Hogsnatcher
Smolt
Curious what the MT and ID guys like for a favorite Wooly Bugger. I like swinging flies and find that WB’s are among my favorite. And, I wonder if a you guys have a favorite Baby Brown WB pattern.
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Favorite Wooly Bugger..?
- Thread starter Hogsnatcher
- Start date
I have one that stands above any others that I tie. I call it the Chestnut... as in That Ol' Chestnut. It has worked for me in both rivers and stillwaters. From experience, I know it works in Montana rivers.
If I had a photo handy I'd post it.
The size varies from 4 - 6 with gold bead head
The tail is black marabou
The rib is gold wire
The body is variegated olive and black chenille
The hackle is black saddle (a variation that also works is tied with a grizz hackle)
I have no idea where it came from but I've been tying and using it for decades.
Found a photo:
If I had a photo handy I'd post it.
The size varies from 4 - 6 with gold bead head
The tail is black marabou
The rib is gold wire
The body is variegated olive and black chenille
The hackle is black saddle (a variation that also works is tied with a grizz hackle)
I have no idea where it came from but I've been tying and using it for decades.
Found a photo:
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Try Tying These Pine Squirrel Buggers | J. Stockard
Guest Blogger: Mike Cline, Bozeman MT Canadian Pine Squirrel has turned out to be a very versatile tying material. Where I fish in SW Montana, micro zonkers are
blog.jsflyfishing.com
Pine Squirrel Woolly Bugger – Revisited | J.Stockard Fly Fishing
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HauntedByWaters
Life of the Party
The most important part of a WB is the hook. A lot of them are tied on a tiny hook with a very high hook loss ratio. Fish one with a real hook that can hook and hold a hog!
Hogsnatcher
Smolt
Hogsnatcher
Smolt
The hook has to hold a true pig. My hooks are good and meaty- but not too meaty as to prevent easy penetration. I wish the selection was better for straight eye hooks as they fish better on swing.
Hogsnatcher
Smolt
Often I wonder if color matters. Seems like some days they chase…and other days they do not. I’d LIKE to believe that, like with the dry fly, color matters if even for the lowly WB. Son!
I like an olive body, black hackle and tail. Anywhere from size 10-6.
I believe you are correct. I never did know the name ... if anyone named it ... so I've ended up calling it That Ol' Chestnut or Chestnut for short. At least the guys in my group knows what that is because they all carry them.
You are correct. For Salmon, Steelhead and LMB, my WBs are tied with a much wider gap than my trout versions. I normally don't have a problem keeping a trout, even a large one, on a WB.
WBs are my primary fly for stillwaters. And sometimes, a small change to the pattern makes all the difference.
I was fishing a lake with my longest fishing buddy, John, and he was catching trout after trout and I wasn't getting a hit. I asked him what he was using (this was before I named the pattern) and he told me the usual variegated WB with the black tail. Odd. That's what I was using.
Then I remembered that John is color blind and sometimes he really isn't using what he thinks he is. So I finned over and asked to see his fly.
It was a black tailed variegated WB alright but instead of a black hackle, he was using one with a grizzly hackle. WTF? I told him that wasn't the old favorite because he had tied it with grizz instead of black for the hackle. He told me he always tied them that way and thought we all did.
I had to ask him for a fly because mine all had black as the palmered hackle. He gave me one and I immediately started catching trout.
I have since started tying the pattern with black or grizzly for the hackle and sometimes, the fish prefer the grizzly version. As I always use two flies for lake fishing, I'll tie on both the original black hackle pattern and a grizz version. And sometimes, the trout do prefer the grizz version.
Keep that in mind if you tie some of the Chestnuts. The original Chestnut has a black hackle. John's Chestnut has a grizzly hackle. Sometimes it makes a difference.
I was fishing a lake with my longest fishing buddy, John, and he was catching trout after trout and I wasn't getting a hit. I asked him what he was using (this was before I named the pattern) and he told me the usual variegated WB with the black tail. Odd. That's what I was using.
Then I remembered that John is color blind and sometimes he really isn't using what he thinks he is. So I finned over and asked to see his fly.
It was a black tailed variegated WB alright but instead of a black hackle, he was using one with a grizzly hackle. WTF? I told him that wasn't the old favorite because he had tied it with grizz instead of black for the hackle. He told me he always tied them that way and thought we all did.
I had to ask him for a fly because mine all had black as the palmered hackle. He gave me one and I immediately started catching trout.
I have since started tying the pattern with black or grizzly for the hackle and sometimes, the fish prefer the grizzly version. As I always use two flies for lake fishing, I'll tie on both the original black hackle pattern and a grizz version. And sometimes, the trout do prefer the grizz version.
Keep that in mind if you tie some of the Chestnuts. The original Chestnut has a black hackle. John's Chestnut has a grizzly hackle. Sometimes it makes a difference.
Hogsnatcher
Smolt
These are all good suggestions. Thank you.
I never fish lakes and am usually swinging the lowly WB through a juicy meat bucket in a river somewhere on western tail waters. I WANT to believe that at some point giant Brown pigs become cannibalistic and eat their own. Does anyone here have a go-to WB for when and if Brown pig eats its own?
I never fish lakes and am usually swinging the lowly WB through a juicy meat bucket in a river somewhere on western tail waters. I WANT to believe that at some point giant Brown pigs become cannibalistic and eat their own. Does anyone here have a go-to WB for when and if Brown pig eats its own?
Hogsnatcher
Smolt
Oohh yes the JJ Special - a proven pig puller. Ive never fished it much but this definitely seems to be a WB that simulates a juvenile Brown trout. I may need to get on the vise and pump some out, though I would make some minor changes to allow for them to be fished on swing with a Scandi line most likely.
Hogsnatcher
Smolt
Yes! This is what I’m talking about. Son! Even a modest sized Brown pig greedily consumes its own. Beautiful.
