TUBES AND TRAILERS
Growing up as a fly fisherman in the Pacific Northwest I am fascinated by anadromous fish and the flies that catch them. A peek into a salmon or steelheader’s box can be a mesmerizing array of colours, sizes, and styles of fly with different chassis and hooks. With another steelhead season right around the corner, let’s take a look at rigging tube and trailer hook flies, but to better understand what’s happening and why, it helps to begin with the shortcomings of the presentations that inspired their development.
Before the explosion in popularity of tube and intruder style flies, many anglers had little choice but to tie on big hooks for big flies. These heavy wire hooks punched big holes, didn’t always hook up, and the fish that get hooked up are more likely to use the long shank to their advantage as leverage to wrestle the hook from their jaws. While their components are different, tube flies and trailer hook flies are really just different approaches towards the same goal: to put more fish in the net and see more swim away healthy! Another side benefit to trailer/tube patterns is when you ding that hook on a rock during a snag or cast, you can change the hook instead of turfing a large, complicated fly that took time at the bench to tie or dollars at the fly shop to purchase.
Tubes and stingers aren’t just for fishing big flies for sea-run monsters, and the same advantages over the fish we enjoy in larger presentations can be applied to scaled down patterns. Many legendary flies like venerable slumpbuster are tied in smaller sizes and make use of a mono or braid loop, and I can personally attest that sea run cutthroat will smash an olive muddler tied on a tube!!
Tube Flies
Let’s start with tube flies! The tube fly platform is just as the name might suggest, and it’s through the center of the fly that the leader is threaded and then a hook tied on the tippet. The most common method of rigging tube flies is to then draw the eye of the hook into the rear of the fly tube, with a gentle friction fit ensuring the hook remains as positioned.
Flies tied on tube platforms such as double or 40/40 tubes use a larger diameter section of tubing in the rear to secure the hook eye, while flies tied on single tubes like our Aqua Flies 1.8mm Poly Tubes will need a small section of silicone tubing called “junction tubing” (Aqua Flies Ultra Tubing). For those tying their own flies on 40/40 or double tubes hook position relative to the fly pattern can be tweaked by adjusting the length of the rear section, but you can adjust the hook position on any tube fly with different lengths of junction tubing. Hook choice for this setup is a short shank, straight eye hook with sufficient wire strength to handle big fish, and popular choices include the Partridge NTS Tube Hook, and my personal favourite the Ahrex HR430. When steelheading I like to carry #1, #2, and #4 hooks, but will opt for something in the #1, 1/0, or even 2/0 sizes if I swing those same tubes for chinook salmon. Rather than worry about grabbing the right hooks or forgetting them entirely, I like to keep all of my tube hooks in one convenient package like our Micros Organizer (fly Box 1240) with a selection from sizes #4 to 2/0.
It’s difficult to match the flexibility of hook position that tubes offer us, and you’re sure to miss strikes if you don’t take full advantage of it. For flies with longer profiles, a conventionally rigged tube hook nestled into the rear of the tube itself, well short of a long flowing tail, is a recipe for frustration. Instead of tying on a tube hook with a clinch knot, opt for a non-slip loop knot which when paired with an up-eye hook like the Aqua Talon 3474 Swing Hook allows for quick, knotless hook changes. Simply adjust the size of your loop knot to position the hook near the rear of the pattern’s tail and then draw the knot into the junction section of your tube.
Shank & Trailer Hooks
Note this fly is tied on a standard hook but there is a braided loop off the back. We will cut this hook and attach a trailer to the loop.)
Like tubes, flies with trailer hooks articulate to decrease spat hooks and offer us the ability to quickly replace or adjust hooks. While there are myriad ways to hang a hook behind a fly, it really boils down to a shank on which the fly is tied (either a crafted from a cut hook or specialty shank) from the rear of which a loop of wire, monofilament, or braided line is extended.
There are a number of great platforms on the wall at Pacific Angler, whether you prefer to tie on traditional hooks like the Daiichi 2441 Traditional Salmon Steelhead Hook and cut and file the ends, or prefer the convenience of a commercially produced Aqua Flies Waddington Shank, Aqua Flies Return Eye Shanks, or Aqua Flies Round Eye Shanks. Like most things, it largely comes down to personal preference but hooks or shanks with return eyes are the ideal platform for patterns with dumbbell eyes, and round eyes best for cone or bead head presentations or flies that sport a disc. There are also some amazingly talented tyers out there developing some cool patterns platformed off a jig hook or with a specialty jig shank, and we have 25 packs of the VMC 7161 in the shop that can be clipped to make DIY jig shanks.
If you are tying on a vise without a strong grip you may find that the increased surface area of the bend of traditional hook or waddington shank offers you a more rock solid platform to work with, but most vises available today are capable of holding a straight shank properly. Those who are shank users can take their intruder game to a whole other level and opt for a vise like the Regal Medallion fitted with the shank vise head, which sport a pair of hook grooves on the left side, and a horizontal shank groove on the right side.
Once we have our chassis of choice in the jaws it’s time to secure our trailer loop material to the shank. Nearly as famous as the ubiquitous Intruder-style pattern itself, the most popular choice for loops is Senyo’s Intruder Trailer Hook Wire, but heavy monofilament or braided lines also have their place in the fly box.
