Here’s a great dispatch from Ken Allen in the Kennebec (Me.) Morning Sentinal about the “revolution” of overtly weighted flies. He suggests more proficient casting has fueled the bead/conehead craze, especially considering that a “fly can easily travel in excess of 100 miles per hour when the caster double hauls, so this sharp, metal object can be a dangerous missile.”
I still feel weird about fishing beadheads. I’m no purist by any measure, but there’s something about tying in a shiny piece of metal that looks more at home on an in-line spinner that doesn’t quite sit right with me.
But they work. In certain situations I’ve been in, they’ve outperformed standard nymphs and streamers by an obscene percentage. I don’t count the fish I’ve caught with beads any less than, say, one that chomped a standard Hare’s Ear. But there’s some guilt involved. Maybe it’s an Irish Catholic thing, I don’t know.
They’re also annoying to tie; an added expense in time and money to every nymph, which I find pretty boring to tie to begin with.
Posted by gjhaze 
