Gold Beads...What's your take, good or bad? Photo By: Louis Cahill
When I first started guiding for trout it seemed like every nymph in the fly bin had a gold bead on it. Everyone caught fish on them and you didn’t hear of anyone back then shying away from using them. So why do I find myself so reluctant to use them on the water these days? For some reason they don’t seem to work as good for me anymore. Maybe the trout have caught on from everybody using them, or it’s worked its way into their DNA as being a negative trait. More than likely it’s just the fact that there’s so many different colored bead options available to fly fishermen nowadays. Whatever it is, I’ve got a serious confidence issue with gold beads that keep them staying high and dry in my fly box.
What’s your take on gold beads?
Kent Klewein Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
I feel the same way. Most of my beads these days are copper, silver or, natural tungsten.
Dell,
Thx for the comment. Its good to see you share my view on this subject.
That row there looks like a good steelhead fly. Do yourself a favor and make some room in your box for the new and improved by removing them and sending them to me at: 2837 Algonqu… Wait, mom said never to give my address to nymph fishermen…
I hear ya on this one. A few patterns still rock for me with the shiny gold (Copper John) but I’ve slowly shifted to natural brass or silver. I love the cheap brass beads that some shops carry that already have the shine knocked off.
Never thought of this but I think you are right. Seldom my gold beaded nymphs outfish the copper beaded. I think the colour I like the most is the Black nickel. What’s your favorite?
I like the copper plated tungsten but on my smaller flies my favorite are blue and green glass.
Yep they’re on to us– copper is the new gold.
i like using black beads for imitating the black heads of caddis larva. Copper is the most used color for me but I also luke nickel for attractor nymphs.
I still have a good number of gold beads. However, copper and black (caddis) seem to fill the majority of my boxes, followed by a few rows of hot orange and rainbow beads for special occasions.
Saw a post awhile back on the NGTO site where a fella takes along colored markers to do away w/the gold beads on his patterns
I do carry a marker with me mainly on DH streams, after seeing 2000 gold bead anythings switching the color of the bead has made the difference several times. Black has seemed to work well for me.
i still use gold bead on a lot of my nymphs. sometimes i prefer them over the silver beads
I still use the bright gold beads but mostly in the higher and dirtier water periods with the bigger bugs (stones, caddis, drakes). It seems as the summer goes on, the water drops and clears, the bugs get smaller and I have more success with a less shiny bead such as black or nickel.
Nate,
Good point, I agree that dirtier water bead color plays less factor, and that sometimes bright beads can add appeal.
Thank you for your comment.
Kent