Lightweight Dumbbell Eyes Options

[Stonefish]

I’m looking for some lightweight eye options besides bead chain.
I like the look of eyes versus the bead chain but I’m trying to avoid brass dumbbell eyes.

I’ve used some of the aluminum sea eyes in the past. They worked well for larger patterns but was hoping to find lightweight dumbbell eye options in smaller sizes then 1/4”.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

SF

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Stonefish

[Suave]

You may find this article helpful: "Review of weighted eyes" at newbraunfelsflyfishers.com/fly-tying/review-of-weighted-eyes/.

 

And I'm curious: why not the beautifully shaped  hourglass brass eyes (Hareline carries these)?  

[Stonefish]

31 mins ago, Suave said:

You may find this article helpful: "Review of weighted eyes" at newbraunfelsflyfishers.com/fly-tying/review-of-weighted-eyes/.

 

And I'm curious: why not the beautifully shaped  hourglass brass eyes (Hareline carries these)?  

I have tons of those hourglass brass dumbbells and they work great.

With my fishing out here, we always hit a period I call the winter doldrums.

Things slow way down and the fish tend to get pickier. I fish over a lot of barnacle and oyster covered beaches in less then a couple feet of water many times.

I want to be able to strip super slow without hanging up, so a super light weight eye would be preferable. The bead chain works. I just think real looking eyes look better and more fishy, though the probably fish don’t likely care, lol.

I also fish a number of blind, non eyed flies but would like something with a slow sink rate in between blind patterns and the brass eyes.

SF

[Kml]

I am sure you could get creative with mono or pins with glass beads. 

The craft stores would have a bunch of options. 

I have done a bunch for crabs and shrimps but they would be good for the type of stuff that you do. I secure the beads to mono with UV resin color the pupils with markers or paint. 

 

[JRT]

I've been using copper and tungsten beads a lot more these days. They are smaller and more discrete, come in a range of colours and work great if you need a small amount of weight to sink or keel a fly. One advantage of eyes is they can let the fly sit upright on the bottom. 

[C. Regalis]

On 10/28/2022 at 7:12 AM, JRT said:

I've been using copper and tungsten beads a lot more these days. 

Tungsten is significantly heavier than a lead eye of the same size.

Brass is about 30% lighter than lead for the same size eye.

I wonder about the commercially available nylon dumbells (although I would probably make my own, first.)

 

This may call for some experimenting.

[Suave]

"A  long time ago I purchased from Bob Clouser his Presentation lead eyes in various sizes, including mini  (1/8" od) that weighs in at 1/80 oz or 5.4 grains.

 

And trying to tie a Clouser Deep Minnow using bead chain eyes and having problems making the fly swim properly i.e. hook point up, I had   occasion recently to test various combinations of eyes and hooks and came to the conclusion that if you didn't use eyes at least as heavy as the hook they are tied on, it became iffy to make the fly swim right. And that's whether you tied all the material under the shank (bend side) or not. For more on this read the current threads "Clouser eyes" on the Fly Fishing Forum and  "Clouser hook v weight of eye v bucktail rule of thumb" on this Forum.

Edited October 29, 2022 by Suave
Typos

[C. Regalis]

On 10/26/2022 at 2:05 PM, Stonefish said:

... would like something with a slow sink rate in between blind patterns and the brass eyes.

SF

What about .010 or .015 lead wire ? (And experiment to find how much / how many wraps you'd need to create a slow sink rate and offset the natural buoyancy of materials). Could always go larger wire if needed.

[Stonefish]

36 mins ago, C. Regalis said:

What about .010 or .015 lead wire ? (And experiment to find how much / how many wraps you'd need to create a slow sink rate and offset the natural buoyancy of materials). Could always go larger wire if needed.

Some options that have been suggested to me if anyone else is interested.

I was thinking similar in that if needed I could put one or two small strands of thin lead wire over the center of the lightweight eyes to get the pattern to flip over and ride hook point up.

SF

 

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by Stonefish

[Suave]

Stonefish: I don't have real lead wire anymore. But  I have  .015 lead free round wire; a 1" strand of weighs 0.3 grain.  The biggest I have is "large" (no diameter indicated but it's probably .040) lead wire non toxic (?); a 1" strand weighs 1.6 grain. I don't know what hook you intend to tie on and what eyes you'll use.But If it's a heavy hook and light eyes, adding a few strands of wire may not be enough.

[Stonefish]

46 mins ago, Suave said:

Stonefish: I don't have real lead wire anymore. But  I have  .015 lead free round wire; a 1" strand of weighs 0.3 grain.  The biggest I have is "large" (no diameter indicated but it's probably .040) lead wire non toxic (?); a 1" strand weighs 1.6 grain. I don't know what hook you intend to tie on and what eyes you'll use.But If it's a heavy hook and light eyes, adding a few strands of wire may not be enough.

Totally understand what you are saying.

I’ll be tying on size 4 and 6 saltwater hooks (Umpqua U401’s). Easy to tie patterns so no worries if some don’t work properly the first time. 

SF

[onthefly]

On 10/30/2022 at 0:13 PM, Stonefish said:

Some options that have been suggested to me if anyone else is interested.

I was thinking similar in that if needed I could put one or two small strands of thin lead wire over the center of the lightweight eyes to get the pattern to flip over and ride hook point up.

SF

 

 

Some tips on those maxcatch eyes I use them. Don't wrap the thread as tight has lead eyes they will snap off eventually. use a slightly looser wrap. Also pop out the eye and reglue with gel crazy glue the glue they use is not enough as I had some fall out of the socket other than that they work fine

[Stonefish]

1 hour ago, onthefly said:

Some tips on those maxcatch eyes I use them. Don't wrap the thread as tight has lead eyes they will snap off eventually. use a slightly looser wrap. Also pop out the eye and reglue with gel crazy glue the glue they use is not enough as I had some fall out of the socket other than that they work fine

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

SF

[JonC]

Using short shank hooks like Mustad shrimp hooks would help, they’re a lot lighter, so they flip more easily.

JC

[Gilbey]

How about mono eyes?