A Photographic Gallery of Needle Tube Flies
Below is a collection of photographs of a variety of flies, for salmon, sea trout and steelhead fly fishing, dressed on slim stainless steel Needle Tubes, developed and manufactured by Grays of Kilsyth in Scotland.
Since their introduction by Grays of Kilsyth in 2008, the popularity of the needle tube among game fishers worldwide has grown year by year. Flies dressed on Needle Tubes have accounted for many notable catches of both Pacific and Atlantic salmon, steelhead and sea trout. Needle tubes, made in lengths ranging from 10mm to 40mm, are versatile and may be adapted to the dressing of a wide range of fly styles. The silver stainless steel body of the needle tube may be left undressed, simplifying the dressing of our flies. Indeed, some of the flies shown below may be dressed very easily and successfully by a complete beginner in the art of fly tying. I have found, particularly in my sea trout fishing, the simplest of flies are often the most effective! See Tying a Simple Tube Fly
The first section below shows examples of needle tube flies dressed in what I think of as the Scottish Shrimp style of tube fly. The essential parts of the Scottish Shrimp Needle Tube Fly are:
- A long tail, usually comprising a mix of two colours of bucktail
- A sparse underbelly, shorter than the tail
- A wing of complimentary or contrasting colour, about two thirds the length of the tail (a few strands of flash are optional)
- Two hackles, of complimentary or contrasting colours
The stainless steel tube body is left undressed and all materials are tied in at the head of the fly. The overall length of the fly is usually between one and a half and two inches. The tube may be armed with single, double or treble hook, barbed or barbless, attached in various ways, e.g. secured in a short length of silicone hook link tubing or allowed to swing freely in a heat-shrink Knot Guard. The possible colour combinations are endless!
They may be dressed in a whole variety of sizes and colours, to suit virtually any fly fishing situation, for a whole variety of species of game fish.
A Selection of Scottish Shrimp Needle Tube Flies
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A Selection of Needle Tube Intruder Flies
Next we have a selection of flies dressed in the Intruder style. Intruders have been popular and effective on the salmon and steelhead rivers of the Pacific North West of Canada and USA since the nineteen eighties. Originally dressed on long hook shanks and then on wire shanks such as Waddington shanks, they may be dressed much more easily on needle tubes, creating an fly which is as slim as a Waddington shank and of similar weight, with the benefit of a simpler, more praxtical and more adaptable, hook attachment. The examples shown below have been dressed primarily with Atlantic salmon and sea trout in mind, but can be equally effective in fishing for Pacific salmon and steelhead.
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A Selection of Simply Dressed Salmon and Sea Trout Needle Tube Flies
As noted above, one of the great benefits of tying our tubes on needle tubes is the simplicity of the dressing. The shiny stainless steel body may be left undressed and a simple sparse dressing applied to create a slim tube fly which will fish more deeply than a plastic or aluminium tube, but not quite so deeply as a copper or brass tube. They are also more easily cast than the heavier, bulkier copper tube.
Click on Images to enlarge
Read more about Needle Tubes and Needle Tube Flies at Tube Flies