Fishing Trout beads, for trout, salmon and steelheads

From $2.99

If you've spent any time on a trout stream lately, or wandered down the steelheading aisle of your tackle shop, you have some idea of the popularity of trout beads. A few innovative anglers first started using them on the Alaskan rainbow trout rivers a few years ago and quite simply, they worked so well that that the idea has spread across the continent.

The concept is simple. Trout eat fish eggs. Beads look like fish eggs. Affix a bead to the line above your hook and more often than not, a trout can be fooled into striking. While there is some controversy about the legality and ethics of the use of beads, for now they are legal in many places. There is some concern among some anglers that the fish is not taking the hook but is being snagged by it, but in my experience and during my research, this has not been the case. I'm not going to say it never happens, any more than I'd say a trout is never hooked in the back by a Rapala, but a foul hook up is not the intended effect of the rig when fished properly. Beads can be fished as a fly or under a float. In my area, they are most commonly used under a float, either alone or as an added attractant when fishing a baited hook. There are several ways to rig a bead but the method I use is likely the simplest: I tie on a fluorocarbon leader, usually 8-12 pound test. I slide on a bead and I peg it with a silicone peg called a Peg-It. The pegs are tapered, so insert the narrow end and pull through until the thicker end is snug inside the bead. Some people will leave the ends of the peg sticking out, but I prefer to trim it flush, being careful not to nick the line when doing so.