Beads on leader

I read in the article about Wooly Buggers about sliding beads or cones onto
the leader to weight the line, so you can fish a fly at different depths.
How well does this work, as compared to using a beadhead fly? Does it affect
casting, or chafing of the leader?

--riverman

"riverman" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
I read in the article about Wooly Buggers about sliding beads or cones
onto
the leader to weight the line, so you can fish a fly at different depths.
How well does this work, as compared to using a beadhead fly? Does it
affect
casting, or chafing of the leader?

--riverman



It does affect casting quite a lot, and the loose beads can cause other
problems. Split shot is better, or use the beads with a "float stopper".
This is a small silicone rubber bead, which is threaded onto the line (
bobber stopper), the bead is threaded, and then the fly is tied on. The
stopper is then pushed down to hold the bead against the hook.

This also works very well for tube flies by the way.

The "float stoppers" are available in most tackle shops. You can se a
picture here;
http://www.tackleshop.co.uk/ProductD...egoryID/155/v/

You are better served with the right weighted flies to start with though.

TL
MC

"riverman" wrote in
:

I read in the article about Wooly Buggers about sliding beads or cones
onto the leader to weight the line, so you can fish a fly at different
depths. How well does this work, as compared to using a beadhead fly?
Does it affect casting, or chafing of the leader?

--riverman



I've done it, mostly using shape-able weight putty to "glue" the bead down
over the hook eye. This eliminates the bead sliding around, but there are
some problems with line chafing.

Scott

"riverman" wrote in message
...
I read in the article about Wooly Buggers about sliding beads or cones
onto
the leader to weight the line, so you can fish a fly at different depths.
How well does this work, as compared to using a beadhead fly? Does it
affect
casting, or chafing of the leader?


If you want to do that, get out your baitcaster and peg a 3/8 -1/2 oz. slip
sinker to the line using a rubber band or a tooth pick like the bass fishers
do.

"Hooked" wrote in message
...
"riverman" wrote in message
...
I read in the article about Wooly Buggers about sliding beads or cones
onto
the leader to weight the line, so you can fish a fly at different
depths.
How well does this work, as compared to using a beadhead fly? Does it
affect
casting, or chafing of the leader?


If you want to do that, get out your baitcaster and peg a 3/8 -1/2 oz.
slip
sinker to the line using a rubber band or a tooth pick like the bass
fishers
do.



Thats the word I've been getting from other folks, too, Hooked. Sliding
beads cause trouble.

The other problem I have been finding (with beadheads as well as weighted
leaders) is that I can't seem to cast worth s**t! The leader won't turn
over, and the cast seems to have lots of 'noisy waves' in it, caused by the
extra wiggling of the rod tip on my backcast when the heavy fly hits the end
of the backcast. How do folks modify their casts to account for the extra
weight? Is there some way to 'absorb' and even out the loading up of the
backcast?

--riverman

"riverman" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
The other problem I have been finding (with beadheads as well as weighted
leaders) is that I can't seem to cast worth s**t! The leader won't turn
over, and the cast seems to have lots of 'noisy waves' in it, caused by
the
extra wiggling of the rod tip on my backcast when the heavy fly hits the
end
of the backcast. How do folks modify their casts to account for the extra
weight? Is there some way to 'absorb' and even out the loading up of the
backcast?

--riverman



The only real answer to that, is to use heavier lines ( heads). Beyond a
certain point, casting any appreciable weight any distance with a fly-line
becomes more or less impossible. The fly-line is simply not heavy enough to
carry it.

Leraning to "drift" will cushion the problem somewhat, but not completely
solve it. For "drifting" see here;
http://www.sexyloops.com/articles/drifting.shtml


Here is a rough table of the fly-sizes you can expect to cast "normally"
with various lines. Much over the sizes given for any line, and it just
will not work.

The larger the number ( up to size 1/0) the smaller the hook. Above 1/0 the
larger the number, the larger the hook.

Line Weight Fly size
3 28 -12
4 up to 10
5 up to 8
6 up to 6
7 up to 4
8 12 - 1/0
9 up to 2/0
10 up to 3/0
11 up to 4/0
12 up to 6/0

There is a lot of overlap, and heavy ( weighted) or bulky flies will require
a heavier line than indicated in the table. There is a lot of nonsense
talked about "weightless" flies etc. Here again, there is no such animal.
The larger the fly the heavier it is. Bulky flies also have more air
resistance and need heavier lines to carry them.

Double hauling will increase the weight of fly which can be carried, as it
generates more line speed. A shooting head will carry the most weight in
any given range.

There are special flies and techniques ( sayonara sling for instance) which
will allow you to cast heavy flies, but you would need to learn the
technique first, and this is not easy.

What are you using now?

TL
MC

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 09:30:17 +0100, "riverman"
wrote:

How do folks modify their casts to account for the extra
weight? Is there some way to 'absorb' and even out the loading up of the
backcast?

