Gold beads with polish woven nymphs

[John Killinger]

It seems lately I've had more time for tying than fishing, particularly because I was away for awhile this summer. Anyways, back to the question, I tie up patterns sometimes not thinking or knowing if a particular combination works. So the question is gold not the right or most popular color bead for polish woven nymphs? I'm getting the feeling black or copper is the better color especially when fishing low or clear water.  I'm noticing copper is used quite a bit as of late. Guess I'll save the gold ones for high water.

[Nick Naclerio]

My favorite all around woven nymph is a size 10 with a gold bead and tan and white floss. Give it a shot it kills.

[Dejon Hamann]

Gold is my #1 bead on everything I tie. 

[Chris Puchniak]

Gold is certainly good in a vast number of situations I've found.  I do have some brass and black as well (as well as a few other FL. colours), but gold covers a lot of scenarios.  Good to have.

[John Killinger]

Doesn't gold sometimes make fish shy away? A black bead to me on a caddis imitation seems more natural. Am I wrong about this?

[Jeremiah Hamilton]

Gold is my number one bead, one every type of flies.

[Dejon Hamann]

There are various theories on this.  I'd say in general though, no.  It acts as an attractor rather than a repulor (that's not a word, but it sounds good).  Some say highly pressured wild fish are more apt to eat a black bead... I'm worried this is true so it's the other color I use most at my tying bench.

Doesn't gold sometimes make fish shy away? A black bead to me on a caddis imitation seems more natural. Am I wrong about this?

[Pat Weiss]

Ive always hedged my bets and tied most of my flies w/a copper bead, some flash, but not too much.

[Chris Puchniak]

It's beneficial to always have a couple of options - not too many choices though, because that leads to a headache.

But take  for example chironomid fishing in our lakes which is very popular.

You want to have 2 types of chirnomids (at least with respect to the white head or gill representation).  On the one hand, you have the most popular styles which use a white bead head to help the pattern sink faster AND  make the appearance of the white gills on the chironomid most visible (as it may be a focus point for trout).  These patterns can be really useful a good percentage of the time, especially when you have a lot of algae in the lake which would normally foul up most fly patterns (the bead, being more frictionless often doesn't pick up the algae) or tannin waters.  On the other hand, there are days (and lakes) when the bright visibility of the bead head seems to be too much, and a pattern with more subtle ostrich herl or antron will produce much better (often on those lakes that are very busy and see hundreds of bead head flies).

When I apply this to rivers, it means I want to have both bright and non-bright beads to cover multiple scenarios.  No point in limiting yourself too much.

[Chris Smorul]

I tie my woven caddis larva with both gold and copper beads.  I have found more success in my local water with the copper beaded variety.

[John Killinger]

I'm still confused, guess I'll have to tie more subdued colors and experiment.

[Chris Puchniak]

I'm still confused, guess I'll have to tie more subdued colors and experiment.

That's probably the motto of every flyfisher!

1.  Find you have a deadly pattern.  Works great every day!
2.  Suddenly it doesn't work one day.  Guy beside you outfishes you 5 to 1.
3.  Find self in a state of confusion.
4.  Go to tying bench and experiment with flies and techniques.
5.  Go back to waters to again create deadly pattern.

Repeat as needed.

I think that is the flyfishing process right there and you summed it up in your statement. 

[Tim Long]

I think its more like this...
1.  Tie on a pheasant tail and catch fish
2.  Try other patterns that appear flashier to the human eye
3.  Go back to the pheasant tail that you started with
4.  Fish a wooly bugger when you get bored catching too many fish on the pheasant tail

[Jason Hearle]

I have been tying one fly and trying different combos of beads and flashbacks.  Some work better part of the time and sometimes they don't.  As a few of you said, get back to the vise and try something different.  Here is the best way I have found to troubleshoot this problem...

1  Pick a pattern that you have had good success with in the past, one you are experimenting with, or in this case, a polish nymph. 

2  Ty the fly exactly the same with 2 different bead colors.

3  To test which fly is more effective on a particular water, fish a two team rig with both flies (different bead colors) and then change them from point to dropper (vice versa) after a certain amount of time or fish.  (I usually use the polish nymphing method for this.)

This will answer two questions for you:  Which fly is more productive?  Does placement of the fly in dropper or point position make a difference?

That being said, I use this same test with different color bodies, flash backs, bead color, and addition or deletion of a material(s).

[Kaleb Snyder]

I have also found that black nickel beads work well with lighter colored (tan, or in that color range) nymphs. It gives a little shine which in my eyes helps make the fish want to eat. They work very well here in Central PA:)

[John Killinger]

Tied up some polish nymphs with black nickel beads, lighter color body and darker collar, we'll see if they work for the deeper runs on my local stream.

[Chris Puchniak]

Tied up some polish nymphs with black nickel beads, lighter color body and darker collar, we'll see if they work for the deeper runs on my local stream.

That sounds like a pretty good caddis pattern that may be more effective when more "curiousity-inspiring" patterns don't work.  Always can be effective to run one flashy pattern in a tandem with a more somber pattern.  The fish may come to look at your hi-vis pattern, reject it, but stay around to take the more subtler pattern.

[John Killinger]

Thanks for all the tips on this post.

As soon as I get out to test this, I'll give a report! I healing from knee surgery, torn meniscus, they also scraped some arthritis. I may get out sometime in between the holidays. Really missing fishing.