My favorites:
Death Roe Nat Roe 5/16”
Death Roe Ultra Chartreuse - 5/16”
Death Roe Cheese - 5/16”
Troutbeads - 8mm Motted Roe
CAC Two-Tone Yellow Orange Iridescent - 10MM

I have so many I often forget what the names are.

 

Death Roes orange frost looks like a good colour. Need to get my hands on some.

 

I just fished with beads for the first time this year. When I looked at the wall covered with beds at the tackle store I thought ‘seriously?? There are 200 different beads here but only about 6 basic color schemes’.

Do you try to dial in the exact color and size egg to ‘match the hatch’? Or just use your favorite based on post experiences and adjust based on your success?

Like I said I’m a total novice to beads so I’m asking out of ignorance.

 

I just fished with beads for the first time this year. When I looked at the wall covered with beds at the tackle store I thought ‘seriously?? There are 200 different beads here but only about 6 basic color schemes’.

Do you try to dial in the exact color and size egg to ‘match the hatch’? Or just use your favorite based on post experiences and adjust based on your success?

Like I said I’m a total novice to beads so I’m asking out of ignorance.

Speaking only from my experience. Ive been a fan of beads ever since they came back on the scene and gained wide attention. And I agree the selection is crazy. The beads I listed seem to be the most consistent regionally. From the Niagara to the St.Mary’s down through MI west side. TB Peach roe, for me works in ugly and clear water. The TB Apricot 8mm works well when the kings are doing there thing and washed out dead eggs are washing down stream. The Trick em Atomic Orange covers the bright side. The Atomic Yellow doesn’t represent any egg, but it certainly takes fish and finally the TB Egg Yoke in a 6 mm gets a heavy wash when the suckers are spawning and some post spawn steelhead are still around. Another colour that could easily hit the top 5 is TB 10 mm Peachy King. That bead made something out of nothing a couple of times on BM in November. I don’t do well on uv stuff, but my buddies do. If I could only have 5-6 sizes and colours, it would probably be these.

 

Oh man… this is an insanely hard one for me! I am a total bead whore…

I do focus somewhat on “matching the hatch” a lot of times, or absurd stuff when I know I’m on fresh fish. So I could never limit myself to 5. I also paint my own that I use quite often, so that’s of no help to anyone as a point of reference…

But, if I was to name 5 commercially available that would be on me at all times it’s as follows, both in 8 and 10mm:
Trout beads mottled egg yolk
Trout beads glow roe
Great Lakes steelhead snot
Slayn steel draco
Slayn steel chromecrank

 

I’m getting more into the beads myself. They certainly work. Not too long ago I saw an interesting segment on Bob Izumi’s Real Fishing on beads, and steelhead’s reactions. They had great under water footage. Top couple colors were natural egg shades, the top 3rd choice of the fish was the lead shot above the bead.

 

Haven't had much luck with them yet. Will be watching this thread closely.

 

You will..my fishing partner had that same experience. He’s as hard core as anyone. If you can convince yourself to hit the river and leave the eggs in the freezer and force yourself to only fish beads..confidence will increase quick. We hit the Niagara in November, about 2 hours into the drive he said he thought he left his egg cooler in the driveway. We pulled over and he had. He was crying like a small child for the rest of the way…no eggs..no eggs..I gave him some beads. Seven hours later on the way home..he on his phone ordering beads. Lol
It was the best day we had all year.

 

Beads work great, but my hook up to landing ratio is not very good compared to when I'm floating bags.

 

IMG_0015

• riverman
• Mar 11, 2012

. 2012 pic. Center pins took beads to a new level

 

Trout Bead-Lemon Roe
Trout Bead-Egg Yolk
Trout Bead-Chartreuse
Slay’N Steel-Draco
Slay’N Steel- Float Drop Soup

 

Trout Bead-Lemon Roe
Trout Bead-Egg Yolk
Trout Bead-Chartreuse
Slay’N Steel-Draco
Slay’N Steel- Float Drop Soup

I have the last two. What is your favorite size? 10mm?

 

A 10mm peach bead works day in, day out

 

Solid 5 colors from bob as well… the one I personally have never fished is chartreuse… it made it to my box recently, as a couple of buddies of mine have brought it into rotation with success.

steve both float drop soup and draco are solid beads that see water more days than not for me.

don’t be afraid to go down to 8mm when super clear water up there like we had for a bulk of November. 8s were all we could get them to go on for one weekend in particular. 8s become more in rotation for me in the March time frame as well even when there is some color to the water. Once “dirty” 10 and 12 come out exclusively.

comment on landing ratio, yes. Definitely a lower landing ratio than jigs or bags in my experience as well. Vmc 9299 in size 4 for 8mm, size 4 or even 2 for 10mm, size 2 or even 1 for 12mm has treated me best…. Been playing with raven sickles this year, and have been pleased, with what so far seems like a slightly better landing ratio than the 9299. Size 12 for 8mm and 10mm, size 10 for 12mm (yes, their sizing is messed up compared to other manufacturers. Size 4 is like a gami 2/0)

 

I have also noticed wild inconsistencies in hook size between manufacturers.

