Tungsten Beads

[Adam Grace]

Who here uses tungsten beads

I use them quite a bit when I need the extra weight to get dowbn to the fish.

They are definately more expensive but there are times when they are a necessity.

I am curious to see how many of you guys tie with tungsten.

[steve sullivan]

Who here uses tungsten beads

I use them quite a bit when I need the extra weight to get dowbn to the fish.

They are definately more expensive but there are times when they are a necessity.

I am curious to see how many of you guys tie with tungsten.

I use tungsten. Use a 1/8 tungsten on you fly and it will sink the fly about as much as a split shot will. Environmentally safer than lead, and the environmentally safe split shot are what, like $10? For $10 you can get 50 5/64 tungsten beads.

[David Lee]

Hey Adam -

The American river "bugger of death" uses a medium copper or gold tungsten cone .... It's the only way to bounce bottom in my favorite 5-9 foot deep runs without using LC-13 (leadcore will get down quick on the swing , but drag bottom at the end ...) .

I think its a little pricey , but it does seem to make a difference sometimes .

David

[Darian]

Ya know,.... I really dislike beads... . But, I have a box full of beadhead flies of all sorts . I, uniformally, dislike them all .

I do admit to fishing with them little buggers as they do seem to attract Trout and sometimes other piscatorial species as well... .

Guess I'm stuck with usin' 'em. (.....on ocasion )

[Jgoding]

Hey Darian,

I read this somewhere, thread the bead onto your leader, then you don't have to carry all those disgraceful flies around......LOL

Jeff

[Brian]

Tungsten beads rock. You can get them cheap across the border and they can come slotted too as opposed to conventional countersinking. This helps keep the weight a few grams heavier.
canadian llama co. 50 beads for $10.50

Bill go ahead and delete this post if I stepped over the line recommending another source of supply

Brian

[PaulC]

I use them quite a bit for higher flows in the winter and/or I want to fish deeper without added weight up the line. Adjust the fly weight via bead allows for more accurate distance casts without the hinging induced by the weight upline. A technique I haven't tried is bounce nymphing with a slinky setup. (i.e. weight wrapped in a nylon shealth to reduce snagging). The weight is at the bottom of your rig on a swivel. Anyone ever try that with success? Sounded interesting...
-Paul

[Darian]

Hey Paul,.... I use them for drift fishing in rivers during high water/winter. Haven't used 'em this spring, tho..... I started trying out this technique while doing a lot of coastal fishing for Steelhead....

If the water was turbid, we'd take off our shooting heads, place a weight (slinky) on the main (shooting) line, tie a swivel, leader and hook below and "strip cast" using a lure or bait..... After travelling a long way to fish and finding it high/muddy, it kept us in the game

[PaulC]

Hey Darian,
This article I read quite a while back though on bounce nymphing had the weight at the end of the chain with the fly or flies above.
Maybe i'm misreading your post but it sounds like your flies were after the weight in your setup.
I'll see if I can dig up the article from the archives. It was interesting in the fact that it was opposite of what I normally using. Line, leader, weight, fly. This being line, leader, fly, weight.
-Paul

[Darian]

True.... I've never used drift fishing methods with flies.... Only bait/lures.... I would say that the set-up you describe is similar regardless of where the weight is placed..... Depending on how heavy the weight used is, it really changes the traditional idea of casting or retieval.... This technique is less like fly casting and more like spin casting.... And makes a fly (if used) act closer to that of a lure....