not all beads need to be white
not all beads need to be white
Norm, you absolutely right. In fact most my patterns call for black, copper, and gold, but the past five years I have been adding white. Haven't changed the ones that work thoughYou know, if it ain't broke.......
Glass, brass, tungsten, they all work. I've always associated the white beads with the BC-school of chironomid fishing, as represented by folks like Brian Chan and Philip Rowley, and as pointed out they are supposed to represent gills. I personally prefer glass to anything else, primarily because of the price.
In the Kamaloops area, my understanding is that chironomids can get up to #8's, but in my area I'm more likely to use a #18 or #20 and glass "seed" beads in 11/0 and 16/0 are a perfect match. Silver lined clear and silver lined red are all I've ever really needed, although I also tie some with opaque black and white beads. Thread bodies and wire ribs are usually sufficient, but flashabou bodies and/or pearlescent tags at the thorax can really add to the effectiveness of a pattern.
This thread has once again reminded me that I really need to tie more pupal forms for emergences, because almost all my patterns are for deeper situations.
Last edited by Normand; 03-06-2009 at 07:17 PM.
Donald, I fish a tailwater, so our "buzzers" are almost microscopic. I tie them with clear or silver-lined glass beads to represent an air bubble, and the ones with the bubble usually outproduce the ones without by a large margin. I tie them down to a #22, that's as small as I can go. I would tie smaller if I was capable.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