 

Everyone has their favorite bead company and favorite names for their favorite beads. I see lists like this post and go buy beads only to find out they're all basically the same colors lol.

 

Honestly, I've been watching this thread and looking up colors of various manufacturers referenced and finding similar colors in my box. I'm up to two boxes now. Starting to think I have a problem.

 

I agree. Confidence is key.

 

@rippin lip I would buy those beads just because of the name. Buzzy beads LOL. Love that.

 

Ole “Gettin um” came up with the name.

 

TUNAS!

 

Slay n steel jolly nog for winter and starburst for 9 months out of the year.


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A handful of favorites. Hard to pick through and say favorite 5. Starburst, frosted peach egg yolk, fireball, trout crack, Tequila sunrise.

 

How bout a combo like this? And tip that jig with some waxies.

20220303_201655.jpg

• Steve
• Mar 4, 2022

 

Yep…for me personally I rig in reverse. Jig with a tag/dropper to the bead.

 

More than 5 and no particular order….but these get a lot of run time. Starburst has been on fire for me as of late. Bloop Bead Co has some nice looking offerings. I just picked up a handful I think have some good promise.
Slay n Steel OG
Slay n Steel Starburst
Slay n Steel Draco
Slay n Steel Chrome Crank
Slay n Steel Chum Peach
Slay n Steel Float Drop Soup
Slay n Steel Ur-Roe-Nium
GLSC Steelhead Snot
Trout Beads Egg Yolk
Trout Beads Sun Orange
Trout Beads Lemon Roe
Mr Derks Kano Special
Mr Derks Flashy Roe


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Guys did good with that leekz color in high water this year. 8’a and 10’s

 

A little off topic, but still related question. I fish beads for steelhead about 90% of the time. I find them really effective for getting a bite, but I seem to lose a lot of fish. I have kept track for almost 10 years and my landing % is just above 50%. Sure steelhead are strong and we have a lot of wood in our rivers, but that seems high. My rig is pretty standard with 8 or 10lb flouro leader and bead pegged 1.5-2in above a snelled raven hook. So, I'm curious if others are experiencing similar hook to landing %? I feel like I need to make a change to get it higher, but I'm not sure what? Thanks

 

Are you using the right size hook with the bead you are running? If your running an 8mm you need to run a size 6 hook, size 10mm bead you need a size 4 hook... a 12mm with a size 2 hook.

 

I run 10mm mostly and use size 6 Raven strong Octopus hooks. Maybe I should size up? Not all the time, but pretty frequently I lose fish within a few seconds of hooking them. So, that could definitely be part of the problem...

 

I’d check the amount of slack you have in your drifts if the problem is mostly at the hook set or how hard you setting or the height of your rod tip at the set.
I also never run larger than #6 hooks, 8-12mm beads, and I lose very few fish. Maybe that’s because the hook only sticks on a solid take. Lots of the folks around me fish much bigger hooks and lose more fish after a head shake or two. Their theory on the bigger hook is that it will grab better before the fish can spit the bead. That may be true but also result in a much higher rate of head shake losses. My kid runs the same program and has been doing as well as anyone at Allegan. I’ve been doing pretty good on the days I can get there, too.

 

Gezz steelhead in general I lose 45% of my hook ups no matter what I use. Lol , Many guys running bent eye and some strait eye and both set different depending on how you tie your knot. I’m not saying that snell is better or worse but feel better with bent eye and I prefer regular fishermen’s knot. Eagle claw L1gbh, and vmc 9299bn are my preferred hooks, 4#’s for 10’s and 6#’s for 8’s 2.5 fingers from hook typically. Definitely have friends that snell and I’ve in past done same and had almost same results maybe less landed with snell. Just me

 

I’m a big fan of upturn eye, snell knot and an offset hook. Snells are very strong knots and the offset has a great shot at hooking the fish. I really like owner mosquito hooks. You see this theme a lot

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All good talk on hook sizing, and snell here. When losing your fish, has your bead been down at the hook when you’ve reeled back in? If so, could be your gap was closed off. A firm solid pegging helps a lot. Bead knots with addition of a peg can really keep it in place.

Ive been running raven sickles for most of the season as an experiment, and so far, so good. Other than that, vmc 9299 size 4 and 2 have treated me pretty decent.

To add another variable to the discussion, the rod.

I find some rods are simply better bead rods than others. A tad bit of a softer rod opposed to say a pool cue makes a world of difference. Saturday for example, fishing water smaller than planned, where my 13’ would not be ideal. So a buddy offered to loan me a rod. Once I was 0/5 or so, I switched out to another softer rod he had, and I believe ended the day 4/4 with that rig.

last input is rod angle… I try to switch it as little as possible (I.e. if you lean left, stay left until you absolutely can’t). Many of times I’ve popped the hook when I had to switch angles on a fish several times in a fight. I’m assuming it works that puncture wider and wider until eventually a rip or the right angle pries it free? Just a proven observation from my experience to consider.