It's ironic - the much heralded dries attract so much attention and press, yet when the chips are down, more often then not you will see a beadhead fly on the end of a leader. And lately, spin fishermen have been converting to the effectiveness of beadheads. Suspended under micro-bobbers or cast with shot, beadheads account for some pretty astounding catches. All flies catch trout, but beadheads take it to another level. Whether fishing a stream, river or lake, you'll catch trout using these flies.

Beadheads are simply flies that have a bead tied in behind the eye of the hook. The fly material is built up behind the bead, keeping it in place. The bead adds weight, causing the fly to sink, but it also adds glitter. I'm convinced that the glint of gold or silver has called fish in to take a look.

There are many types of beads on the market, and their applications vary, but the standard is the brass beadhead in either gold, silver or copper colors. The bead is tied into the front of the fly and the size of the bead is varied, depending on angler preference. As a general rule, try to match the bead to the total size of the fly. Tungsten beadheads are a relative newcomer to the market, but they're hooking anglers deeply. Tungsten is dense stuff, significantly heavier than the standard brass beads. This extra weight has great appeal to anglers looking for a quick drop.

Since Tungsten is so heavy for its size, it is the bead of choice when you need to get the fly deep, and fast. This is perfect for stream situations, especially when fishing deeper flowing water. A tungsten bead fished off of a floating line, long leader and strike indicator has duped a pile of trout. On lakes, where sink rate isn't as great of an issue, a standard brass bead will do fine. In fact, I would even go out on a limb and say that I prefer the standard brass on still water, especially when casting smaller flies. The reason is sink rate. Beadheads that represent nymphs in lakes often need to be presented horizontally and slowly for best results. The slower sink rate of brass beadheads will accomplish this far better than the tungsten, which will make a fast beeline straight for the bottom.

On larger flies, however, bigger and heavier is often better. I snap troll big wooly buggers off of a sinking line using a large conehead -a relative to the beadhead. The size and weight of the conehead is just the ticket for the big stuff. Coneheads add a lot of weight to the fly, which, when trolling, allows you to cover more water. As the conehead is snapped forward, the fly rises and when the rod is dropped back, the fly sinks. Not only is more water being covered by trolling, but the snapping motion changes the depth of the presentation, putting the angler in contact with more fish.

Lake Fishing
Here are two excellent methods for using beadheads to catch trout in lakes.

The first strategy is to hunt the shallows at low light or at any other time you see trout working the shallows. Use a flyrod with a 7½ foot leader and add another 5 feet of tippet. I like to use a 5X or 6X tippet, which puts you around 4-lb test depending on the brand you buy. Attach a beadhead nymph in size #12 or 14 and cast it towards feeding trout. Work in close first and gradually extend your range to cover all water. The retrieve is slow. No twitches, nothing fancy, just a steady and smooth retrieve. When you feel weight, like a weed or something funny, lift the rod. Sometimes it is a weed, but lots of times they're trout. Their size too, will often surprise you. I've caught a boatload of trout over 4 pounds using this method and regularly hit trout that are well over six pounds.

For the spin fishermen, suspending the same nymph under a microbobber about the size of a dime or penny will yield excellent results. I use 6-lb main line and attach 2 feet of 4-lb mono on the end, to spook less fish. The one extra thing I do while spin fishing is twist the knot attached to the fly so that the fly hangs horizontally below the bobber. It looks natural and you'll catch more trout.

The other strategy involves trolling. Using sinking flyline (type III or type IV) and again, the long leader or a spinning rod with some split shot, attach a big attention getting beadhead wooly bugger. Work deeper, concentrating in 8 to 20 feet of water. Work in tight to deep weed edges and off prominent underwater points. The best pattern is to zigzag into and away from shore and be sure to pay particular attention to where bites happen. If every time you turn near the weeds the shoreline rod gets hammered it could be that the fish are shallower, or it could be because the turn causes the fly to speed up and rise. Now for the big payoff move. As you're moving along snap the rod, pumping it forward every few seconds. This causes the fly to dart forward, then fall, then dart forward. In addition to the darting action, because the fly is a beadhead, the fly will rise on the snap and then will fall as the rod is pointed back towards the hook. I've been using this snapping technique for some time and it works like crazy. Trout love this and hammer the fly at every opportunity.

Stream Fishing
Beadheads are just as much at home catching trout in streams as they are in still water. The reason: presentation. Most food is eaten subsurface with many of the trout scrounging out their daily meals on or near bottom. Because the beadhead is weighted, that's exactly where they're headed after the cast. I find it best to use a floating line, a long leader and fine tippets. The fine tippet helps the fly to sink quickly to feeding trout.

It pays to use a strike indicator so you can detect even the faintest bites. I'm not particular if the indicator floats high or not, so long as it's colorful and can easily be seen. If the pools are shallow, working with just the beadhead will get you to the bottom. If the pools are quite deep, add split shot as needed to get the nymph to the bottom. Small beadheads are standard and will produce day in and day out. For the spin fisher, use the same micro-bobber with the beadhead suspended according to current velocity and depth of the water.

If you're into hammering big trout and aren't afraid of some work, get ready for the chuck and duck routine, of using big beadhead wooly buggers. They're big, they're heavy (note: fraught with danger to unsuspecting ears or limbs) they get down and they catch big trout. Cast to shore like a streamer and stripped back, hawgs become unglued at the sight of a big juicy meal getting away. What a big wooly bugger represents is up to the trout to decide. I think that when it comes to flies like this, the trout look at it from this angle. It's living, it's smaller than me and I can eat it -so they do. Spin fishermen can mimic the same retrieve by attaching some shot for casting weight a few feet up the line and working the same fishy waters. Short sharp twitches on the retrieve catch more fish.

When it comes to beadhead selection, there are four must haves. They are the:

• prince nymph
• pheasant tail nymph
• hare's ear nymph
• wooly bugger