It’s all about the Glass
Posted By Kent Klewein on February 18, 2010
The last couple years I’ve really incorporated glass beads into many of my fly patterns, especially my nymphs. Myself, including many others, shy away from gold beaded nymphs because we feel in some cases the trout will refuse them from bad memories of hooks in the lips. Because of this we’ve incorporated glass beads into our tying.
Despite the negative controversy of gold beads there are tons of anglers that catch loads of trout with them. I’ve just seen numbers of hook-ups increase on the river with my clients using alternative colored beads like copper, black, olive, and glass. That’s why I tie more and more of my flies with them.
Flies above were tied with glass beads. The red beaded fly is a called the “Killer Kiwi”, developed out of New Zealand, and the Purple beaded fly is a flashback pheasant-tail that I tie quite often for my fishing.
Where do I get my glass beads you may ask? I always try to support my buddy fly shops when they have them, but when they don’t, you’ll find me at your local Michael’s craft store browsing through the endless colors of glass beads. Don’t be afraid to be crazy with your colors. With all the attractor “hot spot” nymph patterns on the market today, you can incorporate bright electric beads to mimic the hot spot tying method.
I’ll do my best to continue to bring you some more posts on the blog this week. I’ll be busy guiding and tying flies for my trips this week.
Keep it Reel,
Capt. Kent Klewein Reel Job Fishing, LLC www.kent-klewein.com
My my Kent you have some pretty beads there!
All of about $15 worth, got to love it.
What kind of beads are they?
Click ont the photo Murphy and it will blow it up bigger. Spirit River glass beads, TOHO glass beads, and whatever will work in the Walmart and Michael bead aisles.
Awesome article Kent. Been tying more and more patterns with glass and it’s worked, especially on one of the tough trophy streams here in GA (Dukes). Thanks dude
Caleb,
Glad you liked the glass beads article. Even better that it’s helped you hook into more fish on your favorite trout streams. Thanks for the comment and feedback.