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Hey, Have You Tried Troutbeads Yet?
Back in the early 90's I started fishing beads in the remote streams of SW Alaska. Then a few years ago Cameron Hawthorne from troutbeads.com sent samples of his beads and I passed them out to some of the guides I work with and customers that I knew would use them. We also published an article about fishing beads. At the time they were being used on a very limited basis in Lake O tributaries and many anglers were unfamiliar with how to fish them.
Since that article the popularity of beads have grown and now you will find them in just about every shop along the shoreline of the lake. Along with the popularity, there has been some controversy surrounding bead fishing and this has been brought on by nothing more than misinformation. Fishing forums have been jammed up with posting about legal or illegal bead use. Some people think that it should be illegal to fish a bead if the hook is bare and the bead sets above it. Others say that the fish is still striking the bead and if the fish is hooked outside the mouth (which it may be when you pin the bead above the hook), you will have less mortality. The postings continue on local sites like salmoncrazy.com and Fishusa.com, check them out.
The years I spent in Alaska, we fished beads most of the time and they are deadly. In fact, with the recent increase in bead use you will probably see the NYSDEC adopt Alaska regulations regarding the use of beads in NY waters. It will read like this.
Bristol Bay tackle restrictions regarding the use of beads. Beads must be fixed within 2 inches of the fly or lure, or be free-sliding on the line/leader. Also, in fly-fishing-only waters, a bead on the line followed by a bare hook is not legal gear. You must also use some type of fly.
That should cover it. No need to re-invent the wheel. Whether you like the idea of fishing beads or not the bottom line is they do catch fish and it is up to you to fish ethically regardless of your tactics and methods.
With the explosion of float fishing on our tribs and "pinheads" constantly looking to put something better under their float, beads are really catching on. We have such a tremendous fishery in New York and now there are so many news ways to enjoy it. The challenge of catching a steelhead on an real egg, a fly, a jig or a bead just adds excitement to an already incredibly exciting sport.
Check out Troutbeads new catalog and if your local dealer is not stocking them, have them contact troutbeads.com
If you haven't seen it, below is the article that ran in the Spring 2006 issue of Lake Ontario Outdoors.
The Art of Fishing Beads.
Dad! He’s got a bead on my line!!!!!!
As I set down to write this piece, I had to reflect back to the first time I added plastic beads to my fishing arsenal. The year was 1992 and I was on a flyout to a remote bear infested slew called Margo Creek, located in Katmai National Park. I was guiding a father and son team Paul Sr & Jr. on their trip of a lifetime to Alaska. We had a very successful week flyfishing for salmon, rainbows and grayling on the Alagnak River, but it was time to catch some giant Char that were gobbling sockeye eggs in this very small creek. I loaded my box with glo-bugs and various egg patterns. A guide I met last season on the Lower Talarik gave me some beads and couldn’t say enough about how good they worked and reminded me, that as remote as Alaska can be, fish do get educated and they can determine the difference between a real egg and an egg pattern fly. I was catching fish, so I tucked them away in my vest and didn’t give it much thought at the time.
We had worked some of my favorite water with limited success. As Sr. worked upstream to the next spot, I asked Paul, Jr to let me try a bead. He didn’t care what we used, he just wanted to catch fish. I tied on a washed out pink colored bead that matched a sockeye egg to a T.
First cast, fish! Next cast, fish. Third cast, fish. With Paul, Jrs. rod bent into a permanent C, it wasn’t long before Dad wanted to know what pattern fly we had tied on. Jr, with a proud tone to his 14 year old voice yelled up to Sr, Dad he’s got a bead on my line. It’s not a fly, it’s a bead!
There was silence as Paul reeled up his line and hiked down to see just what was attached to his son’s line. Upon inspection, he frowned at me for the first time in the six days we had spent together and said Troy, this isn’t a fly, we are supposed to be flyfishing! I thought he was kidding and replied hey, we are catching fish aren’t we? That is not the point he bleated out, We are here to flyfish and that bead is not a fly. Forgetting that Paul Sr. was a purist and had earlier in the week, hesitated to use a glow bug, I was at a loss for words.
Now, I had been in the bush for over four months and was ready for a real shower and a soft bed, so my only concerns were catching fish and finishing up the season.
Without hesitating, I said well Paul, do you want to flyfish or do you want to catch fish? There was silence. Then Jr. piped up, Dad I hooked 12 fish in 13 drifts. What’s wrong with a bead. More silence. Finally, Paul Sr. swallowed, bit his tongue and said okay Troy give me one of those damn beads.
After putting 100 plus char on the bank, the plane came to buzz the bears and pick us up. The rest as they say is history. Since that day, beads have accounted for a large percentage of my catch.
