tungsten, or, not

The price of tungsten beads always blows my mind ( I bought some today,
fresh reminder )

So, I have a couple questions for you guys that know your nymphing stuff

1) Is the tungsten worth it, does the extra weight really turn into more
fish hooked? for YOU

2) How the hell do you tell, a year or more later, looking into your boxes
which flies are tungsten, which regular bead

1) Is the tungsten worth it, does the extra weight really turn into more
fish hooked? *for YOU

I primarily use them in high water to get flies down without extra
bulk.

2) How the hell do you tell, a year or more later, looking into your boxes
which flies are tungsten, which regular bead

Thread color. Weighted flies that have lead or tungsten vice regular
beadheads, I tie with a red thread head, or in the case of the
beadheads, red behind the bead.
Frank Reid

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:15:49 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:

The price of tungsten beads always blows my mind ( I bought some today,
fresh reminder )

So, I have a couple questions for you guys that know your nymphing stuff

1) Is the tungsten worth it, does the extra weight really turn into more
fish hooked? for YOU

I use it instead of lead if I want a nymph to sink quickly, especially
in fast or deep water.

2) How the hell do you tell, a year or more later, looking into your boxes
which flies are tungsten, which regular bead

As Frank sez, thread color near the bead - black for tungsten, light
brown for lead. Or, you could do a nice pastel color, Larry. You
know, Idaho Pink and California Fuschia d;o)

Dave


\

"Dave LaCourse" wrote



Or, you could do a nice pastel color, Larry. You
know, Idaho Pink and California Fuschia d;o)




:-) I've been trying to find some nice paisley print waders .... Maybe
I'll wait to tie the flies until I can pick a matching color


ASIDE: Your TR brought something to mind when you spoke of frustration
casting to fish you know are rejecting your efforts. To show how
different we can all be, I don't think that would frustrate me, just
increase my determination. BUT, a few casts "fishing the water," without
results, wondering if there were even fish seeing my fly, would have me
frustrated to no end. That is the major reason I've never pursued most of
the 'lots of casts per fish, but big fish when you get one' venues and
styles ... I get frustrated too easy UNLESS I can see him, but, if I can see
him, I can put hours into the catching, no problem. Your report made me
consider the sea-run browns of TdF as a possible dream location for the
first time, mainly because I had always assumed it would be hours and hours
of blind casting for every big fish ... and, sure I like big fish, but ....

"Frank Reid © 2008" wrote


I primarily use them in high water to get flies down without extra
bulk.


I've only used them, so far, for a specific situation, i.e. fishing midge
pupa patterns on a long leader under a bobbercator in stillwater ... the
extra weight is worth the extra $ since it saves a lot of fishing time that
would just be waiting time with lighter flies

But today when I was buying more small TungBeads for those flies I gave
thought to other uses ... thought also spurred by wanting to fish deeper in
my local river lately. I associate split shot with all the things I
don't like about nymphing, so other ways to weight appeal.

The colored thread is a good idea, do you tie the whole thing with different
thread or just add a collar after it's finished?



oh, I have used tungbeads in a second situation .... I like sight nymphing
and I have found that IF you get your fly to the right spot before you scare
him he seems to basically always eat it ... i.e. pattern doesn't matter much
in nymphs ( another reason I'm not too keen on nymphing, but that's a
different thread ) So, anyway, I carry 5 different nymphs tied more
for various sink rate than any other factor ( they are all pretty small, I
doubt even the nymph eating dummy is going to grab things too big ) ... the
fastest sinking is a tungsten ( 5 silver tungsten beads, to be exact )
affair I call a PS Nymph When I spot a fish for sight nymphing the fly I
choose is based on his postion and sink rate needed to reach that position,
not what's hatching or other factors

On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:43:05 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:

ASIDE: Your TR brought something to mind when you spoke of frustration
casting to fish you know are rejecting your efforts.

These are fish that are coming into the river to spawn, and like
Atlantic (and Pacific) Salmon are not striking the fly to eat it but
because they are ****ed and annoyed by it. They weren't striking the
fly because it didn't look delicious, but because they weren't angry
at it. I could make them angry only by placing the fly very near
their snout. I believe that depth played a very big part in their
aggression. If I didn't get any strikes with a heavily weighted
nymph, I would change to one that was not weighted at all and relied
on the sinking leader to get the fly down. Other times I got hits by
removing the sinking leader and tossing tube flies at them, just under
the surface. It was a learning experience and *really* made fishing a
three demensional sport. Neither the guide nor I know why they boil
or roll on the surface, sometimes coming completely out of the water
like a whale. It's really something to see. I did get an eight
pounder by skating a fly across the surface - a salmon fishing Bomber
on a size 10 hook, white and red. Go figure. d;o)

I'm going to look into tying some tube flies for my local waters.
Don't know how to tie them, but I have a good source that can teach
me.

Dave

On Jan 23, 7:15*am, "Larry L" wrote:
The price of tungsten beads always blows my mind ( I bought some today,
fresh reminder )

So, I have a couple questions for you guys that know your nymphing stuff

1) Is the tungsten worth it, does the extra weight really turn into more
fish hooked? *for YOU

I think the only possible advantage to Tungsten is that it is denser
than lead (and of course, less toxic to the environment), so the only
benefit would be to sink a fly faster. I'd be curious to see some
experiment done with two fully dressed flies, dropped into a tall tube
of water, to see if the difference in sink rate is appreciable.

I'd also love to see some streamside data, but I'm not sure how to
gather it. I cast a tungsten-headed WB into fast water with a mental
image of the fly sinking to the bottom quickly, but I wonder if really
only tracking a few inches deeper than a lead head WB because the drag
on the fly, tippet and line counter the limited effect of the bead.

I wonder how much is hype, vs reality.

--riverman

"asadi" wrote

shouldn't this involve lead vs. no lead?

john


neither regular beads or tungsten are lead ... or toxic


please use non-toxic split shot, but that is not the bead built into the fly

"Larry L" wrote in message
...
The price of tungsten beads always blows my mind ( I bought some today,
fresh reminder )

So, I have a couple questions for you guys that know your nymphing stuff

1) Is the tungsten worth it, does the extra weight really turn into more
fish hooked? for YOU

2) How the hell do you tell, a year or more later, looking into your boxes
which flies are tungsten, which regular bead




shouldn't this involve lead vs. no lead?

john

"Larry L" wrote in message
...
The price of tungsten beads always blows my mind ( I bought some today,
fresh reminder )

So, I have a couple questions for you guys that know your nymphing stuff

1) Is the tungsten worth it, does the extra weight really turn into more
fish hooked? for YOU


I would agree the tungsten will get you down faster. I personally prefer
adding split, although I'm not crazy about the hinging effect. I have it in
my head that this technique is better since the nymph acts more natural in a
lighter state??? Don't know if that's true or not.

On the same lines, do any of you ever slip a bead on the tippet and then tie
on your non-beadhead nymph...? Is this effective?

Thanks,
JT