beads

[ryguyfi]

Give me your standpoint on beads...

I have all kinds of stuff... regular brass beads, barbell eyes, craft glass beads, plastic beads, etc.

I use the craft beads because I'm cheap, and they provide the colors that I need. But they lack the weight I need to achieve the sinking quality that the brass/tungsten beads do.

Do you strictly use fly tying beads for their functionality, or do you substitute with other things for the visual appeal?


also... thought the other day of using nuts (as in what goes on a bolt) Anyone ever do this before? has the weight quality, and is probably fairly inexpensive and found all over the place. Just a thought.

 

[MKern]

I use just brass fly tying beads (gold, copper, and black), bead chain (not from fly shops becuase it's just not the same; plus I find miles of it every year in my lockerroom), and rarely barbells and cone heads (just because I have them).

I do use Roman Moser snap heads for warmwater flies.

I use only fly tying beads because that is what they are made for, and have tried craft brass beads and struggles more than what I got out of it. I will say that I don't tie bead body flies at all.

There are 4 things that make fly tying expensive:
Vise & tools
Hooks
Hackle
and Beads

But when you look at it a 100 pack of beads usually comes out to 10 cents per fly
(Hooks about 10 cents/fly; hackle about 15 cents/fly; and other materials are just a few pennies/fly) The average fly cost about a quarter to make -- better than $2 in a shop.


As far as nuts, you could give it a shot. I'm just wondering if you wanted a sz16 bead head PT if they make nuts that small?

 

[afishinado]

I use a lot of beads. Here is where I buy my beads in bulk: $4.65/100, $9.00/250, and $16.00/500. At 100 quantity, they are less than $.05 and $3.5 @ 250. Shipping is free > $50.00 order.

http://www.thefishguy.net/new_beadz.htm

 

[Fishinmagician]

I like beads especially when they first came out.They weighted the fly without shot,and gave the fly that extra trigger point that got there attention to strike.Since then all kind of beads came upon the market,and i tie with them alot,mostly on small midge patterns.I really have found them effective,the clear glass beads do a great job of making the fly look like that trapped pocket of gas that propels the fly to the surface.The colors I use most are black,green,red and of course the traditionals.

tight lines

 

[tomgamber]

I use tying beads on my flies because of the weight and the craft ones don;t have that nice dimple. I use bead chain or dumbbells dependent completely on how much weight I want, otherwise they are interchangeable. Glass beds if I want that bubble look. So it depends on the application.

 

[jrcll]

i`m sure a nut will work, but you might wanna get ones that are anodized which is a protective coating, or stainless ones, cause if you fish them enough, unprotected metal they will rust

 

[Fishidiot]

For streamers I prefer dumbbells rather than cone heads or beads as I am convinced that dumbbells do a better job of turning the fly to a hook up position - which is how I prefer my streamers to move underwater. Beads are great for nymphs and, as tomgamber and Fishinmagician point out, make for a good gas bubble effect. For midge larvae, I just use the cheap, craft shop plastic beads but plastic beads any larger than about the size of a BB tend to break off. As for a nut....hhmmmm. Maybe for a large stonefly nymph you could position a nut at mid-thorax, under the wing case, and wind a dubbing head ahead of the nut to keep it fixed in position. I'm not sure the nut has the best shape, a large one may tend to block the bite of the hook. Might be worth a try.