Fly Tying Beads, Eyes, Cone & Heads
There are a vast range of tungsten, brass and glass beads, eyes and cones for the fly tyer. From slotted tungsten beads to cones to make brass cone heads tube flies. Colours range from gold tungsten and gold brass to glass fishing beads. Living eyes make deadly streamer flies. Of course different materials have different sink rates, tungsten beads sinking far more quickly than brass beads. Heavier beads also make a diference to the fly sink rates for and bead sizes for different sized hooks as shown on the brass beads size chart below.
| Brass Bead Size | Typical Hook Size | Approx Sink Rate |
| 2mm | 16 to 20 | iro 13.5ips |
| 2.3mm | 14 to 18 | iro 14.5ips |
| 3mm | 12 to 16 | iro 16ips |
| 4mm | 8 to 12 | iro 18ips |
The beads for fly tying range from beads heads for fly, fish skull additions to brass cone head for tubes. Beads 4mm, 3mm to 2mm are available. We even use plastic beads and bead chain which work well for damsel flies. A fluoro head bead can provide deadly attraction in coloured waters however we use beads fly tying silver or gold beads can often provide too much glint and spook fish so consider nickel or copper beads which reflect sunlight less and still give the fly weight.
Lead eyes or even lure eyes that are completely realistic like the fish skull living eyes or Tubeology Lure Eyes which are made from photographs of real fish! The lengths we go to to make our flies realistic can be extreme but satistying.
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