pegging beads

[mikebias]

Bill and friends,

What are the current thoughts as to pegging beads for steelhead? I know some of the local guides are using it while other guides frown upon it. Any thoughts?

mike

[Adam Grace]

Interesting question Mike. I'm not too crazy about pegging. I think that there is more opportunity to snag the fish.

On the other hand I have heard from customers that most of the time you fair hook the fish. I guess that it has to do with how far above the hook you peg the bead.

What have you others guy heard or experienced?

[David Lee]

Hi Mike , I hope this dosen't offend anybody too much ....

In my opinion , a PLASTIC BEAD (pegged , or melted on a hook) is the same as squrting Dr. Juice on a glo-bug (or , for that matter , using a gummy-minnow) ... Fine on your spinning rig , but not quite pukka on a fly rod . Imagine if the "hot" new fly was a Mr. Twister grub super-glued onto a hook ! You have to draw the line somewhere , and this is where I have .
Trout and Steelhead will take an egg-fly deep sometimes (as I'm sure you know , since you catch more of those fish than I do ) , but they will also take just about ANY fly deep sometimes - we have to accept that and realise that fishing is a BLOOD SPORT and fish die once in a while .

If I'm not mistaken , the pegged bead is used so fish will be hooked OUTSIDE the mouth , and thus not gill-hooked . What if the hook is in the eye ?? Better than a gill/throat hookup ?? As long as pegging is within the law , I think people should try it and form an opinion . In my case , I don't think I'd sleep too good if I did it .

I think the true beauty of fly fishing is that we can make the rules with regards to how we do it - these are only MY opinions , I wouldn't "shoot-on-sight" anybody with a stupid bead on their tippet , but I wouldn't run over and pat 'em on the head .

Please send hate mail to my P.M. or Email address , and have a GREAT day !! Regards , David J. Lee

[MSP]

I don't think pegging is such a bad thing. Is it flyfishing? Up to the angler. One thing I do know is when someone is just starting out with a fly rod catching fish with any method can gain you confidence. After you've been flyfishing for 30 years the method becomes more important than the catching. I'm by no means a purist but I don't care for indicators and don't like to use a 2 fly setup, but I hate to say I do use both methods when the conditions require it. I try to stay away from those conditions. A 2 fly setup does give you an advantage when trying to figure out what is going on. Give me a dry fly, I love to see the refusals!

my 2 cents worth,

mike

[Jgoding]

I personally wouldn't peg a bead onto my line nor glue anything to a hook as a fly "pattern". Saying that, if you follow the outlines for pegging a bead that are legal, I am not going to hold anything against you. If that's how you catch fish, go for it... but I would expect you to release any foul hooked fish and to re-evaluate the method if you are snagging fish consistently.

jeff

[Terry Thomas]

I have less problem with pegging a bead than adding one of those plastic cones in front of the fly like they talked about in the latest issue of Fly Fisherman Mag.
Terry

[Darian]

Hello everyone,..... Interesting isn't it Each of your notes reflects a difference in what is acceptable or not in terms of rigging. Personally, I've never pegged beads. Altho, I've fished all of the methods described (dry flies, two/three fly casts, indicators, etc.).

Aside from the ethical issues involved in setting up a rig to hook a fish outside the mouth, it seems to me that there might be a legal problem using pegged beads as opposed to beads affixed directly above a hook. Not an expert but F&G regs mandate that all fish hooked outside the mouth are not legally hooked. also, federal regs might see that method as harrassing of spawning fish. Not allowed for endangered species.

I've been told by unnamed persons, that pegging beads is intended to snag fish.... Now, if you're a person who's surviving by the fish you catch, maybe that's OK. I, also, believe that some locations where fish are not likely to spawn successfully and are trapped, should not be off limits to "snagging". Such as, the area between Nimbus dam and Hazel Ave. Bidge..... Otherwise, it's doesn't appear acceptable. In the final analysis, it seems like a matter of personal choice.

[brad_harrington]

I've been lucky enough to fish up in Alaska a couple times on guided trips for trout gorging on eggs. Both times the de facto method was indicator nymphing with pegged beads and barbless hooks. All catch and release. Pegged beads seems pretty standard in Alaska, from what I've seen and read. The bead is pegged about 1 inch above the hook with a piece of toothpick. This always seemed odd to me but when I asked the guides up there they said it was because the pegged beads are better for the fish, that it reduced the mortality rates because you're more likely to hook them on the side of the mouth rather than deep in the throat. In the 100+ trout that we hooked up there, I think there was one or two that was hooked in the nose, outside the mouth. In general, the guides are very sensitive to the mortality rates of the trout, the prefer to not handle them at all, so I've always assumed the pegged beads are better for the fish.

They also said that they catch more fish with beads vs glo-bugs but I've tried both methods quite a bit and I don't see much of a difference in terms of the #'s of fish caught.

[Crusty]

I have to agree with brad. I've fished rainbows with beads in Alaska for the last 4 Octobers and have very few foul hooked fish. IMHO most of the foul-hooked fish killer stories are from "purists" who haven't even fished beads.

According to the AKDFG the bead is not a fly...it is an attractor..it must be attached (pegged or otherwise) within a certain length to the hook ( I believe 1&1/2 inches). Since they aren't flies, you can't use them with bare hooks in fly-fishing only waters. Most guides will use a maggot pattern with the bead or just wrap hooks with 5-6 wraps of thread to comply with the regs.

My favorite way to fish them is without an indicator. I probably miss more takes than I hook. If this was a snagging rig, I wouldn't miss any.

Look down on beads all you want, but from my experience they work much better and kill way less fish than glo-bugs.

$0.02

Crusty

[BSD]

Just want to say the last two posts sound correct to me. I also took a trip to Alaska and a fly shop there taught me how to peg it with a toothpick and how to fish it. Hooked about 50 dollies and rainbows and only had one foul hooked. Seems like a lot of people say they hear pegging foul hooks the fish, but I don't think they tried it, just "heard" it. As to whether or not it should be considered fly fishing, I don't know, it's up to the fisher I guess ...