Have a bunch of bead chains in different sizes from a hardware store. Tried to cut off a single bead for a beadhead fly, but a piec of the connecting metal “string” gets stuck in the bead and I can’t get it out unless I clamshell the bead then the shape is lost. Is this a useless idea? Figured someone might have tried it before. I just have a mountain of these things.
Janus
just leave it in. it wont hurt anything!!! 
why not regular beads for bead head flies???
Well I should just buy beads eventually I will get some. I just had alot of these and figured I’d try and use them. I can’t get the hook through with the metal wire piece inside the bead it bolcks the hole.
Janus
Janus,
The bead chain ‘beads’ are hollow. They don’t add much weight, which is the purpose of the bead head.
Unless you want to ‘open’ them, you won’t get the metal connecting rod portion out of them. There is a flat area, like the head of a nail, built onto it that keeps it from coming out of the bead…
The holes in the bead chain beads are too small to pass a hook bend, that’s why the beads designed for flies are ‘taper drilled’ so they will go around the bend.
Most fly tyers use bead chain in ‘pairs’, tying them accross the hook so that they look kind of like ‘eyes’. The pair of them adds about as much weight as a regular brass bead. Lay the ‘connecting rod’ portion across the hook shank and use ‘figure eight’ wraps to hole it in place. A drop of glue or cement is not a bad idea here.
On any pattern that calls for or allows for a bead head, you can substitute a set of bead chain ‘eyes’ if you want. They will work just fine, just remember to add a little dubbed thread wound between the ‘eyes’ to fill out your ‘head’.
Buddy
Thanks. I will give up on this attempt and just buy some proper single beads.
That bead chain is great for eyes on streamers, Clousers, Crazy Charlies, and various nymphs, so it’s not like it has to go to waste. With brass beads being fairly inexpensive, it’s probably not worth your time. I haven’t been able to justify the cost of tungsten beads though - if I need more weight, I just underwrap the body with lead-substitute wire.
Regards,
Scott
Bead chain is great for replacing lead dumbell eyes. In fact I tied some for a friend to use in Alaska where they reduced the casting weight and did their job with great success.
Buddy…"The pair of them adds about as much weight as a regular brass bead. "…I’m interested in that…I’ve always used them in place of a brass bead when I wanted to go lighter…just an assumption of mine…I don’t have my reloading scale here to check up on you:D… may have to change my ways
Here’s another tip if you want to paint your bead chain eyes. I dip them in nail polish (make sure it’s shaken up well) and let them hang over some newspaper to dry. I made a little gallows and fine wire to attach the chain so I can hang them. I then cut off pairs as needed, tie them in, and when the fly is finished I just use a toothpick dipped in black or red nail polish to create a pupil in the eye. This way you can get lots of eyes painted ahead of your tying session. Here are some of the colors I dip the chain into:
Most of teh bottles are $.99 or less at the Dollar store.
Joe
Joe,
I like your idea on painting the bead chain ahead of time. That would be a real time saver. Another thing you can do is purchase a small squeeze bottle of fabric paint. It comes in real small bottles with a small tip like super glue. After you have the bead chain tied in and the fly is done, you can fill the hollow space in the bead chain with whatever color of fabric paint you want and that will give you the “eye pupil” that will never come off with use plus it will add a little more weight.
Just a thought…
Joe…thanks for the tip…I was thinking of starting a thread and asking the exact questions you just answered…I actually recently tried dipping in acrylic paint and it didn’t take too well…may not have shaken it enough…just figured nail polish might be too thin…thanks again
Nail polish can be too thin if you don’t mix it thoroughly. If properly mixed, one dipping is all it takes to coat the chain. I hold it over the opening to let most of the excess run back into the bottle, then hang it over newspaper for the final drying. It doesn’t take very long for it to dry, and I can usually cut the eyes in less than 1 hour.
Good quality spray paint works too.
That 96 cent a can stuff from WalMart is excellent and dries fast.
That being said, I usually only want black, nickel, or brass, and I can buy it at ACE in those colors.
Buddy
I couldn’t find black at Ace…but what I did get there was 11 cents a foot…and I now just finished using the black Wet & Wild like Joe’s that I just happened to have…next I’m going to try some of the acrylics I have…should work too…
I have some very nice caddis green nail polish with sparkles in it that is too thin to show well on the beads…however I did some black and when it dried dipped the blackened ones into the green…not dry yet but I think it’s going to give a nice effect…
:D:D:D
I was going to suggest a dark base coat, but you figured that out. The sparkle polishes tend to be translucent, and allow the base color of the chain to show thru. Good call, let us know how it dries out.
Joe
It’s dried just fine.
Since we’re talking about this…Brian Chan and Phil Rowley are using painted bead chain …mottled…I’m not sure if this is just to market a product…they have come out with about 135 different products for stillwater fishing…but they do claim their products …especially the colors matter to the fish…e.i. stillwater trout…
I don’t fish for stillwater trout (cuz there ain’t none here in Ohio), and the panfish seem to be happy with whatever is thrown at them. If the gills don’t like something flashy, the crappie’s (specks) will chase it down for a meal. I can honestly say I can’t think of a subsurface fly that won’t catch some species of panfish. If it looks buggy, they’ll eat it.
Joe
Update…the acrylic paint doesn’t compare to the nail polish…
just a couple things I’ve found in my tinking’s…
I like to use an alcohol burner to “Bake” the nail polish/paint Finnish on…Really cut’s down on the chipping of the finnish…and a second dunking in the top coat polish of your choice with pearlescent glitter flakes added really gives minnow pattern a kewl look…
secondly, I like using bead chain in place of dumbbell eyes…In that I add weight to the eyes themselves, By filling the bead chain eyes with lead…using the lead tying wire we all have that fits into the holes of the eyes and either an alcohol burner or Benz-O-Matic torch…in the smaller sizes it really makes great looking nymph’s that have a bit more weight…but still not nearly as heavy,as if you’d have used dumbbell’s of the same size…
Janus
I have done what you are describing. When you cut the chain, you pretty much cut the little connector in half. If you hold the pair by one of the beads and shake it a bit, the “stem” will poke back out of the hole. You can cut it shorter if your using a small pair of side cutters or end nips. It’s easier to get the single bead on the hook without all of the extra material inside the bead.
Because the chain is hollow, you can get it on a smaller hook than a drilled bead, and it’s lighter.
Kirk