Bead Heads

[cje04]

I was wondering if and how you secure the bead on the hook when tying. Do you secure the bead with thread before you tie the fly, after the fly has been tied, or not at all? Thanks

[Drake]

Yeah, just keep building up the thread until it is locked in place.

[Trout4x]

By the time I am finished with the fly the thread and the rest of the material will prevent the bead from going anywhere.

[cje04]

When I tie beadheads I also build the thread up to lock the bead in place before I tie the fly. After watching several different people tie flies though I noticed it varied quite a bit as to how they did it. Looks like I will have to head to the vise to try some other ways of doing it. Thanks for the responses.

[Baiter]

I wrap lead and cram it up under the bead and then secure with thread. The benefits of beads are depth and creating a swimming (Jig effect) motion some more weight is better most of the time.

Dan

[nordicnomad]

I'll have to try the lead idea. I was just tying some beadheads this morning, and didn't like having a big lump of thread behind the bead where I will be tying off material and whip-finishing.

[Jason]

On most of my beadhead patterns I don't even worry about securing the bead unless it's a large pattern with a larger bead. A bunch of thread wraps work just fine and If I do want to secure it really good, with larger patterns, then I might use a little fine dry fly dubbing and kind of force it up into the bead opening. I do like the lead or wire idea but it's just another step you're adding to your tying steps....no need in my opinion.