Why the bead? #2

[The Great Guide]

I was fishing reefs on Rainy Lake (MN)last August. Fishing was very slow except for one other boat. The guys in the other boat were long-lining a leech with a single yellow bead ahead of the hook. We switched over to the same presentation, but without the bead, and started getting a fish about one every 1/2 hour. They were boating one every 10 mins. When they filled out they pulled up and gave us some beads which we put on. Fishing picked up immeadiately. We used this presentation the next day with similar results.

I also read a newspaper story about a guide along the Gunflint Trail in northern MN who uses this presentation everyday and swears by it.

What do you think is going on with the single bead?
TGG

[Dmacattak]

Seems to me there is a fly fishing pattern called an egg sucking leech??? maybe something along those lines?

[Mike]

I fish Rainy and the other border lakes, and always use either a bead ahead of the hook (my favorite is red or chartreuse) or a colored hook (again, red seems to be the ticket on the reefs in mid-summer).

As you have probably noticed, the water in border lakes like Rainy isn't dirty, but is coffee colored or "bog stained." That bead or colored hook simply acts as an attractor to help the fish "zero-in" your leach or crawler as they make their feeding runs accross the tops of the reefs.

See you on the water.

[Eyez (SD)]

I learned that trick from a guide on Winnie a few years back. It works great with leeches and minnows, and I usually use it as my primary rig. I prefer the tiny (not sure what size) bright chartruese beads. I think it helps visibilty with darker colored bait, like leeches in deep water and on dark days. Possibly has something to do with eyes in clear water being more sight oriented when feeding?

Eyez (SD)

[Fin Addict]

Just an attracter. For rigging presentation to those fish that won't bite if you actually put the bait into their mouths, you want the most neutral presentation possible (very long leader, slow presentation to individual fish marked, lightest possible line and small light wire neutral hooks -single hook w/ fresh live bait). As the aggression level of the fish increases, you modify the presentation. Go to colored hooks first then add a single bead next add more beads or a floater then a tiny spinner next bigger spinners etc. You get the point. The bead just happened to be easier for the fish to find when active on that day than a plain presentation. Other days that same bead could turn them off. This is what makes walleye fishing fun!