Your best Wooly Bugger?

[Hogsnatcher]

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.

I’ll try this as the dreaded “tail wrap” drives me nuts

 

[Hogsnatcher]

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.

I’ll try this as the dreaded “tail wrap” drives me nuts

 

[Wade Rivers]

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 hac

Ditto on the 'bou. Even on a slow retrieve I like the tail to wag. I use bugger marabou.

 

[Shad]

On the trout WB’s how do you keep the tail from wrapping around the bend?

Casting matters, but for sure, long tais foul on occasion. I find when I use rubber legs for flash that they tend to foul more than marabou. Either way, you need to check your fly once in a while, to make sure it's swimming true and the hook is still sharp.

 

[Hogsnatcher]

Casting matters, but for sure, long tais foul on occasion. I find when I use rubber legs for flash that they tend to foul more than marabou. Either way, you need to check your fly once in a while, to make sure it's swimming true and the hook is still sharp.

I must need to work on my casting as I only fish my two hander 99.9% of the time. I wonder if the casting geometry changes are more prone to tail wrap. I’m guessing they are.

 

[Pink Nighty]

I must need to work on my casting as I only fish my two hander 99.9% of the time. I wonder if the casting geometry changes are more prone to tail wrap. I’m guessing they are.

I foul flies more often on the 2 hander. I think it happens when my D loop fails to turn the hook eye towards the bank and my cast pulls the fly perpendicular out of the water.

 

[Shad]

I rarely fish buggers (besides maybe an egg-sucking leech) with a 2-hander. I mostly cast and strip them, which is more efficient with a one-hander.

 

[SKYKO]

Not a traditional bugger but I've had good success on SRC with this off the beach this time of year into winter. Marabou tail, black over white, strand of flash, small gray or pearl palmered chenille with black chenille at the front behind a solarez head. Sort of a buggerish platform.

 

[ColinShots]

I really like this olive and orange seal bugger for stillwater.

 

[Shad]

I really like this olive and orange seal bugger for stillwater.

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That looks great for stillwater. Weightless and BUGGY!

 

[SurfnFish]

I really like this olive and orange seal bugger for stillwater.

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one of my fave color patterns as well...jig ties on a hover or intermediate line can be very effective

 

[Brute]

This guy has been chewed on a lot…about 8 years old, the only buggar I have with beadchain eyes…it has lost most of its tail…but still catches fish…

 

[GAT]

I believe this question was asked in the past but my best producing WB is still what I call The Chestnut:



Gold bead head
Gold wire rib
Black marabou tail
Variegated olive/black chenille body
Black hackle feather