Little beads

[Heritage-Angler]

Ramcatt - Your hook looks like a 2487. Same hook as a 2488, but has a down eye. The 2488 is a straight eye, and the 2488H is just 2X heavy. The straight eye leaves more hook gap. Anything below sz 20, and I prefer the straight eye version for gap reasons.

There does appear to be a significant difference in bead sizes. I'm curious as to the actual size of the Hareline beads.

 

[troutslammer]

not making suggestions on what i read on the internet i have used performance flies beads and tied them on the hooks just like H. A hook gap has nothing to do with anything but hooking and holding fish . you can tie a zebra midge on a sz 18 scud hook with a tung bead and the body will be the same length as a bug tied on alot smaller hook .

 

[FunkyT]

Its not common to use small midges on rivers in the UK but it is something that is starting to happen a bit.
I have started to tie them in small sizes 18-22 and hang them under a larger dry such as a cdc & elk or a Klink and find a small 1.5mm tungsten bead helps get the tiny fly through the surface film and fish correctly behind the larger dry.
I use a great anodised green tungsten bead in 1.5mm with a black thread and fine silver wire.
A killer.

 

[JeffK]

I use either 1.5 mm tungsten or the small glass beads for small midges. Glass beads come in many different sizes too, so use the smaller (sometimes called "petite") ones for midges. I like the glass beads with a mirrored inner surface since it is more shiny like a bubble in my opinion. I've played with different color beads - red, metallic black, green, blue, etc - with misc results. Beads are cheap from a craft store and they come in all sorts of colors so you can play around.

The weight and where you fish midges are related questions.

Where do you fish midges? You fish them where the fish are!!! If they are on the bottom or you can't see them - fish them on the bottom; if they are flashing in the water column fish a midge at a mid level; and if they are at the surface fish them at or near the surface. The different weights help you fish different waters. If they are deep a tungsten bead sure helps - if they are near the surface it may hurt. If you can't get the fly down, a split shot or two may be the answer. There is no one universal answer whether to use tungsten or glass beads IMHO.

Also, you can tie a slimmer, smaller fly on a larger hook and get better hook-ups. I've gone to tying my Zebra midges on 16 scud hooks and just vary the size of the body - not the hook. Helps sink the fly and hook the fish. Of course some days I need a size 24 fly to fool them, but I start with a small fly on a size 16 hook.