by Ryan Hung, Reel Priorities, November 06, 2016

We arrive to the river bank with one conspicuous thought in mind: to catch fish. Adding to the ambiguity of float fishing for winter steelhead. are the many offerings that an angler may choose to suspend beneath the surface. Akin to a hot knife to room-temperature butter, we’ll be exposing the core and nuances of angling’s most natural style of presentation, while exploring the art of how to catch winter steelhead with beads.

Gear

For summer steelhead, I’ve found none more consistent than the spinner or bead for procuring numbers to the bank. Like the simplicity of the spinner, the bead expands upon the world of equal opportunity employment, carefully catering to those who prudently shy away from whirling blades-of-death. Beads seem to excel in the field of enticing those who fall prey to a more attuned eyes and scrupulous personalities of steelhead.
Beginning with the end in mind, I furnish myself with high producing patterns and carry enough gear to allow me a maximum of 15 chances to get the job done. Seeing how we’re not drift fishing in this tutorial, one may understand how such adhering to such cognition—abstaining from all that is unnecessary—is the true foundation of success.



Containers courtesy of Slay Em Beads. All 10 mm bead patterns can be purchased from TroutBeads.com

After proper rigging and correct placement in holding water for winter fish, the competition of bead fishing begins and ends in the stead of the angler who apprehends well the science behind color selection. Seeing how our aim is to mimic nature, empirical evidence has responded kindly to late season patterns redolent of dead eggs—pale oranges, whites or lifeless peach tones—consistently triggering the most bites. Juxtaposing their warm water and brighter hued kin, vibrant colors reach maximum efficacy during periods of peak spawning activity. When in doubt, turn over a couple of stones on the river bank, hemostat a few lifeless salmon eggs and partake in angler cunning, doing well to mimic the essence of nature. If you won’t make the time for preparations, be good, or be first through the slot.

Rigging

A simmering point of contention arises when it comes to properly rigging the bead. As a man of implicit simplicity, inference guides my knot-craft to the rig depicted below. The bead knot allows one the flexibility of carrying fewer materials, the one compromise being increased frequency of changing the lower 24” length of leader material, with every other alteration in color.



In ascending order: #2 Owner Cutting Point Octopus hook, 2.5” offset, 10 mm Natural Roe Mottled Trout Bead, 24” of #6 Maxima Ultragreen, #12 Beau Mac Barrel Swivel and 10 mm non-magnetic hematite bead.

Following closely behind the bead knot is the float stop rig. Though slightly more expensive and extensive in complexity than the latter—akin to the toothpick style of rigging beads—it hosts a plethora of advantages. It allows one the effortless ability to mitigate the offset of the bead to the hook, saving time on the water, eliminating the necessity of re-tying when switching colors or after missing a take. When steelhead nip a bead knot rig, the bead slides down the offset to the hook and permanently mangles the offset of monofilament. If the angler misses the hook-set on the fish, the entire bottom portion of the rig must be removed and retied, to restore the now compromised strength of the offset; the bead cannot be repositioned without sacrificing the tensile strength of the line. In contrast, the float stop rig circumvents such controversy.



A float stop rig furnished with a 10 mm peach Trout Bead, firmly fastened with Reel Priorities Bead Stops. Available this winter online and a local retailer near you.

To properly mimic a single egg, remember to create separation from the bead from the hook, including a minimum of 2” of offset. Though I’ve enticed many fish to the bank with the bead flush against the eye of the hook, I’ve garnered significantly more bites with the offset than without it.

Last season, I watched helplessly as a crowd of amateur anglers laid waste to a school of steelhead in front of me, on a small river in the Olympic Peninsula, presenting similar patterns beneath the float in the same slot. After a bout of solace and the employment of reason upon the riverbank, I noticed they were rigging their beads away from the hook. The following cast artistically bent my rod (alongside the seventeen fortuitous flicks that followed). If there is one salience attributed to this article, remember to offset your bead. Preparing your mind for action and gear for every situation is a sure way to forge cast-iron habits of success.



Remember to create a minimum spacing of 2” from the bead to your hook. Depicted is a 10mm Mandarin Roe bead tied with a 2.25” offset to the hook.

Methodology

A quality I’ve admired about men and women of the fly has been their dedication to consummate efficiency. While their selected handicap in efficacy limits many opportunities and types of water to fish, it spurs exponential growth by forcing those successful to hone their ability to read water, position themselves properly for the run and maximize their capacity for rigging. Permissible to statewide rules, you may find it deadly effective to run both jig and bead in tandem; this provides complete balance between two disparate worlds, one of bead and jig. One may find success to exist to lie in the “Trojan horse” strategy. Suspending first a superfluously bright jig—sporting unconventional colors or flashy material—that which is ill-suited for the conditions at hand, draws attention from the fish. Curiosity piqued, the fish soon discovers the jig to be trailed by the true offering, undulating 24” behind. Oftentimes, you will be surprised to find the fish mouthing your unconventional amalgam of jig materials, turning a blind eye to your natural offering! In the end, we effectually reach our definitive end: to procure more opportunities to bring fish to the bank.


A 10mm orange Brad’s Bead trailing a Reel Priorities Hackle-Bead Jig with 24” of #6 Maxima Ultragreen monofilament.

Harmonization

While bead fishing isn’t infallible, it will certainly elevate your skill as an angler, with proper execution. Fish deep for lethargic winter fish; suspend your offerings higher in the water column for their metabolically-charged summer relatives to chase. Neutrally buoyant, beads can be fished much deeper without suffering the impending ramifications of an eighth ounce jig dredging the bottom aggregate.



An apt reply from a Skykomish summer run contender who agreed with the methodology of a properly rigged bead—thank God for that spool of #8 Maxima.

I encourage you to attempt all variants of rigging, to ascertain which style caters best to you. Tip your Trojan horse jig or trailing bead hook with shrimp trail, or twist a bait rig trailed with a bead—the possibilities are endless. The more casts you take, the better you’ll become. Remember the following when impetuous tangles, frozen rod guides and frostbitten fingertips beleaguer you: as diamonds to the coextensive forces of time and pressure, so the skill of a steelhead angler to cumulative casts and failures. Take heart fellow anglers; employ nothing less than your best; enjoy the surface scintillations our fluviatile modicum, thrashing on the end of your now frequently crescent-shaped rod.

Thank you for reading—Reel Priorities, out.



Specializing in sales and acquisitions of residential investment and world-class angling properties of the Northwest