[O.mykiss Hunter]

While perusing the HFF section looking for a steelhead style tube fly to tie a few months ago I came across the SBS for the "Summer Orange."

http://www.speypages.com/speyclave/showthread.php?t=63896

After tying and fishing a few during the winter for steelhead I noticed how it closely resembled a crawdad swimming in the water. With trout season underway I thought I'd mix up the colors a little bit and tie this pattern in a trout size.




Here is the result of a day's fishing:

 

[Bwana Bill]

Nice tie and a nice fish! Great job on both counts!!

I tied something very similar the other day, only mostly with marabou. I'm hoping to try it out this weekend.

Hopefully, it will be as successful as your fly.

Cheers,

-Bill

 

[Flankfeather2]

Dayum, nice pig.

Looks like I'll be adding the Summer Orange to the list of fly ties to be done...

 

[Grateful Spey]

This color combo will produce time and time again for you, great looking fish there! Almost all of my trout streamers have been transferred over to tubes, big big fan. Keep posting these wonderful fish as they arrive in your hand!

 

[yellowlab03]

I have been trying to do the same thing, just taking steelhead tubes and downsizing them into trout sizes. Works pretty good here for the hatchery trout they plant. I have noticed that trout like the more natural colors instead of my bright blues and pinks and such.

 

[O.mykiss Hunter]

Thanks for the comments!

Yellowlab03, I'm right there with you. I've been trying to swing mini intruders, shank-style streamers and tubes for trout with limited success (compared to more traditional streamers). Swinging for trout is a great way to practice for steelhead!

I want to add my .02 cents based on my experience so far. The thing that I've noticed is that browns and bows tend to eat the fly "head" first. With my earliest "steelhead-styled" trout bugs where the hook is normally somewhere towards the rear-end of the fly I hooked a lot of fish OUTSIDE of the mouth. I now tie my flies so that the hook protrudes somewhere in the middle of the fly. Not only am I hooking fish INSIDE the mouth but I've noticed a bigger landing ratio since I made the change.

 

[yellowlab03]

That makes sense on the hook. I tried using a jam knot on my tubes since I ran out of good junction tubing. I was putting the hook at the very back of the fly and was getting a lot of short strikes. The way the hook was, there was no way the fish could hit the tail of the fly without hitting the hook. I'll have to mix it up the next time I go out.