Let us fast forward to the fall of 2005, there are salmon spawning everywhere. Eggs are littering the bottom of the rivers and streams. The best run of steelhead that we have seen in ten years are steadily pushing their way upstream. What are you going to use for bait? Hmm.. how about eggs? Real eggs, rubber eggs, egg sacs, clusters, glo bugs, yarn flies, the choices are endless. What about a bead? Never used them? Here’s some things to think about.
You can match the bead to any size and color egg you want. It doesn’t collapse or blow out like a egg sac. It doesn’t fall off the hook like a single egg. It doesn’t take time the night before to tie it up. It sinks fast and rolls naturally across the bottom as it is perfectly symmetrical.
Eggs are the single most important food source for steelhead and brown trout. The right plastic bead imitates the appearance of a real egg better than any egg fly pattern you can fish.
The two most important sizes are the 8 mm bead, which matches the size of an individual King Salmon or large Coho Salmon egg, and the 6 mm bead, which matches the size of the smaller trout egg.
Generally trout are aggressive when feeding on freshly dropped salmon eggs and the standard orange bead will do the trick most of the time. Real salmon eggs will loose their original orange luster and take on different hues and coloring dependent on their state of fertilization, water temp, light penetration, decay and other natural factors. Real colors may range from clear to pink, red, brown, white and all shades in between. Late in the season when there are a lot of salmon eggs in the rivers, trout can get fat lazy and finicky about the eggs they will move to take. At this time matching the size and color of the actual eggs that are in the river can be as critical as matching the size and color of any insect hatch. When this occurs you will want to have a few color variations in your bead box.
One way to rig a bead is by simply threading a single bead on your line and tying it off to a small short shank bait hook. The bead is then pinned tight to the line with a toothpick approximately two inches above the eye of the hook. The toothpick is clipped flush with the bead surface. Split shot is added 12 to 36 inches above the bead as needed. The pinning of the bead above the hook is critical to the fishing success of this rig. A bead fished tight to the hook is prone to hooking fish deep in the throat and gills resulting in high mortality. Remember.... pin your beads!
You want to fish beads using a standard dead drift technique. Be prepared to respond to a quick strike with a quick hook set. The take will usually be hard but quick as the fish inhales what it believes to be a juicy egg but often just as quickly expels the hard foreign object.
Variations: The single bead rig can be extremely effective but there are many variations that you can add to your fishing arsenal. Multiple bead rigs are a favorite trick. Simply pin two, three or more beads of the same or varying colors an inch or two apart above your hook. Now a lazy trout sees an easy large meal drifting his way, rather than just another single egg, and may be triggered to strike. Placing a free running, unpinned, bead in front of a wooly bugger, sculpin, bunny hair leach, or flesh fly etc. quickly makes an "egg sucking" variation of that fly. Try pinning a bead several inches in front of your favorite streamer. Allow the streamer to sink into a deep hole and then give it an aggressive strip. Seeing a smaller fish chasing an egg often creates an immediate competitive response in trout and they may strike your bead and/or streamer. A bead free lined above a white bunny hair or other flesh imitating fly "Bacon & Eggs" can be extremely effective late season when trout are also feeding on decaying salmon. The salmon egg is the most plentiful and important food source in the water. The small round orange shape is a powerful attractant and stimulant at any time of the season. Use the bead and your imagination and you will quickly increase your fishing success on any salmon spawning stream. For more information on rigging & fishing beads go to www.troutbeads.com.
As I set down to write this piece, I had to reflect back to the first time I added plastic beads to my fishing arsenal. The year was 1992 and I was on a flyout to a remote bear infested slew called Margo Creek, located in Katmai National Park. I was guiding a father and son team Paul Sr & Jr. on their trip of a lifetime to Alaska. We had a very successful week flyfishing for salmon, rainbows and grayling on the Alagnak River, but it was time to catch some giant Char that were gobbling sockeye eggs in this very small creek. I loaded my box with glo-bugs and various egg patterns. A guide I met last season on the Lower Talarik gave me some beads and couldn’t say enough about how good they worked and reminded me, that as remote as Alaska can be, fish do get educated and they can determine the difference between a real egg and an egg pattern fly. I was catching fish, so I tucked them away in my vest and didn’t give it much thought at the time.
We had worked some of my favorite water with limited success. As Sr. worked upstream to the next spot, I asked Paul, Jr to let me try a bead. He didn’t care what we used, he just wanted to catch fish. I tied on a washed out pink colored bead that matched a sockeye egg to a T.
