ohiotuber, got plans for a yellow wooly worm or two in the future? Sounds serious, do you lose that many or do you give them away?. Y'all take care, John.
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ohiotuber, got plans for a yellow wooly worm or two in the future? Sounds serious, do you lose that many or do you give them away?. Y'all take care, John.
Not only is the Woolly-Bugger not intended to be a dry fly, the modern trend is to actually add wire weight to the hook shank to make it sink better. Woolly-Buggers are best fished as near the bottom as practical.
To truly understand how to properly use the Woolly-Bugger, it is helpful to know the fly's history. It is no accident that this is one of the most productive fly patterns ever tied, for all species, everywhere.
The modern Woolly-Bugger was designed by Russell Blessing in Pennsylvania, in 1967. It was intended to be a representative fly for helgramites, crawfish or large nymphs, but it was soon discovered that it could be fished to represent baitfish as well.
Blessings pattern was a modification of a classic English pattern known as a Woolly-Worm, which is itself, a modification of the British Palmer-type fly, which dates back to the times of Issac Walton, and beyond. With such a distinguished pedigree, it is little wonder that it is so productive. It has been time-proven. Modern versions are tied in all sizes, colors and use all kinds of exotic materials. Your only limitation is your imagination.
To imitate a baitfish, tie it on a medium length hook, with or without weight, and simply fish it like any other streamer. To imitate a leech, tie it on a long (3x or longer) streamer hook, and weight the first 1/3 of the hook shank. Fish it with pronounced vertical undulations, like a jig. For a nympth, Tie it on a 2x hook in smaller sizes, and fish it near the bottom, with short strips. For crawfish, tie it on a weighted 3x or longer hook, with the hook point riding up (weight the top of the shank, or use dumbell-eye weights to accomplish this), and fish it near the bottom, with short 'hops'. For saltwater, tie them on long, large hooks in gaudy colors. Fish them in mid-water, or near the surface. Buggers can also be tied with bead-head or cone-head weights and fished as jigs. In smaller sizes, in the right colors, they are deadly on crappie and panfish.
The Woolly-Bugger can catch any fish that swims, in any water, anywhere in the world. If you could only have one fly....this is it.
Happy fishing.