Hogsnatcher
Smolt
Curious what are people’s best WB’s. Would like to see some patterns for ideas. I’m just not convinced they all work equally as well!
Thanks
Thanks
Last edited:
Your best Wooly Bugger?
- Thread starter Hogsnatcher
- Start date
My best is a size 6 or 8 black wooly bugger weighted with a gold bead and some wraps of nonlead behind the bead. The only fly that I use the rotary function on my vise for!
Black thread
Bead and weight, then tie in black marabou tail
Add black Krystal flash sparingly to tail
Tie in black wire at tail with 5-6 inches hanging behind the hook
Build body with black chenille, peacock herl, or dubbing
Tie in black bugger hackle at bead and palmer back
Wind wire forward, counter wrapping hackle.
Whip finish
Black thread
Bead and weight, then tie in black marabou tail
Add black Krystal flash sparingly to tail
Tie in black wire at tail with 5-6 inches hanging behind the hook
Build body with black chenille, peacock herl, or dubbing
Tie in black bugger hackle at bead and palmer back
Wind wire forward, counter wrapping hackle.
Whip finish
From Steven Bird
Do you ever tie/fish this weighted with wire?
I haven’t, often fished off a tip of t8, or full intermediate line.
I tie mine like @Zak for the most part. Over the years, I have learned that I like the tails 1.5x the length of the body and two-tone (2 feathers), with the darker color on top. I also have come to prefer Ice Dub for the body (using a dubbing loop, so you can really pick it out after winding the hackle), and I place a small amount of a contrasting color of Ice Dub behind the cone/bead/whatever, as a "collar."
Favorite colors of mine include olive, black/peacock, and just about any shade of purple. On the olives, I use a sculpin orange or amber color under olive for the tail. Pale pink is another great color for under-tails. I usually go straight black on the black/peacock.
Here's an example that shows most of what I'm describing. I use this one for salmon, so it's big and loud, with a tungsten bead.
Favorite colors of mine include olive, black/peacock, and just about any shade of purple. On the olives, I use a sculpin orange or amber color under olive for the tail. Pale pink is another great color for under-tails. I usually go straight black on the black/peacock.
Here's an example that shows most of what I'm describing. I use this one for salmon, so it's big and loud, with a tungsten bead.
tkww
Life of the Party
What is your intended use--still/slow or faster moving water?
Particularly for slow or still water, I am really choosy about the marabou I use. Depending on the feather, I usually avoid the tip that is thin and stiff. Instead I try to find barbs with bushier barbules and are much more flexible. I want those fibers to pulse and move in the water, not just slim down into a mass.
Also, I usually take at least one full turn of hackle at the head of the fly that is perfectly perpendicular to the hook shank, and only after that start winding down the shank. Depending on how stiff your palmering hackle is, you can induce some serious spin on the retrieve if that front turn is cocked at an angle. You can even the front hackle out with some thread wraps, but then you have a larger thread head that personally I think is kinda ugly.
I find that hitting the hackle hard with Velcro removes the corkscrew effect.
My go to Stillwater Bugger, fished on an intermediate line is weighted in the front only. When retrieved with short 3” strips, it creates a up/down jigging motion that has been successful for me, mostly on the pause. I tie these in Olive, Black and Brown mostly but have also used White, Purple and Orange using Jay Fairs Short Shuck.
Hook: #10-#12, 2x heavy, 2x long down eye
Bead: 1/8” Gold, Copper and Silver
Weight: 8-10 turns .020 lead free wire to set the bead
Thread: Match the body color
Tail: Marabou to match body
Body: Jay Fair’s Short Shuck
Palmer: Saddle to match body
Hook: #10-#12, 2x heavy, 2x long down eye
Bead: 1/8” Gold, Copper and Silver
Weight: 8-10 turns .020 lead free wire to set the bead
Thread: Match the body color
Tail: Marabou to match body
Body: Jay Fair’s Short Shuck
Palmer: Saddle to match body
Attachments
Flymph
Life of the Party
IMHO tail length is crucial! I believe a reasonably thick marabou tail that is the length of hook shank will out fish the shorter tails! As for body material I am slowly switching over to Brahma from hackle. Finding the right kind of saddle hackle has become difficult and "expensive" to obtain. https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/...1f6346aa11c184b07a5b5482e3e7bcde&action=click
Wayne Kohan
Life of the Party
Squirrel and herl bugger has been working well for me on lakes.
Hogsnatcher
Smolt
On the trout WB’s how do you keep the tail from wrapping around the bend?
Hogsnatcher
Smolt
Well, I fish rivers mostly.
Longer tails in rivers. Shorter tails in lakes. Works well for me...
Sometimes I put 2-3 wraps of dubbed thread behind and under the tail. If I use ice dub I brush some fibers into the tail for flash. Once I put a drop of super glue on the base of the tail and that worked.
