Bead discussion

[jamisonace]

I fish almost exclusively with beads when I'm side drifting or drift fishing for steelhead. I go through a lot of beads but I have gotten used to BnR and haven't really used anything else. I noticed this year that their quality has really gone down in two ways. It seems a lot are deformed and the holes aren't completely formed so it takes added effort to get lines through them. The latter particularly sucks when you're tying a bunch of leaders for fishing the next day or worse, you're on the boat tying trying to get back in the water and you can't get your line through the bead.

I know there are a lot of bead options and I'm curious what else you guys like. I'd love to find something less expensive. Between line hook and bead it's about a dollar every time one breaks off. Between filling my truck, my kicker tank and buying beads and hooks 3 or 4 times a week it adds up. Fortunately my friends slide me cash after we fish so I'm not buying all of it but it would be nice to save some money.

I'm not opposed to hard beads but I haven't fished them much. I'd be curious to hear opinions on them.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

I just collected bulk beads that were the right color(s), variations on natural roe colors. From tiny beads (2mm) to maybe 5-6mm max. Used some bigger ones in Alaska.

I’ve never worried about color too much, never painted them. Natural roe type colors (and chartreuse for the curve ball) worked fine. Pegged with peg-it rubber toothpicks, rubber bands, or living rubber. Used snelled
down eye nymph or egg hooks a couple inches from the bead.

Used in clear water, off water I used yarn eggs (Glo-Bugs.)

Not my favorite thing ever, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[O. mykiss]

I personally have only used BnR beads.(from last year) so I have not seen the lower quality beads. I have heard good things about the beads used by steelhead stalkers from VIP outdoors

 

[Diehard]

I have personally caught a tin of fish on the hard beads I would not hesitate to fish them if your trying to save a buck the saying they hold the soft bead longer so more hookups is just a gimmick with that said I switched to soft beads this year because elevated fishing has some sweet colors I like good luck

 

[jamisonace]

I have personally caught a tin of fish on the hard beads I would not hesitate to fish them if your trying to save a buck the saying they hold the soft bead longer so more hookups is just a gimmick with that said I switched to soft beads this year because elevated fishing has some sweet colors I like good luck

I like the Elevated/SS guys and they do have good colors. How are you pinning their beads?

 

[Shaun Solomon]

I’ve never used anything but hard beads.

 

[jamisonace]

I’ve never used anything but hard beads.

I have friends down here that only use hard beads and catch more fish than me. I liked the ease of pinning the soft bead but I haven't learned how to pin a hard bead so I don't know that it's any more difficult.

 

[Diehard]

I like the Elevated/SS guys and they do have good colors. How are you pinning their beads?

I use the b&r bead stops. as you know the elevated beads dont have holes so I use a size 2 hook to thread them on. I also do this with the b&r beads I think they last a little longer when you make your own hole in them. I never use the factory hole also imo the elevated bead is a much more durable bead. I used to love the peachy king hard beads from trout beads pegged with a bead peg only way you lose a hard bead is breaking of your leader. one more thing I noticed is the larger beads like 14&16mm b&r beads dont hold up as well as a standard 12mm. the larger ones seem to have a tendency of splitting in half after awhile just my observation anyway

 

[jamisonace]

I use the b&r bead stops. as you know the elevated beads dont have holes so I use a size 2 hook to thread them on. I also do this with the b&r beads I think they last a little longer when you make your own hole in them. I never use the factory hole also imo the elevated bead is a much more durable bead. I used to love the peachy king hard beads from trout beads pegged with a bead peg only way you lose a hard bead is breaking of your leader. one more thing I noticed is the larger beads like 14&16mm b&r beads dont hold up as well as a standard 12mm. the larger ones seem to have a tendency of splitting in half after awhile just my observation anyway

I pegged corkies for years with a toothpick. Caught a bunch of fish....not sure why I don't go back to corkies. I bet the fish forgot what they look like. LOL

I'll give Elevated another try. I really didn't like their pegging system but again, I didn't really know how to use it effectively.

 

[brandon4455]

Lured beads for hard beads.always done well on the frosted killer orange 12 and 14mm

Steelhead stalkers/elevated
DRO
BnR
For soft beads.

Definitely have gotten less use out of the BnR beads than the other two, I had a couple split after just a few bites/hookups recently.
I like to use the glass bead and a sequin to peg soft beads. It will not slip at all so no re adjusting needed or worry of the bead messing with your hook gap. t stops that BnR uses can drag down to the hook and cause lost fish. Another option is to use both the glass bead and the t stop instead of the sequin, but not my cup of tea. Too clunky.

For beads like elevated beads with no hole. I use a bait threading needle that are sold to carp fisherman. Easy and does much less damage than using a hook.

 

[hobster]

I pretty much used steelheads stalkers soft beads, Chad (who used to be on this forum quite often) treated me really well back in the day and I like to support them. He built me a beautiful drift fishing rod made from a rainshadow blank back in the day. I still love drift fishing the most and use Corky‘s quite often.
I do however like the B & R stops a lot and just ordered some of those. When I do fish beads I use soft beads, I’d like to think the fish hold onto them a little longer. I also like to thread my bead onto the fishing line with a big needle.
Remember hevi beads? Glass beads that were sold at Bi Mart, I still had have a ton of those and I’ve caught fish with those also but I never really used plastic hard beads. As for cost, if you are a bank maggot like me you can find more beads than you know what to do with on the side of the river.

