Andy Dear | Monday, 25 March 2024
The eyes are the jewels of the body.
---Henry David Throeau
Over the past few years, I have alluded to several times the large quantity of fly-tying tools and materials that my late friend Dr. John Tebbetts was kind enough to give my son Jackson. Contained in that large stash of materials were boxes and boxes of highly colored decorative beads. For the longest time, I couldn't figure out what exactly it was that John was doing with these. I was aware of many applications for colored beads in both conventional and fly fishing, but there didn't seem to be any indication that he was using these beads for anything that could be specifically identified.
One day, I was browsing through one of his fly boxes that contained some Keys-style Tarpon flies. Many of these looked to have what were multilayered barbell eyes...then it dawned on me; THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS DOING WITH ALL THOSE BEADS. In John's inimitable style, he was making his own synthetic barbell eyes, by taking stiff hard mason leader material, then sliding a bead or two onto each end of the the mono. The beads were temporarily held in place with superglue, then coated with rod-building guide wrap finish to give them a high depth of image. These were particularly effective shrimp and crab patterns where a large three-dimensional eye gives the predator a target to hone in on.
One of the things I love about these eyes is that they have virtually no weight to them, allowing large eyes to be used on patterns that don't require weighted eyes or would be negatively affected by the addition of extra weight. Additionally, they are incredibly durable as there is no paint to chip or no metal to corrode.
Since then, I too have begun a collection of uniquely finished synthetic beads. These can be found at just about every craft store or jewelry shop, and the variety is unlimited. Additionally, they usually come in quantities of 50-100 or more for just a few dollars, making custom eyes cheaper in many cases than mass-produced store bought eyes.
Next time you find yourself in a craft shop, pick up a few sizes and colors. DIY bead eyes on hard mono add an incredibly custom touch to any fly tiers art.
Hope you all are having a great week!
Andy