This may come as a surprise to fellow fly fisherman if you've been busy with life, but tungsten prices for the individual fly tying beads and the flies have recently exploded. Fulling Mill is currently selling tungsten bead euro nymphs at a flat $4.50 each. That is INSANE. But why?
I'll tell you why not- tariffs. It's a buzzword that gets thrown around a lot in casual conversation, but that's a small fraction of what is leading to the 400%+ increase in the material. In reality, if it were simply tariffs, there is only a 25% tax on most tungsten products. The real factors driving the increase are supply shortages due to defense demand. Tungsten is a major defense material- it is used to create kinetic energy weapons that are in high demand for the Iran war and all others. Kinetic energy weapons and long rod penetrators are essentially anti-armor and bunker buster type weapons.
There is also a global demand for semi-conductors and chips which is really a kind of cold-war between the US and China. Add to the fact that China recently cut mining quotas (to kill US military supply I'm sure) and you see the 400-500% increase and it's only getting worse. 
1. Stop using tungsten beads altogether. When I first began euro nymphing, I didn't use tungsten or jig hooks. I used standard nymph hooks with brass or glass (or NO shocking right) beads, with lead wraps if I wanted extra weight to get down.
2. Get Selective- tungsten beads HAD several points which is why they are now in favor over brass. They are heavier, and they aren't as toxic as lead in a river system. So that moved us away from split shot, into tungsten beads.
3. Shop Small. I'm selling euro nymphs on my Etsy site (www.etsy.com/SHOP/primeflyco and buy in bulk. Due to the prices I'm not implementing a 1 dozen minimum per fly/size. Fulling Mill is openly charging $4.50/ fly, well if you buy 1 dozen tungsten euro nymphs from me it will run you $3/ fly. Also, my flies are tied by hand in the US. I can't say the same for Fulling Mill (do they REALLY need anymore money???).
4. Brass Beads + Split Shot- this is the ultimate which I'll be going to except for when I really need tungsten to get down quickly. If you aren't fishing Fips Mouche competitions, there's no reason you can't get your flies down with split shot (lead or tin if you want non toxic). This is how I started learning euro nymphs.
5. Stop Fishing Euro Nymphs- seriously. I genuinely don't understand why people were fishing with tungsten nymphs during late spring, summer, and fall anyway. These are times of actively feeding fish, meaning they are suspended mid-column to surface. Why on earth would I want my fly BELOW their face?
This is something I've been very opinionated on- I personally believe that indicator nymphing in late spring, summer, and fall is MORE effective than euro nymphing for 85% of fishing conditions.
Of course- high water, deep holes- all of that I would definitely look towards a tungsten euor nymph, or tungsten streamer to get down.
There's also a wide world of wet flies, flymphs, soft hackles, emergers, dry flies, cripples, spinners, etc that don't require tungsten beads.
Avoid the pain of tungsten beads- and become a better fly fishermen (or fly fisher-lady) at the same time.
Honestly- I hoped this helped. I saw Curtis from Fly Fish Food do a video on the topic and I think he made a lot of sense. I hope this explains what is going on, why it's so expensive, and what you can do about it.
D a n i e l P o d o b e d I I I
Prime Fly Co
May, 14, 2026.
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