker then you can go out in anything you want really I know this because I’ve done it in my younger days , but that stuff doesn’t float my boat I’m a fly fisher through and through that’s what does it for me so chucking big flies and ending up with big hooks in my face and up trees just doesn’t appeal really , I’m sure you see where I’m coming from here. So I’m going to hope I’ll get a few hours later in the week.

In the meantime with wind howling around I decided to take my son into Edinburgh to have a look at the castle and the museum and err who put an Orvis shop on the route darn best go in then son ……

Is not like I don’t have anything to do off course I did a restock for http://www.deercreek.co.uk/ and have added a few extra patterns including some tangos (below) can’t go wrong with a classic orange and white pattern and I think the new gator eyes in blue really set the fly off nicely so hook into the chaps at the creek if you want some hot predator catching flies, should be in stock by the time you read this …

As part of my trying to make life easier when it comes to all things fishing im tying up flies for my grab and go pack , the grab and go pack is basically a large finsport wallet that stays loaded with flies that will catch pretty much anywhere but its more designed for those moments when I can get down the local canal for a few hours , just means I don’t have to go digging for flies in my boat box or day bag and the flies tied are primarily for use on the canal but I could if need be use them anywhere

With that in mind and the canal being fairly cloudy most of the time greens and orange flies are a must really these are tied on 4/0 sakuma mantas these colours have always done well for me on there, the heads are just heavy enough to get the flies on the deck but not into the sludge , i always use a floating line when fishing the canal as it’s not that deep so buy using a leader of around five feet I can make the fly dart up off the bottom and sing back down dying fish style or I can use a standard slow retrieve just off the bottom both of which work very well

I was in the cave today and had opened a draw to get some e.p materials out for a roach pattern I had in mind and my eyes landed on some orvis ultra-hair the yellow and olive were just sat next to each other in the draw and I thought mmmmmmmm that looks pikey then I thought of some eyes that could go with it and bang I had a great new idea for a baby pike pattern just happens like that sometimes and I think they worked out just great.

The first fly in the picture is just one colour on top of another but while I was tying it I though what if I took equal amounts off both colours and blended them together which is what I did with the bottom fly so I tied in the normal yellow colour for the belly and the blended for the back and although you can’t see it, it actually worked out really good and the blend is superb just the correct amount of yellow coming through the olive so I’m very pleased with it and it’s given me a few new ideas to play with other colours and materials watch this space……


The whole idea with these flies was to produce a small pike pattern for the canal as besides roach small pike like most places feature very highly on another pikes menu so may as well have a few in the bag

I tried a few different eyes with this pattern as I couldn’t really decide on what I wanted, I did actually Google pike eyes and there was plenty of variations out there so In the end I settled on the one above I just thought it really suited the overall design of the fly I like it and would fish it with confidence and of course that’s the main thing confidence in what’s on the end of the line is half the battle

Grab and go pack
So I’m getting the pack together so far here’s what’s in it of course a load of shinny things can’t go wrong with shiny things

A load of classic baitfish type flies made out of various materials and of various sizes a few whistler type flies also in there for really slow work

And for summer I have a selection of gurglers I have actually seen fish hitting bait on the surface on the first few rays of dawn so a gurgler or ten is a must, I have all sizes from very small to large they all have their place of course I have my brother ken to thanks for getting me onto these very deadly flies and the damage they did for me on kens local largemouth population absolutely nuts, cheers brother

I’m playing with a few large thunder creek patterns for canal fish just now as well so I have a few in there as well , thing is if I’m not catching this could be the fly that saves the day you just never know , I’m kind of guessing this would be a great pattern for saltwater as well I’ll give it a chuck next time I’m near the salty stuff that’s the magic of this grab bag I have pretty much the patterns that will do salt and fresh water , well maybe with the exception of the frogs above , unless of course you know somewhere where there’s saltwater frogs …………….

The Oscar for best actor goes to
Ok so I’ll admit now I’m not really one for being in front of the camera and I don’t profess to being any kind of fly-tying expert never have done , what I like to do is show folks how to do stuff so that’s what I do off course you can always watch it with the sound off
My idea on this video was to show that pretty much anybody with little or no tying experience would be able to sit down and tie a basic fly that will catch fish and give you the confidence to actually do a fly that you would be confident in fishing , I’ve used gliss and glint plus fibre because it does away with the need to add your own flash and provides just the correct blend of sparkle to you fly once you get the hang of fly tying you’ll be able to add your own flash but this is a great material for the beginner and confident tier to make some amazing patterns , so please enjoy the video

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Blog updates in your mail

You’ll notice I’ve added a little email subscription box just above the site followers this is provided by blogger so I thought I’d add it , the reason being that you will get a notification in your mail when I’ve updated the blog if you have one of those smart phone things it means you’ll get a mail saying that I’ve added content to the blog , you can then browse at your leisure seems like a good idea to me so hopefully you’ll use the service

GET THE BBQ OUT AND GATHER UP SOME ROADKILL

I’m delighted to have known ken from pike adventures and his lovely chick Naomi for a good few years now I’ve had the pleasure of staying and fishing with ken (and will be there later this year on a triple predator hunt) ken and his family I can only describe as probably the nicest people on the planet and I now count them all as my family , ken despite being a complete goofball is so on the same wavelength as me and I’m not even going to describe the conversations we have on skype we bounce fly ideas off each other all the time and generally have a blast , I really wish we had a film crew following us round when I was over there , imagine the show swamp people but with fly rods , yea you got the picture the guy is a legend ,so when I found out that he had got engaged my first thought was Naomi had bought him a shit hot new fly rod .

But seriously it couldn’t have happened to a nicer couple total congratulations to you both

So on that happy note I bid you all a great week ahead

And be cool to each other
Mcfluffchucker
(a cave in Scotland)

breamer streamers

welcome to a new blog

http://pikefliesforsale.blogspot.com/

this blog has been set up to allow people to buy overstocks of my and others work also to allow you to find out easily where you can buy the finest predator flies on the planet , i believe the best flies you can buy are from guys who fish for the species they tie for , i mean would you buy a musky fly from somebody who has never fished for one , no i thought not .

i have many years experience in the way a fly behaves and how it needs to act in the water to catch a predator this experience goes into every fly i make and i have over 30 years of experience that is my bench mark .

there will also be links on this blog to other tiers , these guys also fly fish for the species they tye for and you can contact them direct from there links. most of the guy i know and have actually fished with

rest assured these guys know what they are doing so if your looking for some home grown killer flies this is the spot to be

(please note i do not charge for the links)

about my flies

i tie a lot of flies so lots of the time they end up in boxes never to see the light of day so this is a way to pass on stuff to anybody who needs it i will keep the blog updated as and when i post flies i will also update my facebook page when there is new flies for sale or any updates if you wish too add me on facebook look up " pike flies" or simply follow the blog

THE BREAMER STREAMER

exclusive to deercreek is my latest creation the breamer streamer

made with gliss and glint plus this fly has just the right amount of flash to get a predators attention

designed to be fished with slow pulls sink and draw style this is an ideal clear water fly

get em while they last

check out the full limited edition range at deercreek click the picture

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all flies are tied by me in Scotland i use only the finest quality materials and hooks

i do not outsource my flies