Hatch Magazine published my article, “Beads are the Best,” with some candid thoughts on when, why and how beadhead flies work.
Here’s an excerpt . . .
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. . . I’m not trying to catch all the fish on all the days anymore. More often, I’m just trying to learn something new out there. So I’ll swap out a killer fly simply to see what else doesn’t work. There’s some measure of rebelliousness to that, I guess. It’s like staring down the fish and saying, “I don’t give a shit. I’ll screw this whole thing up on purpose.”And I like to do it when the fish are really turned on. Yeah, I’ll sabotage a good thing with a bad fly, just to see what happens.
I have a lot of thoughts about why trout eat things. Yeah, I’m open minded (perhaps to a fault), but I also know what works on the water, and I usually have a theory about why they do. It’s all based on lots of fishing and years of trying to experimentally screw things up.
So when I say this I mean it. Beads are the best. . . .
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Read the full article at Hatch Magazine
Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
At times, I think that trout take beaded nymphs for small eggs (focussing on the bead and ignoring the rest). At other times, I think that the bead just looks interesting and is one of many things floating by that trout will nibble at. And then there is the possibility that a bead just exaggerates something natural, like a head and thorax. But, I do agree with you that beads work.
Honestly I used to use beads exclusively and now I hate them. After fishing an ultra spooky creek where most of the fish have been caught and released several times I realized that very few people were tying their own flies, and most anglers were relying on what the shop sold them as standbys and hot flies…i.e., beads, beadhead hare’s ear, pt with bead, caddis larva with black bead, “guide’s choice”, tungsten everything, copper john with bead. I went back to old books and old patterns or ultra realistic patterns, rarely tied and used in this country/region, and began catching fish, I think primarily because the fish hadn’t seen them. I can take fish, for a while at least, in the creek now with all-thread nymphs with lacquer-coated thorax, stuff with snipe or grouse feathers instead of partridge, etc. “What an interesting turn of events.” – George Costanza
Ha! Love the Seinfeld quote. George is the best.
I too have moments and days when no bead is better. I have a half box full of those patterns. They are also unweighted or lightly weighted, and I fish them with shot.
I’ll say though, I still usually better with beads on most days.
And when I think fish are shying away from bright beads, my first move is to a black bead. I really don’t think they reject a black bead much. Gotta love the game, though. Never a sure answer.
I was wondering if it was possible if you were able to help me understand bead colors and their differences for certain situations, along with what beads I should be using for each pattern.
I’m trying to build a solid, organized system in my fly box, and now too long ago I purchased materials to tie a certain array of flies fit for all the general situations I could think of, including insight from numerous articles and videos.
I’ve been wanting to buy some beads to seal off the fly system. I have sizes down (in terms of my understanding for different uses), it’s just the color. I’m not sure if the differences matter much. Maybe there’s also “core” bead colors of that makes sense? I do kinda understand black being subtle with spooky fish and copper a flashier all around pick. But do gold beads really make much of a difference? What about fluorescent orange beads? Do matte colors make much of a difference in certain situations?
I’m not really open to buying a bunch of colors and experimenting (I just don’t have the time and money being in school). So being able to get narrowed down and solid array of beads would be ideal.
Any help is appreciated.