http://www.alaskaflyfishinggoods.com/guide-model-steelhead-beads/view-all-products.html


You guys paint your own, or fish stock colors? I'm just getting in to it this season.



c/22

I expect you to fish with a fly rod those eggs beads when we go over to the OP next month. No more power pro bobber dogging with sand shrimp for you buddy.

$1 a bead is a ridiculous rip off. Most of those beads are craft store blanks that look to be quickly and easily painted with a single coat of some non-technical shiny stuff which will likely rub off in the first cast or three.

Steelhead are not terribly picky with regard to the beads or yarn balls they will eat. The plain ones catch as many as the fancy ones.

Save the custom painted beads for highly selective rainbows like those you would find in the Kenai or other heavily pressured trout fisheries.

Most bead fisherman go through an evolution of sorts, starting at first with whatever simple bead they can get their hands on, then progressing through the fancy hand painted brand new hotness, and then back again once they realize that there are a few common elements to the beads fish eat and none if them need be expensive.

Some rainbow fishing is different though and the custom jobs can make a difference between banner days and blanks. It takes a special skill set and experience base to match the hatch though. Don't buy the internet gimmicks, go instead for local knowledge.

Brad, you would have your PNW steelhead beading bases fairly well covered with about three beads. Let me know if you need to know which three

For trucha arco iris, match the hatch.












For cabeza de acero, just show them something pretty.

My experience has been that getting the size right is more important than color if you are trying to match the hatch.

I like mottled trout beads in the orange pink spectrum.

Go bigger with beads in murkier water.

Cool, yeah Coley I'll take your color info pm or just share here if you want.

In my bead/reading saw steelhead go for bigger profile beads like 10-12mm. True?

I was fishing around a pod of chum & semi-zombie coho, so I stocked up on 8mm to match their eggs. Was hunting for some native river bows or hungry sea run cuts on my beads.

Found out later another guy hit a dimebrite winter steel @ the same spot I was fishing 2 days after me, so I was in the game @ least.

10 and 12 mil for steelhead. Not that in certain fisheries you can't or won't get them on 8.

6 is reserved for trout hoovering the sockeye drop and getting the color right makes all the difference in the world.

My three top choices for steelhead are as follows.

10 or 12 mil bubblegum pink

12 mil orange faceted

10 or 12 mil tangerine blood dot

If I had to pick a 4th it would be something in the ruby red range, specifically 12 mil red faceted.

If I had to pick one, 10 mil bubblegum pink. One bead to rule them all.

I do real well with a 10mm or 12mm in dark row, lightly painted with Petite brand nail polish, color is Island Smoothie, sort of a pearl pink, but just one real light coat, I like to see the dark row thru the pearl brush swirls, and a little black eye made with a sharpie, we clobber them under a float. Just another thought to add to the great info Coley already gave

I was actually surprised that I hooked a steelhead the other day on a bead. Wish my leader didn't break. But it was a plain vanilla off the shelf 10mm mottled orange bead.

I like the fact that it's a light and simple rigging. Can be fished with fly gear, center pin, etc.

Interesting that trout are more selective on the beads than steelhead. Yet I have been told that steelhead would go after a license plate if presented to them.

Pink is kind of my favorite color for egg patterns.

I know friends don't let friends fish beads, and drink at Starbucks, but I look forward fishing beads this winter with you Brad.

Coley, thanks for your not so secret colors.

I have a ton of beads, and most of them came from the craft store and were painted up by the 100's in minutes. Just take your darker pink, red, white, or purple beads, put them in a gallon Ziploc, and put in a drop of pink acrylic paint about the size of a pea.

Seal it up with air in it and shake like a mf'r for 30 seconds or so, and pour them all out on wax paper making sure they aren't touching each other...and in two minutes you will have "$100 worth of beads" for four bucks and five minutes of your time.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. While there are lots of "fins" involved in fishing beads, there are no "feathers"...makes nymphing look like a purist pursuit...there's nothing even remotely "flyfishing" about it, no matter what kind if fishing rod you use ;-)

Way over thought...........I mean WAY over thought.
Pretty much the norm here.
Buy what you want at the craft store by the 500 or 1000 pack.......forget the paint.

I would suggest you guys all take SLabby's fishing advice over Todd's.....


x100000000

Don't tell anyone about the "magic" beads I gave you Ryley. Those shall remain our little secret

I own about 3 beads total , all of which you gave me. On the day where you guys passed us on the river was the first day I had ever fished a bead and I hooked and lost a fish on one. Thanks!

I'm looking forward to giving them a workout this winter.
If I loose 2, I might hit ya up for one or two more if you can spare them...I'd bet ya can

I bet he does.
Sky-Guy.....I've been fishing beads WAY longer than Todd........so guzzle one, fool.

Agreed. But, that's a whole different discussion.

I've been fishing almost strictly beads for a few years new and IMO the color isn't very important. I've painted them about every way I can think of, and it just doesn't seem to matter much.

This Oregon 20 came on an unpainted bead right out of the package....



And this little giuy fell to a tricked out pain job with glitter. Would he have eaten the bead had it not been painted? Probably....



JD

Seeing JDarr post about beads reminded me of the time JDarr called to ask me about beads, and Mrs. Twitch signaled for me to get off the phone by using methods known to get me off. I just remember saying, "dude, you're gonna have to call me back."

I like beads

Inflatable ?
Looks like a floater to me.

I remember that conversation ending strangely..... Glad it worked out for you

JD