Weighted Flies

[Pipes]

Any thoughts on bead heads versus adding lead to your flies? My personal prefernce is to use lead weight more from a cosmetic side than anything. From a fishing standpoint, I often prefer using bead head, as I find they tend to be easier to get down deeper quicker (tungsten are great). In shallow runs, having less weight can be beneficial.

Typcial flies I am talking about are hare ear, pheasant tail, scuds and even leech patterns.

[Brownstone]

my 0.02, standard beadheads make little differnce for weight compared to lead or tungsten, I tie a some nymphs wrapped in lead with a tungsten head for my "heavy flies", lead with standard bead (the ones i use are not actually for tying so they are pretty light) for my medium flies, and just a straight bead head for regular or unweighted nymphs...however most times I use split to control my drift, unless its in shallow or slow moving water where fish can get a better look..then i use weight nymphs to try for a more natural drift..