Customer Reviews

Tube Flies: A Tying, Fishing & Historical Guide

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I picked up Tube Flies in hopes that I might be able to better tie larger flies for blue water fishing. Not only did the advice in this book allow me to tie in the sizes I needed but the instructions corrected the problem of line twist that made me give up on tube flies a decade ago. My blue water box is now 3/4's tube flies and the money I have saved on hooks is, at least, three times the money this book costs. One pattern from the book took 20 tuna on a recent trip, and is still in good enough shape to take with me on the next trip. Since the fly slips up out of the mouth of the fish, it doesn't get chewed up during the fight and you have to take fewer patterns, that weigh less. There is a lot of history, and rigging advise as well. For a smart salmon, steelhead, or blue water fisherman this book is highly recommended.

Having read a lot about flies, and having tied even more, I always believed that fishing with flies entailed nothing more than the use of a rod, reel & line, and some dry or wet flies. And on a more imaginative day, the use of a nymph or a streamer. Of course, technique was tantamount important, but never did I imagine that my vision on fly fishing would change as much as when I laid eyes on "Tube Flies" by Mark Mandell and Les Johnson.

As far as I know, their book is the first comprehensive book on tube flies. Tying tube flies, and how to fish them make up the body of this book, but much of the flavor of this great read derives from the historical aspects and personal notes by the writers. From salt to fresh water is but a jump, but from a streamer to a tube fly is like entering an alternate universe. Tube flies are different, unlike any other fly, and they require a different approach.

The book consists of 6 chapters. Chapter one (1) deals with why one should fish with tube flies, or 'go tubular', as the writers put it. Tube flies can simplify one's tackle, they last longer, and seem to mimic baitfish in a way that hook-tied flies cannot. The next two chapters (2-3) deal with the different types of tube flies, and tell about 'how?' and 'with what?' to tie a tube fly. Next come three chapters (4-6) covering a large number of tube flies currently know to man. Each tube fly is introduced with a color photograph, a brief description, and a step by step tying recipe. Where possible, information about the inventor(s) of a particular tube fly is added, and sometimes one even gets to see its maker. Almost all the tube fly patterns come with expert comments on the fish they have been used on, and how well they caught.

This is without a doubt a magnificent book for anyone who wants to venture into the world of tube fly fishing and tying. It is a bright, well written book, with lots of very good illustrations. Descriptions of all the presented tube flies bring them within reach of any fly fisher who makes his/her own flies, but even those among us who don't (yet) may be inspired by this book to start tying their own. A very inspiring read, that cannot be resisted .... one simply has to go tubular. And for those who still hesitate after this, let it be said that tube flies can be used as well in fresh water as they can in the salt water, make no mistake about that!

Tube fly tying is not well known or practiced in Australia. I had the opportunity to buy a tube fly tying set of tools and did so with very little knowledge of how to go about it.
After buying & reading this book a new avenue for fly tying opened up to me.
The book is well written with easy to understand instruction, excellent photographs and plenty of patterns to tie.
With a little imagination one can utilise the techniques explained in this book and tie many of the traditional flies normally tied straight to the hook.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting into tube fly tying and those tyers who already tie tube flies.

excellent book, if you really want to learn how.

just read the book and as a midwestern Great lakes area fisherman I would not waste my time again as this book is old news and not very helpful for a large and small mouth bass fisherman, trout and river salmon fisherman. I beleive the infomation is old hat and in the last 20 years there is much more information available than this book provides. I would look to another source if your really not interested in ocean fishing and are interested in the many new products available to tube fly tyers.