The method or attachment that at few of us have developed is to melt the bead onto the hook.    It is quick and easy and does not require the considerable skills to tie a decent globug.

 

I prefer to use a short shanked, open gape hook such as the BMagic caddis or M series hook.   

 

1. Put hook in vice in such a way that only the shank protrudes.

2. Heat hook with cigi lighter.

3. When sufficiently hot immediately press bead onto shank and hold it until plastic hardens. 

 

The idea of burying most of the hook in the vice is to stop the heat weakening the hook at the bend as the metal vice absorbs any excessive heat.   

 

The cheapest way to obtain beads is to look for suitable coloured plastic necklesses in the various junk shops.    

 

BTW bead flies are not suitable for anglers with habitual low back casts.    One of my mates who loved fishing the no longer existing Breakaway Pool had such a problem.     He shattered that many beads that at certain low sun angles one could see a glitter among the rocks. 

 

 

While on a trip to the Tongariro one year, I had the pleasure of meeting some great Aussie blokes - Marty and Aleks - at the Creel Lodge (in the fish cleaning room after a successful day on the river). They made an annual pilgrimage before the fishing turned to rubbish a few years ago. As usual, we had a bit of banter and once a bit of trust had been established, we swapped flies. 

I gave them some of my deadly little free-living caddis grubs, which are my go-to when the T is clear. And they unveiled their orange bead flies. Awesome. No more time consuming egg patterns using glo bug yarn!

Like you, they got their beads from a craft shop - by the hundreds - all in zip lock bags. They tied their beads on to small hooks as you describe, using a fluoro orange thread fore and aft. But to achieve that they had to enlarge the hole through the bead with a drill. Painstaking work.

But those simple little hard plastic eggs are killers.

incidentally, they also introduced me to UV torches. They went through their many fly boxes and the eggs lit up like you wouldn't believe. I can't remember, but I think my caddis (tied with a now discontinued dubbing yarn from the US) glowed too. They were firm believers in UV in flies and I wonder if that was the key to those eggs' success?

a small silicone squid skirt.     This thin tail was very flexible and represented a recently hatched fry.    We called it the "Embryo".    Lots of possibilities.

 

Rainbow

My Aussie mates said they had tried a number of different options and embellishments to the bead, such as little tufts of white glo bug yarn in front or behind - but ended up concluding the basic bead was all that was required and going back to that. KISS in action.

Though Aleks had a few 'Big Als', which were two beads on one hook and he sometimes pulled one out of the box as a game changer.

I have an article from Flyfisherman, the US mag, about catching steelhead on nymph - and the author's go to trailing fly was a little double egg tied with glo bug yarn. Finicky to tie, though.

 

Come to think of it this applies to all forms of fishing I get involved in.   Currently I am talking myself into having a go at the Canterbury canals next spring and am busy researching what the southerners use and what possible northern innovations one could add to their inventory.   

 

 

The team at Complete Angler in Christchurch has put together a number of videos on soft bait fishing the canals - quite a few are on YouTube. Looks like little Gulp minnows on very light tackle is their recommendation. With very little movement, basically a very slow drift on the bottom. Not the most scenic spot, but they get some monster pellet fed rainbows and nice salmon as well.

No doubt you'll have some tricks up your sleeve. I have a copy of your great article about using a modified Jig Star octopus skirt to nail some good snapper soft baiting off Coromandel, rather than churn through packets of Gulp!!

Here are two images of the Aussie bead eggs I tied, with the hook through the middle and bound on to the hook with fluoro orange thread at the rear, criss crossed to the front. 

I've never taken pics of flies before, but hopefully you can see how they radiate in the sun.