Here's instructions on an alternative to the 'lob cast' (which is what
I normally use) by a former roff poster: http://tinyurl.com/38htw
--
Charlie...

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...
The only real answer to that, is to use heavier lines ( heads). Beyond a
certain point, casting any appreciable weight any distance with a fly-line
becomes more or less impossible. The fly-line is simply not heavy enough
to
carry it.

Leraning to "drift" will cushion the problem somewhat, but not completely
solve it. For "drifting" see here;
http://www.sexyloops.com/articles/drifting.shtml


Here is a rough table of the fly-sizes you can expect to cast "normally"
with various lines. Much over the sizes given for any line, and it just
will not work.

The larger the number ( up to size 1/0) the smaller the hook. Above 1/0
the
larger the number, the larger the hook.

Line Weight Fly size
3 28 -12
4 up to 10
5 up to 8
6 up to 6
7 up to 4
8 12 - 1/0
9 up to 2/0
10 up to 3/0
11 up to 4/0
12 up to 6/0

There is a lot of overlap, and heavy ( weighted) or bulky flies will
require
a heavier line than indicated in the table. There is a lot of nonsense
talked about "weightless" flies etc. Here again, there is no such animal.
The larger the fly the heavier it is. Bulky flies also have more air
resistance and need heavier lines to carry them.

Double hauling will increase the weight of fly which can be carried, as it
generates more line speed. A shooting head will carry the most weight in
any given range.

There are special flies and techniques ( sayonara sling for instance)
which
will allow you to cast heavy flies, but you would need to learn the
technique first, and this is not easy.

What are you using now?


(The following are best-guesses)
On my 4 wt rod, I use SA 5wt airflo with 5x or 6x tapered leader, and I also
use a SA 5wt sinktip.
On my 6/7 wt rod, I use SA 8wt airflo with 3x or 4x tapered leader, and also
a RIO 7wt intermediate sinking line.

I find that I have my worst trouble casting #12 beadhead WBs on either rod.
I can see why, from your chart.

I think my next overhaul will be to tap into the knowledge of someone more
experienced and 'tuned' the line, leader and tippet for each rod. I'd want
to have a full floating line setup, a sinktip set up and a full sink setup
each, as well as a shooting head for the 8wt. As it is, I sort of 'evolved'
the rigging I have now, and I can tell that its not really tuned for the
best casting in most conditions. Every now and then, it all seems to come
together (fly size, length of tippet, leader weight) and the rod casts and
turns over like a dream at almost any distance. But usually, there's only a
narrow range of 'optimum' distance and performance, and outside of that, I
can tell that something's just not right.

--riverman

SNIP
What are you using now?


(The following are best-guesses)
On my 4 wt rod, I use SA 5wt airflo with 5x or 6x tapered leader, and I
also
use a SA 5wt sinktip.
On my 6/7 wt rod, I use SA 8wt airflo with 3x or 4x tapered leader, and
also
a RIO 7wt intermediate sinking line.

I find that I have my worst trouble casting #12 beadhead WBs on either
rod.
I can see why, from your chart.

I think my next overhaul will be to tap into the knowledge of someone more
experienced and 'tuned' the line, leader and tippet for each rod. I'd want
to have a full floating line setup, a sinktip set up and a full sink setup
each, as well as a shooting head for the 8wt. As it is, I sort of
'evolved'
the rigging I have now, and I can tell that its not really tuned for the
best casting in most conditions. Every now and then, it all seems to come
together (fly size, length of tippet, leader weight) and the rod casts and
turns over like a dream at almost any distance. But usually, there's only
a
narrow range of 'optimum' distance and performance, and outside of that, I
can tell that something's just not right.

--riverman



SA? You mean Scientific anglers? Or Airflo? Whatever, it does not really
matter.

Learning to drift will help a great deal. I see Dan Gracia says the same
thing in the article that Charlie referred to. If you use a #10 or #11
weight ( or even a #12) head on the #8 it should solve most of your
problems. You could also use an #8 or #9 head on the 6/7 wt. The heads can
be any length really, but most prefer them around thirty feet.

This may help you,
http://www.ukswff.co.uk/mconner.htm

http://www.ukswff.co.uk/mason.htm

I have a lot more info on this if you want. But we had better take it to
e-mail.

It is not difficult to set these up yourself.

TL
MC

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...



SA? You mean Scientific anglers? Or Airflo? Whatever, it does not
really
matter.


See how much I know?? grin It's Scientific Anglers, I think the line is
called 'aircell' or 'microcell' or something. Its an ugly light green, WF
taper floating line. Not specialized, and not too expensive. Truth it, it
has horrible memory and lays on the water in little wavy curls. I don't see
it on the SA website, but its in a SA catalogue I have from last year. The
way they market fly lines these days, its probably just so last year that
they don't even carry it anymore. I'm happy to replace it with a higher
quality (and prettier) line, once I learn more about what I want.

--riverman