Video: How to Choose Beads and Cones for Fly Tying


Welcome to the latest installment of our series of videos called “One-Minute Fly-Tying Tips and Techniques” from Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions. Each video will teach a single tying skill, from the most basic to the advanced. Ultimately, the series will serve as a sort of encyclopedia of tying skills that will be a valuable resource for anyone who sits down at a vise to create a fly.

Beads and cones come in a dizzying array of sizes, weights, colors, and shapes. So how do you figure out which kind you need? In this short video, Tim offers some useful tips for choosing the right kind of weight or decoration for a given pattern. Whether you’re tying size 20 midges or size 2 Slumpbusters, you’ll want to grab the right material to make the fly look and perform best.

6 thoughts on “Video: How to Choose Beads and Cones for Fly Tying”

  1. is there a way to get a list of the beads, cones that matches the sizes of the proper hook they are for? for example (5/32 bead fits size 2, 4 hook). this is always been my tough part in fly tying is to match or pair beads and cones to hooks

      1. Even better one, with both inches and mm, is at jsflyfishing.com. Go to any of their beads and click. The next window has a great chart.

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