Here's another one of those things that I wished I tried sooner.
It was several years ago that I bought a tool for making tube flies. I tied up a few, but never really gave them a chance on the water. This fall a good friend dangled one in the water in front of me while steelhead fishing and at that moment I realized how foolish I'd been. His was a rabbit strip version like the one in the photo above. It looked amazing the way it moved in the current. I can't say I've seen a fly that looked more alive.

You may be wondering what the heck a tube fly is. It differs from a standard fly in that the materials are not tied on a hook. Instead they are tied on a small plastic tube. Your line is then threaded through the tube and lastly a bare hook is tied on. The main reason you would want to do it this way is that it allows you to use a short shank hook behind the fly as opposed to tying the materials on a long shank hook. I'll explain. The shank of the hook is like a lever between the hook eye where your line is attached and the bend of the hook that holds the fish. Imagine the point of a hook buried in the fishes mouth up to the bend. Your constant pulling on the line and the fishes constant pulling back can lever the hook right out of the fishes mouth. Either by bending the hook bend open or by destroying the flesh where the fish is hooked. The longer the shank or lever, the easier it is to pull the hook free. Thus a short shank is more desirable if you want the odds to be in your favor. The hook is a major player in catching a fish so this is an important thing to understand.

Another advantage is that smaller hooks cost less than large long shank hooks. You have to by the tubes to tie on, but you'll still come out ahead. My friend pointed out that many years ago before the tubes were sold through the fly shops, he would tie them on the plastic tube from a cotton swab. If your cash strapped or tight fisted you can get a lot of tubes from a box of swabs. If you want to add weight you can buy metal tubes to tie the fly on or buy cone head weights that fit on the end of the tube. A less expensive option would be to make something like a Texas rig. You can buy slip on weights at just about any tackle shop. Thread a weight on your line, thread on the fly, lastly tie on the hook. In reality you could just use split shot on the line.

The fly in the photo is about 3" long and is tied on a tube that is 1.5" long. A rabbit strip is tied hanging off the back of the tube for a tail and then wrapped around the tube up the front to create the body. For the fly in the photo I switched colors for a two tone fly. A layer of glue on the tube before you wrap helps to hold things together. You can tie anything on a tube that you would tie on a hook so the possibilities are endless. You'll need a vise to hold the tube while tying. I have not looked into it, but I'm sure there are several vises available. The one I've been using is made my HMH. It's inexpensive and clamps in your fly tying vise.

Experts will try to sell you on the hottest technique. In my opinion there is no guarantied way to catch fish, but if you add the tube fly to your arsenal of streamers and give them a fair shot I think you'll be pleased.