Brian Silvey’s Tube Snake
Some folks refer to this highly effective fly style as an Intruder but I respectfully disagree. Yes it is big and bold. Yes it is a great searching pattern in big or dirty water. Yes it draws big grabs. But no, it does not conform to the distinct butt and thorax segment convention of the original Intruder fly style, so I’m not willing to classify this fly as an Intruder.
For the reader interested in browsing 24 luscious Intruder flies, I refer you to my book Intruder Essentials, available on Amazon or your local fly shop if you enquire, or as a personalized signed copy if you contact me directly.
Biran Silvey is a fishy guy and this fly is one of his greatest, that’s saying a lot given the number of flies he has developed and how good they all are.
Silvey’s Tube Snake is a simple tie and the key trick is in rigging the fly to fish, looping an up-eye stinger hook in a loop just long enough to let the hook hang at the very end of the rabbit strip. The small piece of tubing lashed and super-glues near the end of the rabbit strip must be large enough to allow passage of the loop knot, while the main tube must be small enough so as to NOT let the knot pass through.
You can use almost any tube and cone combination, but I prefer the Pro Sportfisher Nanotube with the wide variety of cones (especially the sonic disc) that are all a perfect fit to the tube. I choose a larger diameter HMH tube for the short piece of tubing at the end of the rabbit strip.
Hope this helps and that you have fun with this fly.
Jay Nicholas, June 2015
Step one: secure rabbit strip (with short piece of tube already lashed near end) to nanotube.
Add a few turns of Marabou, color of your choice.
Add a few turns of guinea, contrasting color please.
Tie off thread, cement, and slide Pro Sportfisher cone onto Nanotube, we are almost done now.
Slide the cone close to the hackle, remove from mandrel, curt with razor blade, leaving 1/8″ to spare, and melt end with lighter.
Here is the short tube lashed near the end of the rabbit strip.
Here is the finished fly, rigged with stinger hook on loop.