 

[jamisonace]

I pretty much used steelheads stalkers soft beads, Chad (who used to be on this forum quite often) treated me really well back in the day and I like to support them. He built me a beautiful drift fishing rod made from a rainshadow blank back in the day. I still love drift fishing the most and use Corky‘s quite often.
I do however like the B & R stops a lot and just ordered some of those. When I do fish beads I use soft beads, I’d like to think the fish hold onto them a little longer. I also like to thread my bead onto the fishing line with a big needle.
Remember hevi beads? Glass beads that were sold at Bi Mart, I still had have a ton of those and I’ve caught fish with those also but I never really used plastic hard beads. As for cost, if you are a bank maggot like me you can find more beads than you know what to do with on the side of the river. View attachment 638775

I see dozens of beads on the bank that were thrown there from boats but I've never seen a hard bead....always soft. I'm fishing a new river tomorrow with a guy that fishes all sorts of beads so I'm sure I'll learn something new.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

The hard ones all got swallowed.








By fish. Shut up.

 

[hobster]

The hard ones all got swallowed.








By fish. Shut up.

The ones on the right are all hard beadsexcept maybe 1 or 2

 

[hobster]

A cool way to “peg” beads, hard or soft, is the good ol uni knot. Basically same knot as a bobber stop, use a larger diameter mono tie a uni knot and leave a small tag end to stop your bead. Works like a charm and is low vis

 

[jamisonace]

A cool way to “peg” beads, hard or soft, is the good ol uni knot. Basically same knot as a bobber stop, use a larger diameter mono tie a uni knot and leave a small tag end to stop your bead. Works like a charm and is low visView attachment 638776

I've seen this somewhere. I need to try it. The reason I haven't is because I see it as taking longer than other methods but I guess I won't know til I try it.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

I like the thread type bobber stops on level leaders. You can make them out of backing with a nail knot tool or just hand-snelling onto coffee stirrers. I cut them off in short sections with one each. Use for floats/indicators/mojo rigs too.

Thread one on, pop knot onto leader, tighten/trim ends. 40# backing on big beads. You can add a drop of super glue to the knot and pull it into a bead. It will lock that bead onto the knot, but the knot itself will slide with slight effort.

Also, I eventually started doing this;

Get some extra light fused microfilament line, something like 4lb Fireline or Gliss or something. Make a couple loops with it about the size of your hand. Thread a bead onto both loops, then use one loop to pull a rubber band into the bead. Trim the rubber band, leaving the bead on the first loop. Slide the bead down, and repeat the process to make a string of costume jewelry that looks like sushi.

Make a lot in different sizes and colors.

To use, thread one off your string of eggs like it was a regular bobber stop or punch rig, then snell on a hook. Done. Dirt cheap, deadly.

 

[Grant22]

I fish almost exclusively with beads when I'm side drifting or drift fishing for steelhead. I go through a lot of beads but I have gotten used to BnR and haven't really used anything else. I noticed this year that their quality has really gone down in two ways. It seems a lot are deformed and the holes aren't completely formed so it takes added effort to get lines through them. The latter particularly sucks when you're tying a bunch of leaders for fishing the next day or worse, you're on the boat tying trying to get back in the water and you can't get your line through the bead.

I know there are a lot of bead options and I'm curious what else you guys like. I'd love to find something less expensive. Between line hook and bead it's about a dollar every time one breaks off. Between filling my truck, my kicker tank and buying beads and hooks 3 or 4 times a week it adds up. Fortunately my friends slide me cash after we fish so I'm not buying all of it but it would be nice to save some money.

I'm not opposed to hard beads but I haven't fished them much. I'd be curious to hear opinions on them.

We recently started carrying a new soft bead at Fisherman's Marine and Outdoor. Hawken makes them, I think they're called "Areo-Baits". I like their firmness a bit more and they seem to hold up better, no deformity's either. The downside is that they don't have very many colors yet and only make 12mm-16mm sizes (if your into smaller beads).

 

[Grant22]

I know theres a company called lured that makes a really cool soft bead with a hard bead in the middle. Also the steelhead stalker ones and now mad river makes them too.

 

[Cohobolo]

I fish almost exclusively with beads when I'm side drifting or drift fishing for steelhead. I go through a lot of beads but I have gotten used to BnR and haven't really used anything else. I noticed this year that their quality has really gone down in two ways. It seems a lot are deformed and the holes aren't completely formed so it takes added effort to get lines through them. The latter particularly sucks when you're tying a bunch of leaders for fishing the next day or worse, you're on the boat tying trying to get back in the water and you can't get your line through the bead.

I know there are a lot of bead options and I'm curious what else you guys like. I'd love to find something less expensive. Between line hook and bead it's about a dollar every time one breaks off. Between filling my truck, my kicker tank and buying beads and hooks 3 or 4 times a week it adds up. Fortunately my friends slide me cash after we fish so I'm not buying all of it but it would be nice to save some money.

I'm not opposed to hard beads but I haven't fished them much. I'd be curious to hear opinions on them.

Although I use both, I hook more fish with hard beads than soft, especially in clear water. I shake mine up in sandwich ziplocks blown up with air with a few drops of white pearl acrylic paint and sometimes nail polish, depending on the color and amount of mottling I'm looking for. Most are orange beads I bought in a bag of 500 ten years ago, but I've picked up a few more to enhance in clear orange, pink, and red. I peg my beads with a 20# dacron flyline bobberstop, the same I use for bobberstops on my my braid mainline. I tie up the hooks with the bobberstop pegs and slip the beads on while on the river. Hard beads bounce directly on the bottom and get down to the fish a little softer than floating or neutral buoyancy beads. I haven't really noticed that I fail to hook fish with hard beads any more than with soft beads. There are so many factors, including my own daydreaming and sightseeing, which is when most fish bite, affecting a good hookset, that I'm primarily interested in getting the opportunities.