[Moose]

I know this has been posted before, but I'm hoping maybe someone has come upon the answer.

The clear junction tubing where the hook and weighted tube are held together as one: I have tried several things including brake line tubing and the stuff that comes in the packages with the brass tubes (HMH brand, I believe) and the hook always separates from the weighted tube after a few casts. Tried dipping the tubing with hook in place in boiling water, no dice. Nada, zip, zilch! Do any of the tube manufacturers (or anyone else for that matter)make a junction tubing that will hold a hook securely and for a decent amount of time?

On another note, has anyone had any success with (and care to share) patterns for small shrimp/prawn tube flies? I'm trying to concoct or blatantly ripoff :smokin: a decent natural looking shrimp fly that actually looks like a shrimp. Maybe index finger long. Not the suggestive type patterns like the GP, etc., but more like a natural food source. I'm sort of tinkering with an offshoot of some of the bonefish/redfish type shrimp flies tied on a tube, but have not come up with anything worth showing. My temple dogs are looking pretty cool though :smokin:

 

[NrthFrk16]

i just fish hooks that fit right into the 1/8th od tubing i use for wrappin' my bugs (with plastic tubes). and thus i need no junction tubing. its been years since ive actually fished a tube with junction tubing.

and on my bigger flies or weighted tubes i use the double surgeon loop method waller desribed in an article a while back so again, no need for junction tubing.

 

[sean]

If you do want to use junction tubing try some electrical wire and pull out the wires. The outer core is pretty stiff stuff and holds hooks well. It also comes in a lot of colors to match your flies

-sean

 

[cloudsfor]

If you are struggling with juction, I'd like to suggest you a below method I have used.
It is simple but very useful.

If you have a plastic tube having a 2mm inside diameter (maybe it will be standard size of tube body), you could put the hook eye directly into the tube.
Cut the plastic tube enough length to cover the hook eye.(about 5mm~10mm, at this time it is very important to cut the tube vertically and straightly.)
Put your hook eye into that piece of tube after your tippet pass through the tube flies, piece of tube and knot a hook with tippet.
It is separated from the tube fly body usually like when it come out of the water, but when it is swimming, it keeps proper posture by a water pressure.
And its one more advantage is preventing the damage of tube flies when the fishes are hooked and fighting because tube body and hook are separated at that time and reducing the fishes to be lost when fighting.
I know it is called 'Free hook method' from some fly fisher.

It has a little difficulty when you are using in still water or very slow current, it can be overcome by stripping the line in some degree.
In order that the tube body and hook(covered with piece of tube on its hook eye) keeps proper posture in the current, as I said above it is important that the section of both tubes is cutted straightly.

I hope this will be of some help.

cloudsfor

 

[Gary W]

Try and get a hold of neoprene tubing. It doesn't come in clear but you can get it(I think?) in various colours to match/contrast the dressing on the tube. I have found that it holds to the tube and hook a lot tighter than the silicone/rubber tubing more commonly used.

 

[Gary W]

Also, the tube shrimp fly question. I don't have a pattern, but recently saw, in a magazine article, a very good suggestive pattern that had a better proportion to it than most. The secret was to tie the feelers(stripped hackle stalks), eyes(two pieces of mono burned at one end), and hackle, onto the hook being used with the treble. This not only gives better proportion, but also makes the dressing on the tube itself easier.

 

[BLACK FRANCIS]

on the prawn how about a black frances? the red or orange are probably more popular. if you have Bate's salmon fly book there is a tutorial and history on the fly. very easy to tie if you use spooled yarn for the body as a thread substitute.
on the tubes i think the problem here is that the hook eye you are using is too small for the diameter of the jct tube. i have found a remedy since i like to use small hooks on my tubes. i use a 1/8" tube (brass or copper) with a small (HMH) plastic tube inside that is longer than the metal tube. i let the plastic sleeve extend out the back of the tube about 3/16" where i melt it slightly to make a bump that wont slip through the metal tube. on this extension i use a small (HMH) jct tubing on just the extended plastic sleeve. this allows the smaller hook eye to grip the smaller jct tubing. in essence you are using a large tube with small jct tubing in HMH's terminology. i hope that made sense.

RED FRANCES

 

[fredaevans]

Best answer for connecting hook to tube that I've run into is aquarium air tubing. Stiff, thick, and stays in place. Other than the odd time, I've never had them come off (a snake roll will get it's attention :saeek: )

 

[Jamey McLeod]

and on my bigger flies or weighted tubes i use the double surgeon loop method waller desribed in an article a while back so again, no need for junction tubing.

I have been doing the same lately myself. I find that on tubes tied with rabbit or alot of marabou it keeps the hook well away form the material. I have lost a few fish, due to what I thought was the body material getting fouled in the hook.

 

[Maxg]

There are 2 ways of looking at prawns. One is as it is swimming naturally head first, and the other as it is belting off tail first with is tail tucked under its body.
I believe prawns should swim naturally, like head first, not bum first.
On tube flies depends what you use them for. For large flies I use the inner tubes out of BIC biro pens, cleaned out with pipe cleaner. At the rear I add a short section of PVC tube which just fits the inner tube. I glue to two tiogether so that the bigger tube is at the rear and allow enough space to push the hook eye up inside the larger tube. The fly is tied on the tube.
If the pic works, its self explanatory. Max

 

[speyman]

Silicone

The stuff I sell is silicone instead of vinyl. As such it keeps a stretchy grip on the tube and the hook instead of getting looser on each cast like vinyl.

At $1.25 a length it is hard to understand why folks are looking around.

The stuff also comes in some cool colors besides clear so you can crank up your patterns.

 

[stephen holden]

tube fly tubing

whilst undergoing 16 months of chemotherapy I noticed the tubing used in the Giving sets looked ideal for tube fly tubing, so I asked one of the chemo nurses for a sample of the unused tubing and it is excellent for holding the hook in place and gripping the tube fly body.If anyone on the site has any Knowledge of medical supplies it might be worth a try it deffinately works better than silicone tubing all the best steve

 

[Norseman]

I second that one Stephen.....Intravenous Tubing ( IV ) tubing is wonderful junction tubing. It holds very well is very thin walled and will often match the diameter exactly of any metal tubes you tie on.

Cheap to. Just ask any emerg ward clerk for some from a Saline IV setup or any paramedic you might know....Let them know what you want if for first. or they may think you are using it for illegitimate reasons

Paul