Beads for Steelhead - a Safer Way

[Trout Nut]

Not to make a huge point of it, but a safer way to fish beads than sliding them on the leader is to melt them onto the shank of the hook.

Just use your needle-nose pliers, etc, to hold the hook, flick on a bic lighter to heat the shank a few secs, and press the bead on from the top. Works great, and no fouled fish!!!

To make 100% sure the bead is on well, when you are done melting your selection of beads, whip up some epoxy and put a tiny bit in each groove that forms underneath the shank where you melted the bead.

Robert Johnson, Jr.
Alamo, CA

[wjorg]

I have personally witnesses quite a few of these melted bead to hook eggs swallowed whole.


The unreal egg is a metallic lined bead underneath yarn that catches in the trouts teeth, telegraphing the bite to the indicator, so you can set the hook in the mouth almost every time. Nothing is perfect though.

[SteelieD]

Here's a photo of the Unreal Egg w/o a link to another Sacramento shop...
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a227/SteelieD/713.jpg

[wjorg]

You can buy them anywhere....I just wanted to show the various colors(you can tie them as varied as the colors beads come in)....sorry Bill. I am a heretic!

[Darian]

Not trying to start a problem in this. So lets keep the emotion at home....

I'm really curious about the seeming need of some gear fishers (who may, also, be fly fishers) to justify using beads to fish for Salmon Steelhead on a fly fishing BB. :? :? :?

It seems that every fall/winter there's a bunch of discussions about whether a bead is a fly (....those are kinda fun) and/or why a bead is safer for the fish than using a Glo-bug. :? :? In another recent thread, there's a statement that if you use beads you need not see yourself as a "blasphemous" fly fisher if you use beads. There're too many similar posts to recount here. :roll: If I've read all of these posts correctly, the overall point of those using beads would be for the safe release of fish. 8)

I thought beads were used as they are very effective in hooking/catching fish. :) :) Safe release would be a secondary consideration.... :) If I decide to use beads, I use them to catch fish. That's why I don't see the need to justify what is done or not done, here. 8)

Now, before all of you beadies :lol: wade in with the usual lecture about elitist fly fishers, I should tell you that I don't really care how a guy catches his/her fish as long as it's legal and, altho I prefer to fish with a fly, am also a regular gear fisherman. 8) 8)

So, I'm only interested in understanding the apparent need to justify a method that I don't think needs any. :? :? :?

[Dustin Revel]

Darian,
I'll take the time to justify what doesn't need to be :D . I post beads quite regularly, but when i do the unclean act of staking the bead with a toothpick i post it within 1&3/8" of the hook. I have NEVER snagged a fish with a hook behind a bead. That being said i could see how it would happen if you let the distance between the hook and the bead get too large. Quite honestly, I use beads because they are cheaper than any egg fly by a very large margin, and they take no prep time. I will continue using my flures :lol: with pride. you however won't hear me make the arguement that a bead is a fly... it is not, but i am ok with that.
Dusty

[schurmo]

One of the things I was wondering about this whole bead discussion is whether people out here in CA use yarn on a snelled hook for steelhead. It's what they use almost exclusively to catch steelhead spawning out of Lake Superior. For the Salmon there, they use more wolly buggers or egg sacs. I guess I am wondering if the snelling a hook technique is used out here, or if the steelhead out here don't show interest in something like that. Thanks!

[Bob Laskodi]

I'm with Dusty here. It's not truly a fly (unless you tye the bead to a hook, whereupon it magically becomes a fly! :shock: :eek: ) but I use them because they are much safer for the fish. And safe release of a fish is not a secondary concern of mine, it is a primary concern of mine. =D>
I refuse to use any fly that inflicts damage to my quarry. :cool: =D> =D>
And I will quote my son, Chris, who in the post Darian mentioned, had the absolutely best response to a fly fisher fishing a bead:
"To me bead fishing is about responsibility. You rarely hook a fish deep using beads, yes you may hook them outside of the mouth, but you won't hook them deep. "
"Glo-bugs are a different story, since they are soft they are taken deep by fish and then get stuck in the gills which leads to a dead fish. I'd rather have a fish with a little disfigured mouth than a dead fish. "
"The reason I fish beads is that I have not deep-hooked a fish using a bead"
"Don't let the fact that because a bead is not a fly, you are a blasphemous fly-fisherman. I still consider myself one even though I use beads."
Couldn't have said it any better myself! :D
Dang, I'm proud of that kid!! \:D/

[Darian]

Hmmm,.... Not interested in whether a bead is a fly or not. That's all settled for me. 8)

Never thought I'd see the day but, apparently, there's a distinct division among gear guys, now. Beads vs Glo-Bugs or bait. Beadies must now be the elitists. :lol: :lol: "....bead fishing is about responsibility" and "I refuse to use any fly that inflicts damage to my quarry" :?: :?: Kinda sounds like a lecturing to me. That's what gear guys always accuse fly guys of doing. :lol: :lol: :lol:

While I applaud the sentiment expressed in Bob's and his son's posts, I'm still not convinced that releasing a fish unharmed can be a primary concern. That sequence seems to be putting the cart before the horse. You still have to catch/hook/land one before you can release it..... 8) 8)

[Bob Laskodi]

Darian, first you ask for no emotional responses and then you type words such as "seeming need of some gear fishers (who may, also, be fly fishers) to justify ", "usual lecture about elitist fly fishers", "apparent need to justify", "Beadies must now be the elitists", "Kinda sounds like a lecturing to me", and "gear guys always accuse fly guys of doing". I consider every one of those statements to be emotional, disrespectful, and disparaging to your "target" audience. So, if you really don't want emotional responses, you may want to start by not making emotional responses yourself. Every statement I made in my post is my opinion (just like every statement is your opinion) and nothing more or less. BTW, FTR, I do not consider myself a "gear guy" or any other "guy". I am a fishing enthusiast who also owns a fly shop.

[Darian]

Hmmmm,.... Another lecture.... Sorry if my attempt at humor offended you, Bob, but that's how it goes sometimes.... Maybe you should consider lightening up a little. :D :D :D

[J.R. Hubbard]

It just seems to me why take a chance hurting the fish. I see guys pegging fish on the river all the time and I'm not sure if they don't care or just don't realize what harm they can cause to the fish. It sounds like someone you have the right idea of maintaining line control so that you don't peg the fish. I swing flys with better confidence that I will be catching a fish that is really going for my fly.
Catching more fish isn't a good enough reason for me to take a chance of harming the fish I would to catch.