Sunday 15 January 2012

Tubefly experiments

Tubeflies are something that you rarely see over here in Belgium, but it’s a kind of tying (and fishing) that I wanted to try for a while now, and finally, I got my hands on a “Eumer tube fly starter kit”.


It says in the catalogue: “This starter kit is the perfect kit for new tubefly enthusiasts. With a mix of brass and plastic tubing, regular and monster coneheads, artic fox, Finn raccoon, nutria, and a tube fly adapter, it has everything needed to tie over 100 flies”. It also includes a Product Catalogue with some tying instructions. So what could possibly go wrong?





Well... this…




This is how you’re supposed to put your adapter into your vise. And it looks good doesn’t it…










But however hard you put pressure on the jaws of your vise (and believe me, this Dyna King can handle a lot), the least amount of traction on your tying thread makes the adapter slide like this.





I can guarantee you that this makes your enthusiasm turn into frustration immediately.

But I don’t give up that easily, so I came up with a solution.







I took another vise. This is a Danvise, which is partially made of plastic, and I just drilled a hole in it…










And put the end of the needle into the hole. This way I can use a lot of pressure and the adapter doesn’t move at all!




So I was finally ready to start.




Of course I did some research on the internet first, because this is entirely new to me. And a very easy way to start, is to go to the site of Eumer themselves (http://www.eumertube.com/ ). It has loads of tutorial videos to get you on the way.
So I tied me of couple of those first, just to get some feeling with this kind of tying. But of course I wanted to switch to pike flies as quickly as possible, and here are the first…


I think that the hardest part of my difficult last months is over now, so from now on
I will post more regularly again (I hope).
First, I will tie me some of the same pattern as the flies above, on a hook, so I can compare them both tomorrow (if my back is a little more cooperative than today)…

8 comments:

Fabris verhoustraete said...

hallo stefaan
Ben content dak je keer terug hoor.
al een tijdje geleden.Heb juist alles bekeken en het is terug een prachtig resultaat.
Hopelijk tot op de bindavond op 21jan.
mvg

Anonymous said...

Very nice !!!!!
I hope to see you in action in 21 jan....

Koen

Xavier C. said...

Hello Stefaan
Pas possible ! Nous avons eu la même envie ! Je me suis aussi monté quelques streamers en tube fly.
Pour le moment j'utilise des coton tige. Je vais continué sur ce type de montage,
Ils sont super beaux tes streamer's bravo !
Xavier

David Romanillos said...

This flies have good colour ...¡
Cheers Stefaan

Anonymous said...

Schoon tubeflies!
Heb destijds ook wat snoekvliegen op tubes gebonden, maar steeds problemen met het evenwicht.
Het gewicht komt volledig achteraan te liggen. Dit kan je oplossen door een conehead vooraan te gebruiken.
Maar de volledige vlieg mag ook niet te zwaar worden awaar....


Wat voor haken ga je gebruiken voor de tubes?

Gr
Gino
Fish Pimp

cudafly said...

Like the flies and hear what you are saying with the needle vice adapter. If you get to like tying tubes I suggest a dedicated tube vice, especially for tying the bigger flies as adapters always slip. The Eumer vice is fairly cheap and mine has lasted for a long time.
Have added your site to my Blog Blogroll as a link. I think more people in the UK would enjoy Pike Fly Fishing. (http://www.cudafly.co.uk/blog/)

Tight Lines

Steve

the lonsome piker said...

Hoi Fabris, bedankt maar ik zal er wel niet zijn op 21 jan.

Koen, thanks.

Xavier, merci.

David, cheers to you too.

Gino, bedankt en check your mail.

Steve, thanks. And I checked out your blog (part of it because it’s huge) and it’s very interesting!

Piketeaser said...

Hi Stefaan.
Very nice ties,love the yellow/black.
Had same problem with my tube kit,very smart solution by drilling a hole in your vice,it must be stady,I threw mine away.
Using a L/XL needle now.
What kind of tubes do you use?


-Djuza-