No matter what the material, the loop must be properly affixed to the shank and sized for the appropriate finished pattern and hook size. To take advantage of the quick-change functionality of a trailer loop it is crucial to leave, at minimum, a length of trailing material that is at least as long as the distance from the rear of the hook bend to the leading tip of the hook eye. It is useful to test this and keep a template shank and looped hook on your desk so you can make this step repeatable.
It is also important when tying the loop material in to do a fold back on each end of wire or brad and add a drop or two of a low-viscosity CA glue like Zap-A-Gap to the thread wraps to help make the trailer loop a permanent feature.
If tying on hooks, once you’ve finished tying your fly and admiring your hard work, it’s time to clip the hook point and file the end smooth. Regular pliers won’t cut it (no pun intended) in this situation, we’re looking for a pair of heavy side cutters ideally with a carbide edge, and definitely not your good scissors!! I have tried a number of different tools over the years, and I eventually settled on the Knipex Wire Rope Shears (Model #95 62 160) as the best hook choppers on earth. They’re at the top of the Rockwell Scale at 65HRC so they stay sharp and slide through hooks like a hot knife through butter.
As a commercial fly tyer, I’m used to tying my flies in stages and I will often make a session out of rigging a few dozen shanks at a time. I like to add Zap-A-Gap at two different times when batch assembling my intruder platforms. The first application of CA glue is a small drop spread along the shank after I’ve wrapped my first layer of tying thread down over the wire, working from the front towards the rear of the fly. I then wrap my way back towards the eye of the shank with touching turns into the wet glue. Once I have whip finished and clipped my thread, I apply another small application of glue on the front and rear of my thread wraps securing the wire. The idea is to get better penetration into the thread wraps and bond the wire, shank, and thread together as one, but whether it serves a purpose beyond making me feel better remains to be seen!
While octopus hooks have long been the standard trailer hook, since its arrival on the scene the team at Pacific Angler have been impressed by the Aqua Talon 3474 Swing Hook. They’re very similar to a conventional stinger hook, but they’ve got a shape and eye angle that produce fish-friendly hookups. I fish them in sizes 2 and 4 for steelhead and sizes 1, 2, and 4 for salmonoid species, but I also love the fluorescent finishes of the Gamakatsu Octopus Hook Fluorescent Series! I’m partial to fishing a glow hook in low-light conditions (especially when charged up with my Loon UV Bench Light!), too. I carry these hooks in size 2 only, as I find the thick coating on the Gamakatsus renders the hook eye on the size 4 hooks too small to be functional on standard Senyo wire and the hooks themselves too heavy for the thinner diameter wire. Be sure to keep your pliers away from the coating when pinching your barbs or you can chip that lovely finish!
Senyo’s Intruder Trailer Hook Wire comes in different colours and two sizes: Standard wire for hook sizes 6 and up, and Thin for hooks sizes 6 or smaller. The diameter and stiffness of the wire is designed to properly support different hook sizes while still being narrow enough that it can pass through the eye of a swing or octopus hook easily. If you find yourself frequently fishing size 6 hooks, I recommend stocking your bug station with both sizes to adjust for hook mass and eye size.
The Twisted Hitch
If you’ve ever stopped by Pacific Angler and scanned our selection of steelhead flies, you may already be familiar with the next method of rigging stinger hooks. As popularized in one of his signature patterns, the Dirty Hoh, the Twisted Hitch is a technique developed by Jerry French for rigging a swing hook with the inclusion of an additional turn which secures the long rabbit strip tail, preventing not only the tail from fouling with the braided trailer loop, but also to help eliminate short strikes. Try using lighter braid for flies with smaller hooks or for more movement, and heavier braid for bigger bugs and magnum rabbit strips.
Ultra Rigging
Ultra Rigging is the fusion of elements of both trailer-hook and tube flies, blending the convenience and flexibility of a braided loop with Aqua Flies Ultra Tubing to produce a fly that moves naturally while still supporting the hook when swinging. If there’s one thing Jerry knows, it’s how to bury a hook point, and flies with ultra rigs have beautiful swimming characteristics and stand up to violent takes. Tie in the braided loop (I like 50-65lb braid, depending on type) as normal and continue tying your fly, but before you slip on your hook of choice with a girth hitch, measure out a length of ultra tubing that is long enough to both cover the eye of the stinger hook, and onto the rear of the shank.
What method is best? That’s a hard one. Matt loves the ability to use a free moving loop knot on trailered shanks with a braided loop (you use this with a tube) but there are many amazing anglers using cost effective tubes and it is way faster to change hooks with a tube. Experiment and find what works for you. We have two videos - they are oldies but goodies where Matt and Dimitri share two videos with shanked style flies.
Far from a complete list, these are just a couple of the ways to rig up your tubes and stingers but if you’ve got a cool technique, we would love to see it! Stop by Pacific Angler and say Hi to the fellas behind the counter on your way down to pick up some new flies, tying materials, and tactics for fishing tubes and intruders ahead of your next steelhead season!
Jay Awrey
