The Fly Fishing Industry Isn’t Ready for What’s Coming: Tungsten Prices Are About to Shock Everyone

The fly fishing industry isn’t ready for what’s coming, and I don’t think it’s going to fully set in until people see the pricing with their own eyes. You’ve probably heard the rumors—quiet conversations and supplier whispers—but this is already turning into an oh shit moment.

We just received updated MAP pricing from one of our closest friends in the industry, and a standard 7/32 (5.5mm) pack of 20 slotted tungsten bead is now retailing at $32.92. A pack of 5/32 (3.8mm) 20 slotted tungsten beads will now be $18.95. These are not a typo, and it’s not a mistake—it’s the real price for something that has become a staple in modern fly tying.

This isn’t a small shift either; tungsten isn’t niche anymore, it’s foundational. At Spawn Fly Fish, we’ve spent nearly a decade building flies and systems—like our Jig Shanks—around the assumption that you’re fishing tungsten. The weight, the sink rate, and the performance changed how we fish, but what happens when that assumption no longer holds?

The hard truth is that people are not going to buy the way they have been because they simply can’t. When a pack of beads jumps three times overnight, it forces real decisions: tie fewer flies, switch materials, or stop tying certain patterns altogether. This is more than pricing—it’s a behavior shift across the entire industry, and I don’t think the industry is ready for it.

At the same time, markets like Amazon and Temu will likely benefit as cheaper overseas options fill the gap, and there’s not much we can do about that.

For us at Spawn, this hits close because tungsten has been a core part of what we do, but one potential saving grace is that we manufacture tungsten products like our Football Beads. That said, we’re going to have to be strategic—planning production runs, allocating capital carefully, and navigating the same raw material pressures as everyone else.

What we can promise is this: if pricing goes up, yes, it will reflect that, but if raw material costs come down, so will our prices. We’re not going to be one of those companies that only moves in one direction. The goal has always been to get more people on the water, keep people tying flies, and keep people fishing, and if costs drop we will lower prices, push our beads, and make sure our customers are getting value that keeps them engaged.

But if these prices hold, tungsten may be getting priced out of fly tying for a lot of people, and that will have real ripple effects—pattern design changes, technique shifts, and higher barriers for new anglers.

Right now, we’re still early, and most people haven’t felt it yet, but once it hits shelves and customers start seeing it firsthand, it’s going to become very real very fast. Until then, all we can do is adapt, stay honest, and keep pushing forward, but if you ask me, this is one of the biggest shifts fly tying has seen in a long time, and I don’t think the industry is ready for it.