I am the King of the “fishless” fishing trip, even as a raw youth I had the knack. It’s a title coveted, but not by many. While the bulk of the angling community has the good sense to go to work and be productive, I burn calories and daylight tromping through brush watching my breath precede me.
Ma’s Christmas fruitcake was burned off earlier this week, and that last indulgence of holiday See’s candy vanished today, but I have little else to show for my ardor other than muddy boot tracks and startled wildlife.
Vacation is drawing to a close and none too soon, as the number of experimental flies created and queued for testing is on the increase, with no fish to confirm whether merit is part of any design.
Today I fiddled with glass beads, attempting to determine whether they’d be too fragile for fly usage. These are the small “seed beads” – about $1.99 /thousand at the craft store.
I assembled a “leech-like substance” by stringing 4 of them on a hook and adding a tuft of marabou; without protective hackle I figured they would take the brunt of casting, the false cast dropped too low, and any in-stream collisions, enough of a workout to determine if the glass would survive.
They did, and even unweighted the combination of slim profile and bead weight allowed them to sink about a foot per second.
The river has returned to it’s historic flows and the color has morphed from brown murk to cloudy green, with about 30″ of visibility. That’s enough to get my hopes up, but not enough to make the fish receptive.
I hiked upriver about 2.5 miles to see what changes had occurred and found plenty. Gravel isn’t a stable bottom and some areas had lost multiple tons of it, other stretches gained those tons. Fresh deposits would allow your feet to sink 3-4 inches, so it was easy to feel where the missing river bottom had come to rest. It was fairly treacherous as all the river crossings of the past had to be discovered again.
I’ve got a new deep stretch created nearby, nearly 100 yards long and suddenly 3 feet deep – compared to the 6″ depth of two weeks ago. That’s an awful lot of shifting rock streambed, who would’ve thought it would behave like sediment?
I did chance on a fellow fly fisherman walking his dog, he didn’t run screaming at the sight of me, so the “brownliner” angle isn’t as off-putting as once thought. He confessed to fishing for smallmouth on occasion, so I may have found a kindred spirit.
Curious to know what size hook and beads you were using on the glass bead leech?
These are “seed beads” and are only available in the one size, small. I got mine from Joann’s craft store, they’re the tiny beads used to make bracelets or necklaces. The picture does not do them justice, each of these are multicolored – similar to oil on water. In aggregate the bag looks like “black” beads, individually they’re the colors you see in the illustration.
If I was to compare a seed bead to a traditional beveled “fly tying” bead – I would call these 2mm or 2.5 mm (with a 1mm hole).
The hook is a #12 “Scud” style Tiemco.
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat2942
Thanks
Dan,
The beads are simply strung onto the hook, there’s no thread on the shank. The tuft of marabou and small dubbed area (red) is the “stopper” that prevents the beads from sliding back down the hook bend.
Simplicity rules.
Man thanks, I didn’t want to pry..hahahaha
I like simple. I indeed will try this.
Dan
Happy to divulge any secret… bass plugs have rattles for noise, I was wondering if I could induce a rattle from the beads banging together.
I tied everything too tightly together, so no rattle effect. Now that I know the beads aren’t fragile – i’ll retie them loosely. Everytime you strip the fly the beads should click together.
Yes, I’m crazy – but someone has to be…
I’ve been using glass beads for years, and can attest to their effectiveness. My wife does beadwork (and quilting, cross stitch, knitting, etc.). This has worked out well, because she regularly gives me her surplus/unwanted supplies. She also hits the craft stores once a week (there are several in our area), so if I’m looking for something special, she’s usually able to find it for me.
There’s a store in San Mateo called the Beading Frenzy. They have just about any size/color bead you can imagine, all reasonably priced by fly shop standards. The fellow who used to own the Great River Company in San Mateo told me he purchased all his beads there.
They even sell books on fly tying with beads. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in the store, but I think they used to carry this one.
http://cr-outdoors.com/joewarren/flytyingbook.html
Lucky dog to have a store close by as nothing beats being able to look at the bead (and checking hole size) before purchasing them.
I had never used these before and was concerned over their fragility more than anything else.
It just goes to show how well the ground has been plowed by them as came before – right about the time we start thinking “nobody’s ever done that” – someone produces a 20 year old book, showing six ways to do it better.
Great post SMJ, solid intel as always.
I found the label off the beads, they’re called “10/0 Seed Beads” and they’re sold in 20 gram packets and 50 gram packs.
20 grams is likely 1000 or more, so you’re not going to break the bank anytime soon.
These “oily” iridescent colors are the ones that have my attention, they resemble colored flashabou, just pick the color you like best.
Welcome to the beadin’ brotherhood. My wife’s into making bead jewelery so I naturally tried them a while back.
Its interesting that such a versatile and fish catching material never catches on with the mainstream crowd. Oh well 😉