Dumbell eye material hardness?

[Deuterium]

I am looking to replace lead dumbell eyes in my Clouser's with harder metals/alloys. Web searches suggest the rank order below, but I am not sure that the tables I have turned up accurately reflect the material used in the eyes. Does this order make sense to you?

Hardest--------------------------->Softest
Tungsten--->Nickel--->Brass--->Lead

 

[ryguyfi]

from your avitar, it looks like you should know this answer more than us.

Harder metals don't seem to usually be the reason people use for their weights. It's... well.... the weight of the item. Sometimes price goes into it (lead is cheap). I think that your fly will typically degrade faster than any choice of weight you put on it. So in saying that, I don't think you should really worry about how hard or soft the dumbells are you're using.

 

[jayL]

+1 on ryan's post.

Why are you concerned with hardness of the material, instead of weight?

 

[gfen]

+2

Weight is all that matters, you will lose your fly one way or another. If you want to apply an additional criteria, its the enviromential friendliness of the material, which is why you see nickle now more and more often.

 

[Lonewolve]

I think maybe he tried lead eyes, i know i have a bunch of em in different sizes for my saltwater closers and half and halfs, i also use em for wooly buggers and crayfish patterns as wellas madtom patterns,problem with lead is that they do bend and break off eventually.
I have recently switched to brass dumbell eyes, they are shiny ,can be heavy,i havent tried nickel yet also i want to get some in 1/4" .
Tungsten bead prices are obscene and i wouldn't even consider dumbells made of them because of the price.However Tungsten sinks like a rock.

 

[gfen]

Eyes are gonna get dinged up if they're lead or unobtanium, coz paint is paint.

 

[Lonewolve]

it aint the ding paint scratched off factor GFen, its literally having the eye break in half, i have had it happen.Sucks ,and really is a inconvience when you are out chasing line siders all day, and yer last clouser or half and half is unusuable because the barbell literally broke, had days in the late 90's up cape cod to Island beach where i broke plenty of eyes off barbell eyes, usually from being hammered by literally dozens of decent Stripaaahhhs,and blues, and a occasional albie.
Sometimes you are so far away from where you launch you get stuck using the guide's flies which in my experience never fish or catch what you were before you exausted your own flies.

 

[Deuterium]

Lonewolve is correct. I am fishing fast, rocky water and lead eyes are broken in 10 minutes of fishing. So it is not relative weight for me, it is durability. Hence the question. If I can use a harder dumbell that allows me to fish it longer, it may be cheaper than burning through a number of lead eyed Clousers.

I guess I will tie up some tungsten eyed Clousers and give them a try.

 

[dubthethorax]

You could also try leading the body and using bead chain eyes for your clousers instead of weighted dumbells. I had some success with these on small stripers over the weekend in the back bay at Sea Isle.

 

[Deuterium]

dubthethorax wrote:
You could also try leading the body and using bead chain eyes for your clousers instead of weighted dumbells. I had some success with these on small stripers over the weekend in the back bay at Sea Isle.

Thanks, I guess if I tie them so that the lead is only on the top of the hook, it would work. As is true in the Clouser, I need the hook to ride point up.

 

[midnightangler]

Most of the time softer metals will actually break less often than harder metals. The softer the metal is, the more it will tend to deform when it hits something (like a rock). I expect that tungsten eyes will break more frequently than lead (more weight => more force on your fly when it hits a rock). Tungsten cones will definitely break if you bounce them off a few rocks. You'd be better off switching to brass eyes (i-balz would probably be a good choice) and using lead wire on the body if you need more weight.

 

[flipnfly]

you try fish skulls yet? or are you just concerned with the eyes they do make different metal eyes i have some made by spirit river that are nickel and are really nice

 

[Deuterium]

Flipnfly,

Thanks. Picked up two sizes of Fish Skulls today and I will tie up some streamers and try them. Have you tied any so that they ride hook up?

flipnfly wrote:
you try fish skulls yet? or are you just concerned with the eyes they do make different metal eyes i have some made by spirit river that are nickel and are really nice

 

[RowJimmy]

I bought some fish skulls as well and was very disappointed with them. They look cool but don't weigh anything.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

Fish sculls are a broken rod waiting to happen.