First cast, fish! Next cast, fish. Third cast, fish. With Paul, Jrs. rod bent into a permanent C, it wasn’t long before Dad wanted to know what pattern fly we had tied on. Jr, with a proud tone to his 14 year old voice yelled up to Sr, Dad he’s got a bead on my line. It’s not a fly, it’s a bead!
There was silence as Paul reeled up his line and hiked down to see just what was attached to his son’s line. Upon inspection, he frowned at me for the first time in the six days we had spent together and said Troy, this isn’t a fly, we are supposed to be flyfishing! I thought he was kidding and replied hey, we are catching fish aren’t we? That is not the point he bleated out, We are here to flyfish and that bead is not a fly. Forgetting that Paul Sr. was a purist and had earlier in the week, hesitated to use a glow bug, I was at a loss for words.
Now, I had been in the bush for over four months and was ready for a real shower and a soft bed, so my only concerns were catching fish and finishing up the season.
Without hesitating, I said well Paul, do you want to flyfish or do you want to catch fish? There was silence. Then Jr. piped up, Dad I hooked 12 fish in 13 drifts. What’s wrong with a bead. More silence. Finally, Paul Sr. swallowed, bit his tongue and said okay Troy give me one of those damn beads.
After putting 100 plus char on the bank, the plane came to buzz the bears and pick us up. The rest as they say is history. Since that day, beads have accounted for a large percentage of my catch.
Let us fast forward to the fall of 2005, there are salmon spawning everywhere. Eggs are littering the bottom of the rivers and streams. The best run of steelhead that we have seen in ten years are steadily pushing their way upstream. What are you going to use for bait? Hmm.. how about eggs? Real eggs, rubber eggs, egg sacs, clusters, glo bugs, yarn flies, the choices are endless. What about a bead? Never used them? Here’s some things to think about.
You can match the bead to any size and color egg you want. It doesn’t collapse or blow out like a egg sac. It doesn’t fall off the hook like a single egg. It doesn’t take time the night before to tie it up. It sinks fast and rolls naturally across the bottom as it is perfectly symmetrical.
Eggs are the single most important food source for steelhead and brown trout. The right plastic bead imitates the appearance of a real egg better than any egg fly pattern you can fish.
The two most important sizes are the 8 mm bead, which matches the size of an individual King Salmon or large Coho Salmon egg, and the 6 mm bead, which matches the size of the smaller trout egg.
Generally trout are aggressive when feeding on freshly dropped salmon eggs and the standard orange bead will do the trick most of the time. Real salmon eggs will loose their original orange luster and take on different hues and coloring dependent on their state of fertilization, water temp, light penetration, decay and other natural factors. Real colors may range from clear to pink, red, brown, white and all shades in between. Late in the season when there are a lot of salmon eggs in the rivers, trout can get fat lazy and finicky about the eggs they will move to take. At this time matching the size and color of the actual eggs that are in the river can be as critical as matching the size and color of any insect hatch. When this occurs you will want to have a few color variations in your bead box.
One way to rig a bead is by simply threading a single bead on your line and tying it off to a small short shank bait hook. The bead is then pinned tight to the line with a toothpick approximately two inches above the eye of the hook. The toothpick is clipped flush with the bead surface. Split shot is added 12 to 36 inches above the bead as needed. The pinning of the bead above the hook is critical to the fishing success of this rig. A bead fished tight to the hook is prone to hooking fish deep in the throat and gills resulting in high mortality. Remember.... pin your beads!
You want to fish beads using a standard dead drift technique. Be prepared to respond to a quick strike with a quick hook set. The take will usually be hard but quick as the fish inhales what it believes to be a juicy egg but often just as quickly expels the hard foreign object.
Variations: The single bead rig can be extremely effective but there are many variations that you can add to your fishing arsenal. Multiple bead rigs are a favorite trick. Simply pin two, three or more beads of the same or varying colors an inch or two apart above your hook. Now a lazy trout sees an easy large meal drifting his way, rather than just another single egg, and may be triggered to strike. Placing a free running, unpinned, bead in front of a wooly bugger, sculpin, bunny hair leach, or flesh fly etc. quickly makes an "egg sucking" variation of that fly. Try pinning a bead several inches in front of your favorite streamer. Allow the streamer to sink into a deep hole and then give it an aggressive strip. Seeing a smaller fish chasing an egg often creates an immediate competitive response in trout and they may strike your bead and/or streamer. A bead free lined above a white bunny hair or other flesh imitating fly "Bacon & Eggs" can be extremely effective late season when trout are also feeding on decaying salmon. The salmon egg is the most plentiful and important food source in the water. The small round orange shape is a powerful attractant and stimulant at any time of the season. Use the bead and your imagination and you will quickly increase your fishing success on any salmon spawning stream. For more information on rigging & fishing beads go to www.troutbeads.com.