The beads and knots I used were purchased from BPS as a set along with my 9' Crappie Maxx rod. The knots do not slide through the eye of the bead but the bead gets stuck in the last eyelet of the rod like no other. The way I combated this was I went to Wal-Mart and purchased some beads in the hobby craft section. I have to use the Wal-mart bead and the BPS bead as the diameter of the eye of the Wal-Mart bead is too big and the knot will slide through it. The BPS bead is between the knot and the Wal-Mart bead.