Wolly Buggers?

[nick k]

I use a style of woolly bugger that Lefty Kreh described in an article as the best form he has found. The basic recipe:

1. Black marabou tail
2. Wire around hook shank to add weight if you desire
3. Tie in about 6 peacock hearls where the marabou is tied in and wrap around the shank to form a nice, slightly shiny body
4. Tie in copper wire at the same spot you tied in the hearls, spiral it on top of the body to the head, tie it off
5. Tie in your thread with a jam not where you tied in the copper wire
6. Attach a black hackle and palm it over the body to the head in regular bugger fashion
7. Whip finish and your all done

I like to modify this pattern slightly by tying in some silver flashabou into the marabou, using a slightly curved shank nymph hook, and often times using a tungsten cone head.

I have had great success with this style of bugger. The peacock hearl gives it a very buggy look that catches the light in the water in a way that only peacock hearl can.

[cowger10]

I love Wolly Buggers they are a fly that you can always catch fish on. It seems when you have tried everything else wolly buggers will work. My go to colors are black, purple, and olive.

[ditz]

Lots of good stuff here on the ole wooly bugger. I see lots of reference to bead heads. Not one mention of using beadchain in place of the bead. Does anyone use the beadchain or is the plain beads more effective and versatle?

[stenacron]

Tie 'em, use 'em, and love 'em! Although I'm partial to the Peacock Bugger (substituting peacock herl for the chenille body), same idea.



As one poster eluded to already, although "classified" as a streamer, I think they do a much better job of imitating large nymphs with articulated bodies (hellgrammites, big stoneflies, etc.). I fish them across and downstream, constantly mending the line. A lot of strikes come as the fly reaches the end of the arc swing and is "dangling" in the current almost directly downstream of me.

One item of note, try to keep your fly rod at a 90* angle to the line during the drift. Sometimes they really wallop these Buggers and if your rod is straight on to the fish and the line is tight, they will pop your tippet.

Tight lines!

EDIT: Just saw nick k's post (#11)... so count me in as seconding a vote of confidence in the Peacock Bugger!

[cincyspey]

love the peacock bugger. also the candy cane bugger

[countr21]

Although it is not a bugger, this is what I use when a bugger is called for. It's a soft hackle wooly worm and I catch more fish on it than any other fly by a huge margin. My favorite strategy is stripping it under the surface on high lakes, but it's also fantastic on moving water. When nothing else seems to be clicking I always turn to this wooly worm. And when the weather quickly sours (so often in the Rockies), this fly shines on choppy lakes as well as roiled water in streams. Like a bugger, it doesn't simulate anything in particular, and the author of the fly says it's an example of a fly that just looks BUGGY. After I started aggressively using this fly in the backcountry on both lakes and streams, my catch numbers tripled. I also buy a version with an orange tail that is a true trout slayer on headwater streams.

[masterfulpete]

WOW! thank you guys for all of the great info sounds like i'll have use it this season!

[turbineblade]

I learned to tie with this pattern (like many other folks) but don't tend to actually use them very much. My favorites are the ones tied with herl bodies and a copper (or red) rib....much like the one posted above ^^.

[frogg]

One of my favorite bugger colors is pink. The crappie around here slam them!




Chris

[outlaw45]

will these guys catch steel head and all salmon running up the rivers? also has anyone ever fished these in the salt for salmon?
thanks

Outlaw