cones/beads vs. dumbbells for streamer heads

[steve101]

Pretty much all streamers for trout I've seen seem to use brass/tungsten cones or beads as a weighted heads. Dumbbells would seem to me to offer two obvious advantages, they can be tied to make the fly ride hook point up and they would be more suggestive of eyes of the baitfish. I'm obviously missing some big disadvantage(s) of using dumbbells rather than cones or beads?

Originally Posted by steve101

Pretty much all streamers for trout I've seen seem to use brass/tungsten cones or beads as a weighted heads. Dumbbells would seem to me to offer two obvious advantages, they can be tied to make the fly ride hook point up and they would be more suggestive of eyes of the baitfish. I'm obviously missing some big disadvantage(s) of using dumbbells rather than cones or beads?

All my deep swimming freshwater streamers are scaled-down clousers using dumbbells. I imagine tiers might want to use a cone/bead head if they didn't want the streamer to sink too much as the dumbbells pack a lot of weight and you'd rapidly snag something even if the streamer rides inverted. I tend to use them only on very deep holes and use a jigging action. My usual streamers are unweighted and rely on a sink-tip line and short leader to bring them to a medium depth.

[steve101]

Thanks Toady - makes sense