Fun with Craft Fur, Part 4 -- Tube

I know I swore off tube flies a while ago.  The main reason is that I find them a pain in the arse to rig while on the water.  However, I may of found a way to make it a little easier.  So, with that in mind, I'm tying a few tubes here and there.

Once again, I've made an enormous head.  The beauty of tying on a tube is that you can trim the tube so that the heads aren't long like this!  However, I was stupid in that I tied some thread way up top prior to putting any fur on.  I inadvertently screwed up one of the best reasons to tie on these things.  Oh well.  Lesson learned.  Lucky for me, the fish won't care.

This fly is not weighted.  I will pinch split shot on prior to fishing it.  Depending on how deep I want to get in whatever run I'm in.  All in all, I'm pretty excited to give it a swing.

First real tube fly attempt

Occasionally I get an email asking why I no longer post pictures of flies I've tied.  Well, the answer is simple.  I haven't been tying much of anything.  Sure, I've done some here and there.  But, for the most part, I have so many flies in my Summer and Winter boxes that I haven't had a need to tie any.

I saw some pictures on Spey Pages of tube flies that some of the members had posted.  I was inspired and decided that I'd like to tie one.  To me, the biggest advantage of a tube is that you could use any length you want, tie material on and stop at any moment it looked good.  Snip the tube, melt a lip on the end and you're done.  Added bonus, when I'm brushing feathers back with my hand, I don't get poked.

This is my first serious try at a tube.  Other than the humungo head, it came out pretty well.  If I were a fish, I'd eat it.  The copper colors look great in the water.  This thing is about 3.5 inches long and swims great. 

I'm still on the fence about the on-river functionality of tubes.  They are a huge pain in the butt to rig while standing in the water.