I know that most of use woolly buggers a lot so I am just wondering what is your go to woolly bugger? Mine is a black bead head with a lot of flash in the tail.
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I know that most of use woolly buggers a lot so I am just wondering what is your go to woolly bugger? Mine is a black bead head with a lot of flash in the tail.
I tend to fish mohair leeches instead of buggers, personally. Easier to tie, and nothing to really "tear apart" in my opinion.
For bass my "go to" bugger is a bead head tied in various color combinations of orange, lime, chartreuse, green to simluate sunfish. For stained water conditions I use solid white and maybe use a soft plastic curl tail in place of a marabou tail or even put a propellor blade at the front of bead. I usually use a #2 hook. I've caught bass up to 4 pounds on those patterns. Next to a Clouser, Woolly Buggers are my post productive pattern for warm water species.
I'm with Quivira Kid on this one. I stopped tying buggers a number of years ago when I "discovered" mohair leeches. If I want a larger body profile, I switch to a leech pattern tied with a dubbing brush. Either way, I find them much faster, easier and cheaper to tie, more durable and every bit as productive. I tie mainly all black leeches. I may add a bead either for weight/color depending on what I'm fishing for or the water conditions. In small sizes 10-12, they work great for bass, bream and trout. In larger sizes (2 - 6) they work great for bass and larger trout.
Jim Smith
Jim's dubbing brush leech patterns are absolute killers for bass and big brim. He was kind enough to send me four of these flies and some extra dubbing brushes a few years ago and I gave them a complete test in the next couple of years. Absolutely deadly on bass and all panfish. Absolutely indestructible, except by fire and very few fish smoke these days. Jim definitely knows his stuff. 8T :)Quote:
Originally Posted by James Smith
My buggers for bass are tied with saddle hackle, angora goat, and flash and incorporate a weed/snag guard made from multi strand nylon coated stainless steel wire. I use different amount of weight under the materials. I mix my own goat dubbing using a primary base color and mixing in smaller amounts of other highlight colors, though I'm sure just one color would work. I usually mix some raw antron fibers into the dubbing for a bit of sparkle.
To speed the tying process I make dubbing brushes using saddle hackle and the dubbing mix. Depending on fly size I can get from 2 to 6 flies per brush. After the head is finished I quickly pick out the obviously overwrapped hackle and goat fibers. Real seal or imitation seal fur also works well. I can make them sparse or full. If I want to get really wild I will toss in some rubber legs when making the brush. If I want a more slender fly I will skip the hackle. I make them in size 12 through 4.
The same fly tied in white/grey makes a great threadfin shad imitation.
A couple of examples. Note the weedguards which you can see if you look closely. The guards allow me to toss these into fairly heavy cover.
http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/a...ggerguard1.jpg
http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/a...ggerguard4.jpg
Hi Threedayweekend, I like a no-hackle bugger, and have had the best success with an olive and orange no hackle bugger with a very small bead head. The way I tie it is a #10 or #12 Mustad 9672, with an olive body, and an orange tail. This is the size is the one I usually fish for gills, and have also caught crappie, a very nice cat, and numerous other species on it. I like a really small diameter olive chenille for the body.
Regards,
Gandolf
I would normally say the black bead head in #12 but last time out I threw everything except my fly box at them and nothing. I also had a an olive , which I never have any luck with , and gave it a try out of frustration. The olive turned out to be the only thing they would touch. I actually fished it till I lost it , landing every fly on that one fly. My favorite wooly bugger? Which ever one the fish like will be my favorite. I am now fully stocked on olives by the way.
An olive D-bugger. Carp to steelhead to bluegill to salmon to grayling...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...eD-bugger1.jpg
Sunday afternoon I had a WB tied with black Estaz and brass bead chain eyes instead of chenille that enticed 6 trout to come over for a chat and several others to take a swipe at it. Unfortunately, it is now on a log in Hooch so new copies were made. It must have been weighted because it headed deep quick.
For SMB, I like wooley buggers in chartreuse or white. I tie them on a mustad 3366, size 1/0. I use two marabou for the tail and large ice chenile for the body. I give each fly 8-10 wraps of 0.030 lead wire. Very effective! I also tie size 8 white wooley buggers for crappies.
Chain bead eyed woolley bugger. I usually use more red flash.
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...-31-54_545.jpg
My favorite for bass is a #1 hook all bright yellow(marabou,chennile & hackle) bugger with silver/gold wire ribbing, gold bead head and pearl crystal flash in the tail. Call it "The Canary".
I am very surprised to seed no one mentioning rubber legged buggers here.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...3016-01-23.jpg
I've never had any luck with bugger's... :)
But if I ever do give them a serious shot in my arsenal, probably the vanilla bugger.
I like a green body with a red tail. I have caught bass, trout, sunfish, white perch, and catfish on it. Black are also good...and well white has been good to me too. Is there a bad color combo? :)
Yeah, a red tail is good here, too no matter what the body color. Olive or black seems to be the best for that.
I don't fish buggers all that often, although they are very effective here. When I do, I've always found that an olive body and tail, with grizzle hackle and gold wire the combination to use. I have a preference for squirrel tail or bucktail streamers and try them first before going to a bugger. I think it's because I find them more enjoyable to tie.
- Jeff
My go to colors are purple followed by black both tied with a small amount of flash in them.
I mostly use weighted buggers in either black or olive.
I usually go to black first, but yesterday I tied on a #8 beadhead WB in cream with a wire rib which I rarely use, and for the first time in a looonnnng time I lost count of the smallies I caught in only 3 hours of fishing. It was a "one fly" day, although I had to tie it on a few times. The water was fairly clear, just under average flow.
I wish it was like that more often. :)
PADave,
That is a scary sig. It really makes one think.